In March of 2008, Global Kids launched RezEd.org, a community of practice that brings attention to the myriad ways virtual worlds are being used for learning in various settings. RezEd is a robust social network that covers a broad range of educational virtual worlds through news updates; multimedia resources; a podcast series with youth, theorists, practitioners and experts in the field; weekly best practices, and guest-moderated discussions. RezEd is an online hub providing practitioners using virtual worlds with access to the highest quality resources and research in the field to establish a strong network of those using virtual worlds for learning. Most recently, RezEd was recognized by the American Association of School Librarians as one of the "top 25 Best Websites for Teaching and Learning" and honored to be on a list which includes Facebook, Ning, Skype, Twitter, Wikispaces, and Second Life.
Earlier this month, the social networking platform Ning announced it's Apps Platform program and among the initial batch of featured Ning Apps listed in it was the virtual world SmallWorlds.
Well, if you haven't checked this out yet, RezEd.org, set up it's own embedded SmallWorlds members lounge for members of RezEd to be able to interact and chat in 3D while logged in to the RezEd network. Look's like we were even the first to add it to our Ning network page as reported by Virtual Worlds News:
Ning Network Creators can now add the SmallWorlds app to their network. For SmallWorlds, this means instant increased visibility should any of the Ning groups choose to add the app to their landing page. According to SmallWorlds, educator network GlobalKids was the first to add SmallWorlds to its Ning page.
This Thursday, August 20, at 10am PST / 1pm EST, Global Kids will be hosting a Second Life simulcast of an FCC Workshop on the intersections of broadband access and education. The goal of this workshop is to identify potential impact of increased broadband access on education outcomes and how broadband policies can help improve those outcomes. The FCC hopes to learn about ways in which broadband can impact education at the early childhood, elementary, secondary, and post-secondary levels in a cost-effective manner. The workshop will look at current programs, such as e-rate and evaluate how such programs can be improved, for example, to take advantage of new technologies that have arisen since it was established. The workshop will also look at what applications and devices might be used to improve educational performance.
Hosted on MacArthur Island in Second Life (click here to teleport ), this video simulcast of the workshop is open to the general public to attend. Virtual event hosting, moderation and technical support provided by Global Kids.
In addition to the Second Life simulcast, the public can participate in the dialogue via Twitter or Ideascale. Twitter users can post a question on Twitter to @USBroadband4Ed as a public reply or a direct message, which may get addressed by the panelists . After the event, you can continue to provide input and questions to the FCC on the Ideascale website at http://usbroadband4ed.ideascale.com/.
For more information about the upcoming workshop see http://broadband.gov/ws_education.html . For information about the in-world event, contact rik@globalkids.org.
RezEd was named by librarians to be one of the best websites for teaching and learning, alongside Facebook, Ning and Skype
RezEd is delighted to be recognized by the American Library Association as one of the top 25 "Best Websites for Teaching and Learning" and honored to be on a list which includes Facebook, Ning, Skype, Twitter, Wikispaces, and Second Life.
According to their site:
The Best Websites for Teaching and Learning honors websites, tools, and resources of exceptional value to inquiry-based teaching and learning as embodied in the American Association of School Librarians' Standards for the 21st-Century Learner.The Top 25 Websites foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration. They are free, web-based sites that are user friendly and encourage a community of learners to explore and discover.
Specifically, they had the following to say about RezEd:
Learn about virtual worlds in a safe, supportive environment with other educators. RezED is the hub for learning about virtual worlds, providing practitioners with access to the highest quality resources and research in the field.Tip: Check out RezEd’s monthly podcasts, online webinars, virtual chats, and discussion groups.
In addition, RezEd met their following Standards for the 21st-Century Learner
Global Kids projects were the focus of two poster sessions at this weeks GLS, one about the D.I.D.I. initiative and Selen Turkay's awesome study about our Science Through Second Life class at our high school.
We think they were the best posters in the session, but perhaps we're biased. :-)
Images below - enjoy!
Continue reading "[RezEd] Two GK projects highlighted at poster session during GLS" »
Last Saturday I had the honor of presenting at the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference about the work of Global Kids and some of the lessons we have been learning about how to best use virtual worlds for education and learning. The multi-day conference took place in Second Life, appropriately enough given the hundreds of educational projects going on in that platform, but was meant to more broadly cover "educational best practices" from virtual environments writ large.
The title of my presentation was "'Aha!' Moments from Global Kids and RezEd.org." In brief, I talked about how Global Kids and our social network for virtual educators RezEd.org have approached the idea of "best practices" in education and then presented five recent lessons that we've learned about virtual education. You can watch video of my presentation from the new Treet.TV website.
Thanks so much to the VWBPE organizers for inviting me to speak and SLCN.tv for broadcasting my talk to the web. Head to Treet.tv to see more great presentations from VWBPE 2009.
Barry Joseph, along with David Klevan of the United State Holocaust Memorial Museum, were guests on the January 26th episode of the show Metanomics. They both spoke on education in virtual worlds including Teen Second Life. Video highlights from Barry's comments, including further thoughts on the importance of a Teen only virtual space within Second Life, are below along with links to the full video and transcripts.
View or download the full event video here. (MP4)Read the transcript.
In the mood for a good read and one that is an example of something people can use to introduce people to the value and legitimacy of virtual worlds for education, Peggy Sheehy recently authored an article in the publication Tech and Ed entitled "Give your Professional Development Second Life". In it she details how virtual worlds, such as Second Life make great resources and spaces for educator professional development.
She spotlights organizations like ISTE, NMC within Second Life and gives a shout out to RezEd.org and Global Kids' Second Life Curriculum as a key component to anyone looking to use Second Life as a space for professional development.
|
Featured Resources
|
In the Media
|
