EDTEC700MULE

There is a lot here! Multi-leveled world with plenty of interesting visuals. It feels much like any science museum would...you walk around to various rooms/exhibits that have some sort of hands on or interactive display that has something to do with space or science in general. Plus there are artifacts from start trek that you can explore.

When I first landed in SL, someone gave me this link and I went straight there. It is small surf island where you can actually go surfing. I havnt been able to try it yet because the boards coast big bucks!, and you can buy swimming trunks, shades, suntan lotions, etc. There are even different wave breaks. There is a small break for slow easy rides and a larger wave for faster rides. Someone said that If you are lucky you might find a board laying around on the beach that you can use.

I was directed here after watching a video from secondclassroom.ning.com about using SL to create Machinima videos. It shows examples of Machinima movies for 6th and 8th grade. I am most interested in the integration of 6th grade social studies curriculum of Greek gods.

This is the best site I found. You are greeted by a sign and welcome notecard that describes the origins of the project and how it has grown to over 100 region and explains the vision of the project:"… has been to inspire and influence future development, to expand working knowledge, to showcase creativity and ideas, and to encourage collaboration both inside and outside of Second Life." You can instantly access a map that allows you to teleport to the location of your choice including four different teaching sites, one for the arts a conference center, Learning, and Red Rocks. There are a multitude of resources here for the educator. Everywhere you turn around there are billboard that advertise upcoming events, signs that connect you to groups, and free things to collect. There are many places to hold meetings from small and intimate rooms to large amphitheaters.

This SLURL includes a library of archives about aeronautics. It is overwhelmed with information. The ones I would choose to use for my students (primary children K-6) would be the Women in flight, the reference desk, pictures/gallery of astronauts (which includes pictures of astronauts landing on the moon), and gallery of African American pilots.

This powerpoint presentation offers more examples of math found in second life. Some of the artwork and architecture is amazing. I would love to implement these in the geometry idea I have for my design document. Now I only wish that my district didn't block second life so I could check some of these out.

A well-organized museum of historically significant artwork from around the world, representing different cultures and religions. The museum is carefully divided into topical areas with beautiful reproductions of many types of art. The descriptions are text-driven which calls for good reading skills and some degree of patience; not for young students, it's probably best for postsecondary students studying world religions or art history. There are 45 slide shows available to the user.

This award-winning website allows children to: * Interact with dozens of famous historical and fictional characters from the arts, literature and sciences. * Submit creative writings for others to read and comment upon. * Explore famous works of art and play art related games. * Undertake challenging quests that take kids into the world of classic literature, the arts and humanities. * Practice typing with typing-tutor games. * Learn best practices for staying safe on the Internet. The website is not free, and they have a Teachers Console for class management. They recently partnered with the San Francisco Opera to bring classical music to young adults.

This site has been around since 1999 and reportedly has a player base of more than one million. Whyville works directly with the Getty, NASA, the School Nutrition Association, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Players, or "citizens" earn a salary of "clams", a virtual currency, by participating in a wide range of educational games and activities. Whyville has become involved in a number of projects aiming to encourage children to consider technical and scientific careers.

Since our group is presenting on a piece of literature, I thought this was nice to see SLURL in action representing Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. " You can go through Capt. Nemo's sub! I can see an endless use of SL to replicate settings from books, that could really add to reading comprehension.

Like my last post, I found this "show" on Treet.tv as well. A great forum start with tons of excellent screencasts of SL interviews and presentations. The last few episodes of the show included:" 5 years of Creative Research in SL," " Maslow's Hierarchical Hideaway in SL," Teaching Math in Virtual Worlds," "Learning 3D: A New Educational Dimension," and "WoW (World of Warcraft) in Schools.

Although ISTE has been mentioned several times in the Diigo group, I thought this link was important to mention since it is an actual ISTE presentation/ interview done in Second Life. I found it really exciting to listen and watch SL used in meaningful educational way. It was linked to Treet.TV, where more SL shows (that might not be educational) can be seen.

This is a virtual Medical Examiner's Office. It is a work in progress but has quite a bit of information and photos that are not for the light hearted. It is a good place for students who are interested in the medical field. It provides scrubs to wear and other free stuff. There are many notecards that provide description of various medical procedures. A work in progress but recommended for those with interest in the medical or forensic field.

The Virtual Ability site is dedicated to helping people with disabilities or chronic health conditions and their families. It is very user friendly allow users to touch various destinations within the site and then be transported to those destinations. As someone new and not very mover able it was a big added attraction. It also has a guided tour including a an air ballon ride. Very cool.

This is a very unique place that many students would find interesting and probably very different from what they consider to be "church". The Shaolin Temple enables the visitor to learn about the different aspects of the Buddhist religion and actually participate by meditating,, doing tai chi, etc. I love that people had remembrances of their loved ones. This place was a peaceful place to spend time and also educational.

This location on SL presents a nice collection of artwork that could be used for art student to visit. The environment is visually appealing and easy to navigate. There are neighboring islands to visit as well, including a replicated "Old Globe Shakespearean Theater". There are a few neighboring islands in this particular SL map that I am going to go back to and visit.

This was a fun place to visit. My little kids enjoyed walking around this scenic SL Zoo. I liked the graphics and the set up. However, I would have liked to be able to interact with the animals. Also, if there were sound effects, they were not available at the time I was in this virtual site. It would have been a nice touch if the creator added informational cards about the different animals that were displayed. I'm going to search around a bit to see if there are other virtual zoos.

This sounds like a great idea for a vitual field trip to a zoo. This might be the only way for teachers to "get out the classoom" because of buget cuts. Too bad there are no sound effects or information cards.

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.

This is another great SL site for beginners. It helps newcomers and people with disabilities. Text on signs are large and easy to read on the boards. It is very much like Discovery Island. It walks you through the simple directions of flying, changing your avatar, IM'ing, etc. I was able to get L$10! There is a place for free stuff also. When I arrived, I looked around, then found a balloon and took a tour. I also went to an auditorium dedicated to Karen Gams. She was instrumental in helping support groups, education for stroke survivors, and people with autism. While searching around, I heard voices. It sounded like a radio show. This is a great site for beginners as well as people with disabilities. If using SL to teach, I would definitely use this site to aid in helping beginners to become more fluent in SL.