Beth's Second Life

I've Moved!

2011-01-02T21:10:00.001-05:00

Since I rarely go into Second Life, please feel free to follow me at my new blog: http://teachingwithbrg.blogspot.com/

Happy 2011!

A View of the Lab: The Future of Linden Lab and Second Life

2010-06-11T09:02:00.002-04:00

Is the virtual sky falling? Is Second Life dying? Is Linden Lab failing?

As the CEO and founder of Literature Alive! in Second Life, I have invested countless hours developing, building, and shelling out serious personal clams to work in an environment rich with educational possibilities.

I have very mixed feelings about the direction LL is taking, but I am not sure these feelings can be articulated in any meaningful way.

Long ago, I decided that I could not have a personal gaming life and a professional educational presence in Second Life. The work of Literature Alive! was more important to me than my personal (read not funded) research on gender communication in virtual worlds. I cut off most personal relationships on the grid that did not deal with education (Adrian, Aerolite). My little band of personal friends (Eloise, Lilly, and Daliah) were invested in Literature Alive! Fellow members of the FIC ("fettered Inner Core" - a term devised by Prokovy Neva to categorize folks invited to San Fran through the SL Views program) are still among the people I love to chat with in the odd chance I am inworld. All of the Lindens I knew and loved (Philip, Chadrick, Blue, Iridium, Everett, Jeska, Claudia, Glenn) have walked or been given walking papers.

The LL that exists today is not the one I loved 3 years ago. I blame this on M. I don't know if it is a good thing or bad thing for LL and SL, but it feels a whole lot more like an insurance company than a progressive and stunning environment.

But, I knew this was coming. When LL took away the land they donated for Dante's Inferno with some kind of lame excuse (we only promised it for 2 weeks...really? Where was I when you mentioned that??), I knew the cards were stacked. The work of the truly creative was less important, and the work of the money makers was more important.

Ok, they are a business and not a charity. I get it.

So, I am sitting here and thinking about what bugs me about all these changes. Aside from some terribly creative souls getting the heave ho, something is eating away at me. And then, while scooping sugar by the truck load into my coffee cup, it dawned on me. The glory days are over.

I have always been that girl that missed the glory days by 1 year. Either they happened before I got there or after I left. The "hey day" or "hay day" has always passed me. I realized, a the coffee pot, that I have been part of the "hey-hay day" of LL and SL. Finally! But, sadly, it is called that because it ends. "Back in the day" means that it survives...but isn't the same.

I can do exactly what I did 3 years ago in SL. Nothing has changed for me. I still use SL to build immersive literary builds for my literature students. Since I never made money, I am not losing any money. Since I can build my own stuff with the dear help of Elo, I don't pay out as much. I stopped asking for land donations a long time ago.

So, for Literature Alive!, Second Life is what it has been for the past three years...it is an excellent tool for imagining literature. My social life happens on the SLED list or on Facebook where my virtual farm and garden need tending.

I suspect that LL will keep kicking, and if they are smart, they will try to focus on what has made SL great. Prok got his wish; the FIC is dead. They hey-hay day is over. It is all business from here.

Image by Mickey

The Old School Way of Creating a Website!

2010-05-23T20:29:00.000-04:00

Designing a web page with Photoshop isn't as hard as I thought it was going to be; it surely isn't brain surgery :-)

With the help of my dear friend, Eloise Pasteur, I was able to design an attractive webpage on my Mac from scratch using just Photoshop 7. To make it into a webpage, I used Smultron to write the CSS/HTML and CyberDuck to load files onto my server.

Windows users can use Photoshop, Notepad and WinFTP to complete this project.

This How-To article only focuses on the design of the site in Photoshop 7. As you will see, there are lots of benefits to using Photoshop instead of pre-created CSS templates. If you would like to learn the next step of this process, how to create CSS style sheets, click here.

While it may seem pointless to design a website with a photo program, there are lots of good reasons to do so. Many free CSS resources give you templates that all look pretty much the same (blog format, one, two or three columns, etc.). Designing in Photoshop allows you to articulate a stunning visual website that is unique.

Planning

As always, it helps to plan your ideas out ahead of time and to think clearly about what you want the end site to look like. Web design requires that we think about the user and any of the possible browsers he or she might use on any of the platforms.

In working with Eloise, I was able to identify the parts that my website MUST have and was able to think about what I wanted the website to "feel" like to the end user. I sketched out my ideas on paper.

