McU media

I have made the initial forray into the world of machinima. This is the art of making video from inside a virtual world. My Second Life machinima can be seem here:

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=815b7e38a9dad05ad42e

I have somehow managed to get myself involved up to my eyeballs in the Second Life Educators Best Practices Conference. It is a real conference with a call for proposals  that are being vetted by real university professors. I am one of the K-12 program chairs and you could have knocked me over with a feather when one of Bernie Dodge’s assistants contacted me with regards to presenting. It appears that many of the big names in edtech would like a shot at this new form of conference in a 3-D virtual world. The line-up is shaping up to include the likes of Kathy Schrock, Peggy Sheehey and David Warlick. The event takes place entirely inside the virtual world Second Life on May 25 all day and evening long. The price is right. It is totally free. If you are not familiar with Second Life, you should register and take a look around. You cannot do it at school however, as it is blocked. It also needs a better graphics setup than most of the school computers and a fast Internet connection. Go to SecondLife.com and try it out. if you are interested in the conference, go to the link below for information and registration. I am also willing to do some personal mentoring in Second Life. My username is Cyndi Uriza. You can send me an IM after you register for Second Life.

http://slbestpractices2007.wikispaces.com/

Yesterday’s iLearn session participants did a great job of developing new ilearn content to support writing in their classes. I want to highlight one course that is open to all McU students and staff. The Wancha/Wilkie Wanna-walkers is a walking/running club that encourages everyone to get moving and shed some of the extra pounds that some of us tend to put on over the winter. I encourage everyone to join this class and get walking! The enrollment key is “walk”.

I will be giving a professional development section about using iLearn for content writing. The content I am going to use for my example is new media. If you would like a taste of the 3-D virtual world Second Life and how it is being used in K-12 education view the video below. Go to the links and choose CoSN video.

PacRimX student exchange

Feel free to comment here about the video and the topic of new media in education.