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How to set up a virtual classroom with Kitely, OpenSim and Facebook.  Very clear instructions.

I've created this wiki to help teachers use simulation and game in the classroom. Please help me by suggesting articles, resources, and videos or sharing this with teachers at your school and/or via your blog. Thanks and hope you enjoy!

The above link is to a paper written about the ways in which high schools can use virtual worlds to educate students or as part of supplementing high school students' education. The article addresses the value of role playing and social learning in the classroom. The author also asks teachers what has worked for them and their professional opinion about virtual worlds in the classroom. The author also addresses how video games can be educational.

This SLOODLE (Simulation Linked Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) blog comments on and gives examples of using the plug-in SLOODLE to interface and integrate SL with Moodle. This is an open source project. The blog provides excellent tutorials explaining how this application works, and as you watch them, you start to imagine all the different ways you might apply these tools to the classroom. This site contains many ideas and examples for the classroom use of a VR as well as other web-based tools. One example of this is the dropbox for leaving notecard assignments. Once dropped, the notecard appears in the teacher's Moodle account. Once graded, the student immediately receives an email. Another paper describes using SL to teach engineering and then using the SLOODLE to track students' in-world laboratory participation and link it to the teacher's moodle. So we are seeing the virtual world integrating with the real world. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sloodle/126/94/23

I've been following Kathy Schrock since the mid-1990s when I began using computers in the classroom. I have numerous bookmarks of her helpful websites filled with classroom resources as well as her blogs. She is the technology administrator for the Nauset Public Schools in Massachusetts. An earlier YouTube video has Kathy Schrock aka Kathy Dryburgh (in Second Life), gives a brief overview of what Lighthouse Learning Island is all about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7IC-JeK4Mc&feature=related. In a more recent video, Kathy along with other educators, explain how the Lighthouse Learning Island came to be and what it is currently doing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlwsXsTptbs. The original occupants of the Lighthouse Learning Island was the Nauset Public Schools but since then, several other school districts have joined this virtual learning platform. I was really excited how school districts are utilizing Second Life to offer professional learning development for their educators in Web 2.0 for teaching and learning. Additionally, educators from outside the district have attended these sessions. I'll be looking into how I am able to attend some of these professional development workshop sessions. Unfortunately, on August 1, 2010, Lighthouse Learning Island will be closing due to budget constraints. Kathy has rented a small plot of land on Eduisland 6 (SLURL) and will be announcing any upcoming professional development opportunities through the "K-12 Educators" group in SL. Her new spot is called "Kathy Schrock's Kaffeeklatsch".

YouTube video (3:35 minutes) featuring examples of Reaction Grid K12 projects.

This SLURL has potential for any U.S. or World History classroom if teachers want to show students what trench warfare might have been like. Students can see a simulation of a trench with rats crawling around, mustard gas being deployed, explosions, rain, etc. Users can click on various sound boxes and video links to learn poetry of soldiers and historians who have researched trench warfare. You can also transport to a camp where you can change clothing to a soldier or a nurse--and it's free! Very educational and highly recommended for history teachers.

In Orlando, Florida a school district has created virtual field trips that allow students to travel to a variety of different areas without leaving the classroom. The field trips are a combination of real video, animations, interactive games and people. These simulations are geared for a younger audience.

Ning groups and forums for SL - some examples of how to implement in the classroom.

It appears that Edusim may be a partial solution to giving elementary students access to a somewhat virtual world. This is an "immersive-touch" product that works with an interactive whiteboard allowing students to interact with and build in the environment. I created an account a year ago and had no motivation to learn about it until I took this ET 700 class. Now I am eager to figure out how to use it in my classroom. Using this technique, a class can have a hands-on virtual field trip, interactive story telling, or show a process in a 3D immersive way. For more explanation:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVFsxev-2sk Edusim alpha 11:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f53LzbK3alw I am going to download this and try it out. Let me know if you have any experience with this product.

Excellent Ning-based resource for teacher and student cross-collaboration. Its aim is to promote the use of virtual worlds as educators. Blog, video, photo, and SLURL meeting locations make this a great one-stop shop for ideas on incorporating second life into the curriculum.