Working with Images

Select or create images for your site (background, buttons, etc.). If you are creating original work, you can just skip this part and go to the next section. If you are using images created by others, read on!

The trick in using images found on the web is that you need to make sure you have permission to use them. Images licensed under Creative Commons can be used if their license allows for modification and/or commercial use. Flickr offers a pretty easy process for finding out which images allow for various kinds of uses.

To find an image, go to flickr and type in your search term. Once you get the results, click on ADVANCED SEARCH (next to the search box).

Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and check off the box next to Creative Commons and modify. If your site is going to be commercial, you will need to check off that box, too.

If you prefer, you can also create buttons with programs like Buttonator. I created my own buttons using this image.

If you decide to use a background picture for your web page, you will need to find one that is not too distracting and works with your theme. You can use an existing picture or use the guidelines above to find one that is licensed under an appropriate Creative Commons license.

Building the Dream

Once you have all the ingredients picked out, you are ready to start building your dream. Start with the background layer first. You will want to think about the users and how their browsers will display your website. Since there are so many different sized screens and so many browser choices, it is good to use the industry standard.

In this example, I am using a background image of a book and flowers as bullet points.

Normally, a background image should be between 670px-1000px wide. There isn't really an industry standard, but Blogger uses 740px wide. Buttons and icons can range from 1px on up depending on the look you are trying to achieve. I used 25px by 25px because I wanted to sustain some of the flower's detail. You will want to check your site in different browsers to check the overall look.

The Layout Process

Once you have a rough idea about how big you want your images, you are ready to start laying out your work in Photoshop. This part is really fun because it is like table where you can just spread everything out and see what fits together nicely. Don't worry too much about the size of your images because you can always adjust them as you go along.

Step 1: Save your Background as Layer 0

Open up the Layer Palette (F7) (if it is hidden), and double click on "background." It will ask you if you want to rename it Layer 0; click OK.

Step 2: Create a Title

Using the text tool (the T on the toolbar), create a title for your web page. Play around with the color and font and where you want it located on your site. Just remember that not everyone has crazy fonts, so it is best to stick to standard fonts.

Once you have written what you want, click on the "move" tool (the little arrow at the top of the toolbar) and move the text where you want it.

Step 3: Adding Buttons, Bullets, and Icons

Each button, bullet, or icon will need its very own layer. You should definitely label each one as you create it to avoid confusion later. For example, the first flower in my project was named "flower" and when I copied it, it defaulted the name to "flower copy 1" and then "flower copy 2" and so on. Be sure to name each copy as you create it, so you are sure to match each image with the correct content.

Getting Ready for Publication

Once you have your image and text where you want it, you might want to add in some "space savers" as I did with the black boxes. These black boxes will be replaced with video screens that will be coded into the HTML. The black boxes help me visualize what the final website will look like.

The PSD file you generate is the design document that you (or another person) will use to guide them in creating the HTML and CSS files that go to make up the webpage. In addition, some of the layers may be used to create image files in a web-friendly format such as jpg or png. In my design, the flowers and the book background wereused in this way.

There are no free tools that directly convert the PSD design template into CSS and HTML, but there are some that aren't free. I used Smultron (a text editor) to create both, but you can use tools such as CSS Creator (http://csscreator.com/version2/pagelayout.php) if you prefer, to try and generate the CSS automatically if you are unsure.

Finally you will want to FTP your files (HTML, CSS and jpg/png files, not the PSD) onto your server space so it is available on the web.

Your work in Photoshop is complete! You now have a unique webpage that looks nothing like the same-old stuff out of the web! Do you have any tips to add?

Image by Paukrus

Personal Learning Networks? The Latest Buzz Phrase?

2010-05-18T19:45:00.002-04:00

I am always skeptical of new buzz words in education. Every so often, there is a new "flavor" of the week, and all the teachers run toward the light - until a newer, cooler, light appears.

I had that feeling about the phrase "Personal Learning Network." Ugh. Everyone was talking about their PLN this and their PLN that. Ugh.

So, I ignored it. I didn't listen to any podcasts about it; I didn't read any blog posts about it; I didn't tweet about it; I didn't read tweets about it...I ignored it.

But, then I went to the annual #CAISCT retreat and listened a bit more attentively because these folks are my friends, and I like and respect them a whole lot. And, by hook and by crook, I came away appreciating the concept and understanding the buzz.

