5 Comments

Comment by Milton Broome on May 22, 2008 at 8:32pm

I think all of the things you mention are really important Kevin. Belief in the project from the organisers and a desire to persevere when things go wrong are critical too, I think. I'd like to say that enthusiasm is core but this needs to be backed up with the technical know-how. So, a combination of confidence and competence with a strong support team in place, and of course great ideas.

Comment by Lana Kamennof-Sine on May 23, 2008 at 8:37am

So many things factor into this. Infrastructure, admin support, belief/competence definitely. Ultimately there are two, maybe three factors, depending on how cynical you are. :-)
1. Pedagogically sound reason for using this particular method/tool.
2. Ability to verbalize/communicate this in a manner that is resonant with your organization ie target information to audience. Lose the geekspeak, unless the audience gets it; bottomline costs/savings?, benefits of submersive/experiential learning? what will "sell" the idea
3. Willingness to be on the bleeding edge, considered flakey and a lone voice in the wilderness until it becomes part of the organizational norm :-)

Comment by Kevin Jarrett on May 26, 2008 at 8:09pm

Hope everyone has enjoyed the holiday weekend...

Hi Milton and Lana,

The beauty of being in this game today, as opposed to when Peggy got started, is that it's a lot easier to argue for using virtual worlds thanks to the amount of experience and supporting research that now exists.

We have educators like Peggy who have documented their approaches; foundation-funded whitepapers that do a great job highlighting the big picture; and successful leaders who have had the courage to innovate and reap the rewards.

Anyone out there just getting started ... and need a hand?

-kj-

Comment by Scott Merrick on May 27, 2008 at 4:26pm

Great to see you here this week, Kevin. And I'm truly looking forward to hanging with you some in San Antonio at NECC2008, which is just positively wild with Second Life learning opps. I'm personally out on that edge in my own school setting, a K12 independent school where my primary job is the same as yours, K-4 technology teacher (though are you moving to 3rd grade?). My primary interest for years was Interactive Videoconferencing, a technology which my school has still yet to mainstream; but my interest has gravitated to Second Life, which I primarily use as a way for me to learn from great educators like yourself. I love Lana's "Lose the Geekspeak" comment, and I know that is true, and in my own experience I've found that nothing will interest busy teachers unless you give them time to explore and introduce them to positive experiences for themselves. Finally, (or not) I think there's something to be said for the power of discovering the experience for one's self, as opposed to being spoon-fed it by a teacher or a workshop leader. That may be a defeatist approach or just the view molded by a history of raised eyebrows and "I can't even handle my first life" responses to my enthusiasm for SL...help me out here...

Comment by Kevin Jarrett on May 28, 2008 at 4:35am

Hey Scott,

Great to see you too! NECC will be great fun, looking forward to seeing and presenting with you. (No news yet on my hoped-for move into a regular classroom; it doesn't appear that will happen this year.)

Agree on Lana's "Lose the Geekspeak" comment and your amplification re: interesting busy teachers. At a presentation earlier this month on personal learning environments (essentially taking charge of one's own PD) I talked about several technologies (skype, twitter, nings and blogs) people could easily claim they had no time for. I asked, "if I told you I taped a $20 bill underneath three chairs in this room, how quickly would you all be jumping out of your seats to look for it?" Everyone laughed, but I made my point: when the perceived VALUE is there, people MAKE the time.

So how do we communicate the VALUE we are getting out of SL? Let's be honest, you and I are atypical educators with atypical, technology-focused roles. I think this hurts us to a degree when we are evangelizing a new technology. It's one reason I want to get into a regular classroom. I want to be able to SHOW people the value of these technologies as someone in their world. KnowwhutImean?

Fortunately, we have people like Peggy and the teachers at Suffern who are doing EXACTLY THAT, and whose experiences can be analyzed, reflected on, and promoted ... but first, people have to be listening! Hopefully, as virtual worlds become more mainstream, that listening will come.

-kj-

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