Center4Edupunx
Bootstrapping Our Way Across the Curriculum

Dr. Lisa Dawley and Chris Haskell will be keynotes this evening at 6 pm PT at the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference.This is a free online conference held in the virtual world, Second Life. If you prefer to watch it via livestream please go to http://vwbpe.treet.tv/ – the site will be updated one once the sessions start.

Their session tonight it titled: Yes, We Do Want Those Stinkin’ Badges! Personalized Learning in 3D GameLab

3D GameLab, a game-based learning platform, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) teamed up to create “Planet Stewards,” an environmental literacy curriculum for high school students. This project was a recent winner in the DML Badges for Lifelong Learning competition.  Planet Stewards allows students to create their own personalized learning pathways in environmental and science literacy.  Using NOAA’s content and 3D GameLab’s game-based learning platform, students are engaged by choosing among quests. Students earn experience points, levels, and badges to demonstrate their achievements in weather, climate, coastal, ocean and lake science, all aligned to National Science Standards.  Learn more about Mozilla’s initiative to build the nation’s first infrastructure for creating certified badges.

Virtual World Best Practices in Education Conference
March 15- 17, 2012
4 Days and Counting…
An EduPunx Update

Yes it did take awhile, but the schedule is now public and available at http://vwbpe12.vwbpe.org/

The theme is “Be Epic!” so programs had no choice other than to open at 2 pm SLT on Thursday  with KnowClue Kidd and then close with fourworlds ra ( Botgirl’s human alt) http://vimeo.com/38301905 on Saturday at 3 pm.

Thursday Keynote and Invited Speakers at the VWBPE Central Auditorium include:

WoW in School with Peggy Sheehy and Lucas Gillispie http://wowinschool.pbworks.com
3D Games Lab with Lisa Dawley http://3dgamelab.org.shivtr.com/

We’ll have more EduPunx program updates in the next few days… but of course we have to highlight the M& M – Machinima and MMMORPGs!

Machinima ….ah the portmanteau created by Machine and Cinema
Yes – there is another EduMachinima Fest! The group who gave you EduMachinima Fest 2011 are back! If you would like to see the contestants please go to http://bit.ly/wmIXHI or you can join us at 8 pm SLT on Friday, March 16 at Machinima Auditorium.

MMORPGs
World of Warcraft – we are doing a “WoW in School” Keynote, best practices sessions and a tour of World of Warcraft! For more info please go to http://bit.ly/wsqsHL

EveOnline – Kaseido Quandry on Friday 6 pm SLT  will be explaining to us why “Space Makes You Bitter” http://bit.ly/xaBKHs with a tour of EveOnline directly afterwards. If you would like to attend please download EveOnline ahead of time!

Club Penguin (okay MMORPG – may be stretching it a bit.) But at 6 am SLT on Saturday, Edith Halderman will be taking us through our third romp in Club Penguin. http://www.clubpenguin.com/

Minecraft – Massively Minecraft to be exact JoKay and the crew will be presenting at 9 am SLT on Saturday and then giving a tour at 1 pm SLT.  http://www.massivelyminecraft.org/

Additional Social Media from Programs

We are doing a TweetChat about the conference on March 14th from 6 – 7 pm PT/SLT on the twitterverse. hashtag# vwbpe

For more info please go to http://center4edupunx.org/epic-tweetchat

Come introduce yourself on the wordpress site for the MOOC. http://vwmooc.wordpress.com/

On Flickr we have “VWBPE” group

But wait – there’ more

There is also a VWBPE Poster Group http://www.flickr.com/groups/vwbpeposters/

And a VWBPE Social Group http://www.flickr.com/groups/vwbpesocial/

We may even fool around with pinterest http://pinterest.com/ a little – so look for “VWBPE” boards there.

So you may noticed – no direct links to sessions on http://vwbpe12.vwbpe.org/ – here’s info on the workaround.

If you are navigating the site and you see how if might be improved, made a little more user or social media friendly, the webmaster is taking requests – please email info@vwbpe.org

Session Descriptions on VWBPE conference website. http://vwbpe12.vwbpe.org/

We have requested direct links to  sessions -  but there is an inelegant work around you can do if you need a link – right click on the actual link and then choose “copy link location”! Then paste that link wherever you need it.

Feel free to send the webmaster comments. The email is at the bottom of each page or just send to info@vwbpe.org

Legacy Guild Tour with WoW in Schools

Peggy Sheehy

6am – 730 am SLT Departure Area on Posters

This tour is a World of Warcraft Field Trip With The WoWinSchool Project. This 90 minute session/tour starting at 6 am SLT on Friday March 16 is for educators who are new to WoW. Participants will receive tours with experienced WoW players – and did we mention students! Sisters of Elune Realm, United States Server.

Registration for the field trip is required please email abacuscapalini@gmail.com Participants will be emailed with login and server information. This tour does require you to register for a free account and download an application that can take 2 hours or longer depending on the computer. You will also need to download Ventrilo at http://www.ventrilo.com/

Well ……maybe the TweetChat isn’t epic but the topic is.