We all have personal learning networks. For me, Eloise Pasteur and Jean-Claude Bradley are at the top of my list. Jean-Claude got me into this whole mess of loving educational technology with his work on UsefulChem and EduFrag gaming. Eloise has been my right hand woman in Literature Alive! in Second Life. She is also the first person I turn to when I need help with anything (ANYTHING!) computer related.

But, I sat down and just brainstormed on paper other people that I always read or look to...people, blogs, organizations...and, wow, I really do have a PLN.

Here are some other peeps and groups that I consider my teachers:

But, this list is small and my RSS is now up to 143 subscriptions, and my TweetDeck blips every 12 seconds because I search for #edutech, #edtech, #English, #teachers, #teaching, #professors, etc.

Yeah, so, ok, I get it. I have a great PLN and it is growing exponentially. I am not a fan of the buzz phrase, but I think the concept is right on. We have people from whom we learn, and these people make us the great successes we are at work, at home, and in life.

So, to my PLN - I love you; keep making magic and inspiring me to be a better teacher, professor, and creator.

Celebrating 10 Years

2010-04-30T01:54:00.002-04:00

A lot can happen in ten years. One decade. Yesterday, I was getting in the car with my Mom and Dad wearing an ivory and rum pink wedding gown...and ten years later, my life looks so different, but is very much the same.

My Mom, if she were here, would have said, I wasn't sure you'd make it this long. She knew that I marched to my own little drum and parading around on the streets with no names. She was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to stay in step with one other person for all of eternity. But, she was wrong.

Certainly, over the years, my band has included lots of people, but over in the corner, playing his own little drum kit, is Dave. Sometimes our cymbals crash and clash, but, overall, the music is good; it has a strong beat, a nice rhythm, and it is as diverse as it simple.

There is no guesswork involved; Dave and I are polar opposites on most things. He like acid metal and hot dogs; I like classical piano and tofu. He likes leather biker jackets and old cars; I like Indian dresses and Range Rovers. He reads books about rock stars; I read books about Laura Ingalls. We are very different.

But, there are some things that we have in common, and these have been the most important things in life.

We both believe in God, and our friendship and love is rooted in Him. We both celebrate individuality over conformity. We both love children and believe that they deserve the best we can give them. We both believe in the power of prayer. We both believe in the sanctity of music. We both believe that charity is more than giving money. We both believe that loyalty is the best give we can give our friends and family. We both believe in the power of forgiveness, and we always find a way to work out an argument.

Things are never perfect, and I am not perfect, and he isn't either. But, for ten years, we have learned to do what we said we would do when we said our vows 10 years ago:

Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Happy Anniversary, Dave!

Creating Ringers for the iPhone :-)

2010-04-19T04:10:00.000-04:00

I love music, and it is so awesome to be able to attach a sound to a person on the iPhone. It also serves as a great warning if you aren't in the mood to talk to your Great Aunt Essie.

There are two ways to go about getting yourself a ringtone for your iPhone. You can either do it yourself in iTunes (which can be easy if you have recently purchased a tune), or you can create and/or download some awesome ringtones online using free programs. This post will help you to do both.

iRinger

iRinger is an awesome site, and you get 25 ringtones but then have to pay up (10 clams per month). It is also only for PC users. The 25 freebies ought to do the trick for most people, but, still and all, we at MUO like FREE FREE FREE stuff!

Going Free Style

In the quest for finding FREE 3G Ringer sites, I came by some super sweet places to create and download free ringtones. The best out there is Audiko. It is both PC and Mac friendly, and it is FREE!

You can upload any song from your computer, use a link, or provide a YouTube URL. It will then allow you to clip the section you want to use as a ringtone. Finally, you can download the clip for free! They have options for PC users, iPhone users, AND for people with older phones!

Now, don't be scared...there IS a HUGE HUGE button that says "Send to your phone" but you DO NOT NEED TO DO THAT...that is for a paid service (and is probably how they are able to do the rest for free). You can create your ringtone for free without sending anything to your phone.

Once you create your 30 seconds of bliss, you will have the option to download it in a variety of formats like on this Lady Gaga clip.

In a Pinch?

If you don't have time to create a ring tone, there are lots and lots of choices for ones that have already been created. Simply select from the list, and you will be able to download it for free (just remember, it is NOT NECESSARY to send it to your phone!).

