DimDim: Another great tool I had the opportunity to explore at the TRLD conference and also this week with some local folks. DimDim is a free web-conferencing tool that works very well and seems very user friendly. Check it out. Play with it a little bit. I’m hoping to host at least one web conference using this tool sometime between now and the end of this school year. If you are interested in participating and/or have suggestion for a topic, please contact me! www.dimdim.com
Wii Grant: The Buddy Teaching & Learning Center has a grant opportunity for Indiana public schools to obtain Nintendo Wii Systems for the purpose of integrating the system into physical education, music education, social skills development, and/or academic achievement. The grant deadline has been extended to February 28. Details available here: www.btlc.org
My Own SL Learning: This month I’ve participated in two professional development opportunities in Second Life. The first was a tour of an otherwise restricted access teaching hospital and the second was a discussion panel on Librarians Leveraging Social Media To Build Professional Learning Communities on the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) Island. This second one was part of the ISTE Eduverse Talks series, which is recorded live and published here about a week after the event: http://www.iste-eduverse.org/
The Slurl (Second Life URL) for the Talks Series is here:
Here are some photos I took during the two events and some brief descriptions to accompany them:
Here is the panel of speakers. This panel consists of: Host Kevin Jarrett (SL: KJ Hax), Lisa Perez (SL: Elaine Tulip), Chicago Public Schools; Joyce Valenza (SL: Joyce Story), Librarian, Springfield Township (PA) High School; and Rhonda Trueman (SL: Abbey Zenith), Head of Reference and Business Librarian for Johnson & Wales University, Charlotte, NC.
Next, is a shot of the audience looking toward the panel of speakers. You can also see one of the slides from the presentation on the far right hand side of the image.
This is one of the rooms in the teaching hospital where med students can practice using equipment, listening to audio files of various heart conditions, listening to what asthma sounds like in the lungs, etc.
Heart Monitor in the teaching hospital.
I believe this was one of the Operating Rooms in this hospital. You can see that there were approximately 20 other teachers taking this tour with me.
I thought those photos showed some really interesting possibilities for Second Life use in education. Keep in mind that we are slowly moving toward doing some professional development in Second Life and you might find it beneficial to install the free Second Life application now and start to simply play around with it a little bit. Remember that I’m always willing to answer questions about it and/or help you get started. My goal is to experiment by doing at least 1 Assistive Technology workshop in Second Life this Spring. Please let me know if you’d like to be a part of that experience, even if you’re starting at the beginning now.
Tech Expo: Don’t forget to register for the 2009 PATINS Tech Expo here: www.patinsproject.com/training.html
ROL: …and to download your district’s FREE UNLIMITED license of Don Johnston’s Read:OutLoud software here: www.icam.k12.in.us/DJ/DJLogin.aspx
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