Wed Mar 14th at 6 pm PT, we’re going to be tweeting about “What is Epic?” especially in education.

We are doing it for the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference.
So there may be a bit of a bias towards virtual worlds and Games.
And since EduPunxers will be there, expect  World of Warcraft, MMORPGs, AR AND ARGs

Also expect tweets about the MOOC ( Massively Online Open Course) we are working on.
We have the portal setup on wordpress – so go over and introduce yourself.
But once the course starts on March 19th – that will be happening over at P2P U.

So yes – we’re inviting all tweople to follow the hashtags – #vwbpe #vwmooc
and tweet along, ask questions or  in the fine tradition of an ISTE SIGVE Grand Poobah – just lurk.

For anyone, looking for more of a TweetUp – A few of us will be hanging out at the “Blogger Saloon” of  Social Network  Knowledge Construction on EdTech Island http://slurl.com/secondlife/EdTech/185/179/24/

A Kickoff Invitation or Come to our Potluck!
Sunday March 4^th
6 – 7 30 pm SLT/PST

EduPunxers have spending time building, designing and decorating at EdTech Island over the past two months. It’s been a different kind of build for us. While there was blank space, this build actually had so many people it really is a builder’s potluck.

One person would place a building or a structure, then the next person would build on that theme. Rather than just going western, everyone involved is a serious fanboy of Steampunk, so we rationalized that having a Cowboys v. Aliens theme would allow us to bring in steampunk and tech.

It’s been an enormous amount of fun and we’d really like to thank our fellow builders for being so awesome:

Lisa Dawley, Boise State University
Trina Davis, Texas A&M University
Chih-Feng Chien, Texas A&M University
Sabine Lawless-Reljic, Ed.D., Ashford University
Aevalle Galicia/Stasia Weston, University of South Alabama
Wrath Constantine, Constantine Air Werkz
Sandra Jett, Texas A&M University, KATE Project Consultant

Anyway, here’s the invitation – please join us!

The Second Life SITE Building Group for The Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE) 2012 conference  http://site.aace.org/conf/ cordially invites all educators to their conference kickoff in Second Life!

In honor of Austin, the city hosting the F2F conference, the theme is Cowboys v. Aliens! The build SITE CITY LIMITS was designed by volunteers from SITE, ARVELSIG and VWBPE and is hosted on EdTech Island in Second Life.

The build includes Machinima City – an Old West set that is currently showing the winners of the EduMachinima Fest from VWBPE 2011 Machinima contest, a stunt corral with information on social presence in virtual worlds, a Blogger’s Saloon, a “Western Epic” seating area, the Gadgetz’s Workshop, A Tours Office created by Aevalle Galicia and the 3D Games Lab House.

Please join us for the hoe-down with DJ – Barely Texan, Aliens v. Cowboys costume contest and more. It all begins at 6 pm SLT/PST and runs until 730 pm. http://slurl.com/secondlife/EdTech/185/179/24/

For more info on SITE conference activities in Second Life please go to http://sitecitylimits.wordpress.com/

Flickr group SITE CITY LIMITS http://www.flickr.com/groups/1860777@N25/
hashtag #siteconf

EduPunxerswill be 3 out of the 4 panelists for the March 1st Virtual Worlds Education Rountable (VWER) panel interview.

Rurik, Chris and Kae will be interviewed and representing for all the work being done by EduPunxers in Programs, Communications and the design of the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference (VWBPE).

Also to be discussed are the EduMachinima Fest and the Virtual Worlds, Games and Education MOOC.

And of course there will be a huge shout-out to our friends and colleagues from ISTE SIGVE,  Virtual Pioneers,  Virtual Education Journal (VEJ),  Second Life Educators of  Escambia County (SLeCC) , and  Virginia Society for Technology and Education (VSTE) who are doing tremendous and tirelessly work on organizing the VWBPE conference.

So please join us in Second Life  on Thursday, March 1st at 11:30am SLT in the VWER  interview area at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/BGSU%20Community/54/85/2

Here’s a list of educators and educators’ organizations that tweet, blog, archive and curate education taking place in immersive 3D environments and games. This does feature many of the organizers of SITE CITY LIMITS, ARVEL SIG, and VWBPE.

Twitter

@siteconf        SITE conference
@bsuedtech   Boise State University EdTech
@arvelsig        AERA  Special Interest Group
@vwbpe          Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education

Organization Blogs

SIG Arvel Ning http://arvelsig.ning.com
SITE http://siteblog.aace.org/
COSN:  RSS feed at bottom of page:  http://www.cosn.org/
SXSW:  RSS feed at bottom of page:  http://sxsw.com/

Educator Blogs

Online Educator  http://lisadawley.wordpress.com/
Lisa Dawley

Center4EduPunx  www.center4edupunx.org
Kae Novak, Chris Luchs, Karla Schorzman, Kate Hagerty and Rurik Nackerud

Immersive Technology 4 Learning http://immersivetechnology4learning.ning.com/
Gordon Holden, et al…