Once you have the ringtone saved on your desktop, simply drag and drop it into your ringtone folder in iTunes. Go into your iPhone and assign the tone to one of your lucky callers!

Do it Yourself in iTunes!

If you want to go old school, make the ringtone yourself in iTunes. Just remember that you can ONLY create ringtones from music you purchased in the iTunes Store. If you downloaded a song from somewhere else, you are out of luck.

To create the ring tone, simply right click on the song, and choose "Create Ringtone." You will be able to select a portion of it to use, and iTunes will do all the rest for you. It will put it right into the ringtone folder, and it will create a little bell icon for in your library.

Be prepared, though, because not ALL the songs you purchased can be made into ringtones. There is some sort of secret formula about when you purchased the song and whether or not you have the most current version of iTunes.

Have you ever created your own ring tone? Do you have a favorite site to create and download them for free?

Ning gives Educators the Heave Ho!

2010-04-16T20:09:00.003-04:00

Okay, not quite...but I am really sad about Ning's decision to pull the carpet out under all of the teachers that relied on its free services. Jane Hart has a nice article about it, and Tech Crunch was the first to break the bad news.

Sadly, Ning's "only" solution is to save pocket change by nixing their free services. Sadly, the ones that used that service most was the educational community. We turned to them, championed them, and spread the gospel of Ning at conferences, workshops, and in classrooms. And now we - literally - have to split or pay up the pot.

What Ning fails to realize is that we used their service BECAUSE it was free and because our schools couldn't or wouldn't afford to pay for services like it. That same negative cash flow still stands, and so we have no more money now (less money, actually) than before, so if they think they are going to intimidate us into buying the farm, well, sadly, their crops will remain untouched.

This is a total crash and burn for Ning, and the new(ish) CEO should be super proud that he is driving one of the best services straight into the ground.

There are other services, and a smart start up will take over and improve what Ning started. They will do it with less staff and cut the overhead; they will wisely use advertising and Social Networking to their advantage. They will provide FREE service and be rewarded by innovation instead of damnation.

Good Bye, Ning. Don't let the virtual door hit ya...

Back? GeWar2

2010-04-04T19:34:00.004-04:00

So I haven't really been here for a while, but that is all about to change! I am writing more these days (mostly over at MakeUseOf), and I think it is high time to head back over to this side of the blog :-)

Since I am not teaching in SL, I have not been inworld much, but I am going to be using it this May to teach American Romantic literature and Introduction to Fiction. I have also been looking at other games like GeWar2.

Here is a review of it:

If you have a bit of free time and would like to try your hand at world domination, Google Earth War v2 (GeWar) might be the game for you! While it isn't a fast paced shoot em up kinda game, it is a lot like RISK and requires planning, strategy, and wit.

I have to admit that I never heard of version 1, but was totally excited when version 2 was born. I like games that make you think, and, as a Google Earth addict, I was keen on using GE for more than directions to the hair salon. Sadly, the awesome game concept is slaughtered by poor directions, difficult processes, and low turn around.

I was totally thrilled to take part in this review because I love games, and I love world domination (heh). This game promised to be hoards of fun for my character, Commander Young. In this version of GeWar2, players gather with others around the world to hunt for jewels and develop armies. There are over 1300 cities to search and there are alliances to build and enemies to destroy! My armies of deviant goddesses were ready; our money was overflowing; opportunities over floweth...but, splat, nothing.

For starters, the game is hard to figure out. The directions make absolutely no sense, and it took me forever to figure out that all I really needed to do to start was load up the first KMZ map.

Grrr. So, after I had that part sorted out, it took another hour to figure out how to select a home base. You have to zoom in slowly to see the cross hair, but you can't be too near an existing city or by a nosy neighbor. You have to keep checking the side bar in Google Earth to see what you are not doing right, but once you figure all that out, simply double click on the map to set your pin.

So, now I am two hours into this game and have yet to even dominate my cursor, let alone the world. I must admit...my passion for conquering Rome was waning. But, the desire to rule all of Christendom was still slightly alluring...so I marched onward.

The compass must have been broken or my GPS out of commission. I had no clue what to do next. Once you establish your home base, you are sent to your GeWar page, and you'd "think" there would be clear directions about what happens next...but...um...no.

Because the directions were not clear, I had no idea that I "shoulda" housed my base somewhere more central to things like fishing, oil fields, or cotton plantations. Evidently, the great New England states aren't known for their prowess.

But, since you don't actually load that map until AFTER you select your home base, I was stuck with Puritan Goddesses. We were no where NEAR close to either the fishing waters of Australia OR the oil fields of the Middle East. We were at least on the same continent as the cotton, but, sheesh...cotton???

(Side note...the graphics aren't the best, but they are OK given the difficulty of adding graphics to GE on a larger scale).

But, I didn't let geography get me down (even though this IS a game about geography and topography, right?). I paid hard earned Geos (the currency of the game) to place my ship, and oil rig, and cotton plantation, and diamond mine workers so I could train my army.

When I was at the screen I had enough Geos to train lots of my armies to be Goddesses with Gusto...but, because I was so new, or because I am a dolt and couldn't figure it out, I wasn't able to train my armies. As I will mention later, the boo-koo GEOS I had stashed and earned vanished over night, literally, so I have not been able to afford to train the warrior girls.

In the midst of this annoying and chaotic game, I kept thinking that the concept of the game is stellar. I really like the premise of it, and think it would be awesome for teachers to use if they modified the (really) bad and non-existent directions.

One sweet feature, for example, is that you can go on a treasure hunt to find jewels. The jewels are hidden in major cities or near real historical places, and you can learn about the places whilst hunting for the gems. I love that idea, and I think the developers could really go crazy if they clean up the documentation for the game.

To find the jewel, you were able to learn about the Pyramids of Giza.

I was actually refreshed after finding the jewel and thought maybe the game wasn't so bad after all. I still had high hopes because I love a game that teaches something, and I love rubies. Oh, and I wanted to rule the world.

So, I started looking for how on (Google) Earth was I supposed to start dominating...and, for not a lack of trying, I could not figure out HOW to attack another army.

Granted, I was tired. I had been playing this game for 5 hours and had one little ruby and some new factoids about Giza in hand. I had a nice sized army for a newbie. I had things growing and getting caught all over the planet. But, hmmm, how to attack thy neighbor???

My strategy was to find other clueless souls and attack them. But, I couldn't find them. Well, I couldn't find them for a while. So, I figured I would start with a land locked country like Chad because, well, I dated a guy named Chad when I was much younger and he was a jerk. So, it seemed as good a place as any.

Crap. Evidently, New England isn't close enough to Chad to wing zing an attack. I didn't have enough oil. I had to wait for my oil fields to mature or mate or whatever they were doing over there in the Middle East before moving my army.

Fine.

I understand that not everything gets spelled out in the directions, and I should have picked a better place than the Berkshires to host home base, but, c'mon. If I had known that there were going to be oil fields and fishing waters and whatever, I might have considered thinking about where the game designers would put them.

I had no idea what I was getting into with this game. And, now that I know better, there isn't a thing I can do about it. As the site makes perfectly clear a trillion times, you can only have one character or you get the virtual heave-ho.

So, at the end of day one, I had a fairly serene inventory but no clue what to do next besides wait.

The problem with a game this complicated is that I can't do it while balancing a crazy life. I couldn't get back to it the next day because I didn't have another 5 hours to devote to decoding the instructions. So, when I went back 3 days later, I had lost all my money, been attacked by a bunch of armies, and, ugh, I just gave up.

But, I wanted to be fair about the game, so I recruited some gamer students to play it. I also enlisted the help of a friend who is totally into world domination. These three gamers could not figure out the first KMZ file. None of us understood the instructions. We looked for FAQs.

Nothing.

In concept, I love the idea of this game. As an educator, I love the idea of learning about war using games like GeWar2. BUT, and this, my friends, is a HUGE BUT, the documentation and descriptions have to make sense and be USEFUL to a new player.

Image by John LeGear

Am I a SWAG Hag?

2009-07-05T12:00:00.007-04:00

Definition: SWAG hag - a person that only goes to the vendors to get SWAG ("Stuff We All Get").

Picture Credit: The MiScope by Zarbeco...my NUMBER ONE piece of SWAG and the coooooooolest product demo ever.

Visiting the vendors at NECC was lots of fun. The nerd inside actually went through the program in advance and marked off vendors that had goods that I am interested in learning more about (clickers, wireless, etc.). Since I am always on the hunt for cool things for the faculty and students at Hotchkiss, I expand my search to things for science, math, and other disciplines.