Virtual Outworlding http://virtualoutworlding.blogspot.com/
Selby Evans

EduRealms http://edurealms.com/
Lucas Gillispie

KnowClue Machinima Wiki http://knowclue.wikispaces.com/Machinima+Through+Multiple+Lenses
Marianne Malmstrom

GridJumper’s Blog http://gridjumper.net/
Tanya Smedley

Virtual Pioneers http://virtualpioneers.ning.com/
Andrew Wheelock

Dean Groom’s Blog http://deangroom.wordpress.com/
Dean Groom

Oh Virtual Learning! http://scottsecondlife.blogspot.com/
Scott Merrick

Cognitive Dissonance http://cognitivedissonance.guildportal.com

Ctrl + Alt + Teach http://www.ctrlaltteach.com/
Cat Flippen

South Alabama’s Educators in Second Life http://saeslgroup.wordpress.com/
Stasia Weston

Daniel Voyager’s Blog http://danielvoyager.wordpress.com/
Daniel Voyager

Flickr Groups

SITE CITY LIMITS
CENTER4EduPunx
Virtual Worlds MOOC

YouTube Channels

EdTech at Boise State Channel
csnelsonbsu
EduMachinima Fest

Pinterest
http://pinterest.com/

Center4EduPunx http://pinterest.com/edupunx/

Hashtags
#site2012
#siteconf
#vwbpe
#vwmooc
#BeEpic

Educators using virtual worlds and MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) often use social media to document and curate their experiences. For the SITE conference there is even a Flickr group for  SITE CITY LIMITS that has started to do screenshots of the Cowboys v. Aliens area in Second Life.

Since 2004, the Edublog awards have been offering a community driven people’s choice awards for blogs, social media and social networks centered on education.

For the Edublog awards 2011 – here were the virtual worlds and MMORPG nominations:

Best edtech blog – GridJumper’s Blog http://gridjumper.net/

Best twitter hashtag – #slpeeps

Best use of media/video/podcast – Knowclue’s Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education 2011http://knowclue.wikispaces.com/Machinima+Through+Multiple+Lenses

Best educational use of a wiki  – WoWinSchool http://wowinschool.pbworks.com/w/page/5268731/FrontPage

Best PD/unconference/webinar – Virtual Round Conference Table http://www.virtual-round-table.com/

Best educational use of a social network – Cognitive Dissonance http://cognitivedissonance.guildportal.com
This is the first time that a World of Warcraft guild has been nominated for a EduBlog award.

VWBPE: THE PROLOGUE
or Program Update
Virtual World Best Practices in Education Conference
March 15- 17, 2012

5 weeks and counting but there is still time…..

The CFP is still open until February 15, 2012. The Call for Proposals (papers, workshops, games, Machinima and posters) has been extended to midnight on February 15, 2012.  All that’s required is a 50 – 100 word abstract (full papers required for research stream) that indicates how your work illustrates best practices in education.

Machinima ….the third wave http://blip.tv/beettv/allen-debevoise-5734859
as tweeted by @GridJumper

Machinima – more submissions please! http://www.vwbpe.org/calls/machinima
Machinima really is the gateway to show and document our work that is happening in virtual worlds and MMORPGs. Also, in light of SOPA/PIPA in the United States, ACTA in Europe  and similar regulation elsewhere, we would want to encourage discussion sessions in content and media creation that could take place during VWBPE.  To take a look at last year’s Machinima submissions, please go to http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL13B856672F473B4B&feature=plcp

Posters- Interactive Displays

The theme for this year is “Be Epic!” Posters are a way to showcase your group or research, highlight your activities, show a project, give out resources or even start a conversation with the community. So while you’re writing up the abstract – why not also -go to Virtual Education Journal (VEJ)’s  Virtual Worlds – Why Are We Here? google survey. goo.gl/Id3QR

Games

The Games stream this year is also looking to celebrate user created content. There are many opportunities to present and also to display what you have done. Want some ideas – look at http://center4edupunx.org/games-stream-at-vwbpe

MOOC

MOOC? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_open_online_course We are doing a post-conference MOOC – A Tour of Virtual Worlds, Education and Games. We’ll have the portal and sign-up available on March 1st. We still have time and room for volunteers so if you are interested in helping build a MOOC please sign up at http://bit.ly/qNmbjP

OpenSim

Actively seeking proposals from OpenSim grids. Especially interested in someone willing to do a presentation for people who have never been on OpenSim grid. This could include one or all of the following hypergates, sim on a stick and/or the affordances of OpenSim for educators.

Also looking for an OpenSim coordinator to help in programs and OpenSim bloggers/reporters for the conference. http://bit.ly/qNmbjP

Social Media

Here’s the social media that programs will be posting to

#vwbpe
twitter @vwbpe
On Flickr we have “VWBPE” group
LinkedIn – virtual worlds best practices group
and our very good friend – Thinkerer Melville’s Blog Virtual Outworlding http://virtualoutworlding.blogspot.com/

Kavon Zenovka
VWBPE Program Committee
Virtual Worlds, Games and Education MOOC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNwtfVg6RH4