So, what about SWAG? I have to admit...I LOVE SWAG! It might just be a function of having a 6 and 7 year old that love little trinkets. OR...it might be that our suitcase ripped and all of Dave's shirts got milkshake spilled on them, so earning tee shirts was a solution to a potentially expensive problem.

But, does SWAG make me think better about a company?

The reasonable girl in me says that if a company is sporting expensive SWAG, they have to jack up the prices of their products to cover the costs of the SWAG. Little staplers can not possibly be cheap.

But, as Elvis dazzled me and I had a shiny new iPod shuffle in my pocket, I wondered how much of a SWAG hag I really was...and if my inner Hag would win over the practical girl we all know and (hopefully) love.

I have about 4 bags full of SWAG. To help Dave out, I sat through 5 presentations to get him tee shirts, but, ethically, I would only sit through presentations of products I was interested in learning about (clickers, mostly). We have one set of Turning Point clickers, but I wanted to learn more about them and their competitors. Since I am a SMART fan (LOVE LOVE LOVE their products), I did get myself a SMART shirt so people would know my genius before speaking to me (har). Office Depot (Tech Depot) will be remembered because they gave out those little extender USB thingers that I desperately needed for my Mac. Aruba Networks sent me a little coin in advance of the conference, and when I turned it in with the card, I received an iPod Shuffle. Now, I had no idea what Aruba did, but I am much more likely to remember that they can provide a wireless solution to Hotchkiss because our car rides are now quiet as my son listens to his favorite tunes on his little Shuffle. And, I am eager to pass along their information to our IT department because they made such an effort to contact me. The SWAG I loved most was from Zarbeco. They gave out these little bugs in plastic that can be used with these UBER COOL hand held microscopes. Honestly, I am buying one just for myself because they are so uber cool. And, truly, I probably would not have stopped at this little vendor if I had not spotted the little bug thingies. After chatting for a half hour and playing with these mics, I am totally recommending that our science department buy them. So, in this case, yet again, SWAG brought me in...and SWAG helped me to see something I wouldn't have seen.

In other cases, it just wouldn't matter what they gave out. For example, I am a Google fan, so it doesn't matter that they handed out uber cool slinkies. They were great hits with my kids, but I would still love Google anyway. And, while I wanted a coveted SMART shirt, I love their stuff regardless of the tee shirt. PBS Kids, too, had great SWAG. They gave out little notebooks that I am using for Geocaching. But, again, I am already a fan of all of their work. Scholastic also had great prizes, and I won a Clifford the Dog USB. But, I loved them, too, without the little prize.

So, am I SWAG hag? Probably.

Even though it isn't important in the end, clever SWAG will get me to stop at your stand. Things like sticky pads and pens just won't do it...you have to sport little staplers, plastic buggies, or USB port thingers. If you are going to bother to do SWAG, make sure it is cool and different. But, don't worry, in the end, it is your product, not the SWAG, that will get my endorsement :-)

#NECC2009

NECC Reflections: The Good, The Bad, and The Untouchables

2009-07-03T23:08:00.003-04:00

I just returned from the best conference I have ever attended (and I have been to a LOT of really great conferences!). ISTE's NECC conference is, by far, the best out there. I learned so much, and was able to meet some of the coolest people EVER - Mitchel Reznek from MIT and Alice Christie of Geocaching fame (to name just a few). I also had the chance to meet some buddies from Second Life!

But, I am an uber nerd, so I wanted to use my time to learn about concepts that would be useful to the teachers and students here at Hotchkiss. And, as much as I would have LOVED to play with SL in the SL lounge, I never actually made it there! I was off learning about how to use NASA's tools and MIT's Scratch Ed and the Library of Congress and US National Archives and these cool funky microscopes that are TOTALLY rockin. I spent some time at the vendors, but didn't even get 1/3 of the way through the 5 football fields worth of them. I listened to my favorite speaker in all of Christendom (well one of them), Alan November, while volunteering as a NECC "Ask Me" person.

I LOVED LOVED LOVED the poster sessions the most. I learned all sorts of things and gathered ideas to share with my colleagues at Hotchkiss. The student presentations were just fabulous, and it was great to see teenagers all engaged by teaching drooling adults! I did a poster session for the first time, too, and OMG, they are a bit harder than straight presentations! They are longer, for one, and my booth was busy from start to finish. This very sweet woman came to meet me, and she says she follows the blog, and it was such an honor to meet her and to hear how much she appreciates the work we do at Literature Alive! Truly, Eloise and I don't get a paycheck from our work with Lit Alive! so it always helps to know that people appreciate the work we do in SL. It was just so great to meet her!

There wasn't much I didn't like about the conference itself; it is REALLY well organized. The conference committee needs a totally huge medal and fully stocked bar, as they did a tremendous job putting it all together. The convention center in DC is nice, but the food was expensive and crappy.

There was only one thing that really put me off, though, and it has little to do with the conference itself. I have heard echoes of this in other blogs about how the "in crowd" is really kinda snooty. There is a group of EduTechPeeps (for lack of a better label), that think that their words, their blogs, their "projects", are the best out there, and they spend all their time talking about how great they are and how important they are, and they don't spend any time listening to other really great (but unknown) peeps, and they certainly don't pause for 12 seconds to offer friendly advice or mentoring. Sadly, I saw it over and over as people tried to introduce themselves to the self-appointed "Masters" and were given the cold shoulder-nod thing. PUHHHHHLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE. Rebel me...I didn't even bother. I have read their blogs and tweets, and, trust me, they are only interested in hearing themselves pontificate. They couldn't hear you if you were playing a bass drum AND a stand of pipes. They can only hear the clamour of their puffed up egos.

The bottom line is students. Period. If there is too much ME ME ME going on, no one is worrying about what the students are learning. I simply walk away and find the people who are saying THEM THEM THEM. Take up your hiking stick, and join the trek!

Visit Rime of the Ancient Mariner!

2009-03-25T09:41:00.004-04:00

Need something fun to do today? Head over to Literature Alive's Rime of the Ancient Mariner build at Drexel Island!

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Drexel/189/35/24

Literature Alive! and the Conference Circuit

2009-03-24T16:16:00.003-04:00

Working on the builds for Literature Alive! is only half of the work Eloise and I do in Second Life. Eloise has her own thriving business as a goddess scripter/builder and RL educator, and, of course, I have my own RL educator work at Hotchkiss. On the side, I do a lot of presentations, workshops, and faculty development projects including trainings, conferences, and workshops.

Conferences are energizing, and I truly love participating in them. Of the conferences I love most, NMC's conferences top the list. They really select top speakers/presenters, and I always learn the newest and most cutting edge stuff. Their energy is amazing, and Larry Pixel (RL Larry Johnson) and CDB Barkley (RL Alan Levine) and really great guys.

The NMC Symposium on New Media and Learning opened today, and I am presenting on Google in Second Life on Thursday. If you have teh chance, PLEASE go register! It is well worth the money spent, and it is all online, so you can stay in your jammies!

If you don't have spare cash, check out the Best Practices in Education conference happening this weekend in Second Life. The schedule was a bit hard to find, but here it is.

So, to see if anyone actually reads this blog; what do you think of Desi with short hair? T'is a little poll ;p

Rime of the Ancient Mariner, or The Albatross Returns

2009-03-24T01:47:00.003-04:00

Now that House of Usher is done, we are moving on over to the Rime of the Ancient Mariner build. I love Samuel Taylor Coleridge's wicked sense of doom and gloom. We have all felt the weight of that albatross from time to time.

In my renaissance, I have been connecting with old friends in SL. Many of them are wearing the weight of those virtual albatrosses (albatrossi?). As budgets get cut, monies for virtual education are slim to none, and it gets hard to make a case for supporting virtual worlds when supporting the real world is hard enough. It is challenging to see value when the fog is thick and the seamates are dropping like flies all around you; it is easier to just to jump ship and swim to a safe shore where the birds are cute and don't smell like dead penguins.

However, there is hope. There is ground under that fog; there is light. The Mariner came back to tell his story. There was no dead yucky bird grossing out the bridal party; no - he lived to tell the tale.

We are all in a storm right now. But, there is hope, and we have a tale to tell. Our students need us to be creative all of the time. If we give up during the worst of times, our hope for the best of times is slighted. We need science folks to keep thinking about ways to cure the ills of the world; we need engineers to think up better and stronger bridges; we need people to find better and useful ways to communicate. It is only through the storms that we generate the best tales.

The Virtual Edgar Allan Poe Classroom ReBorn!

2009-03-23T00:59:00.005-04:00

Eloise and I worked all day and night on recreating the Edgar Allan Poe Classroom (AKA "The House of Usher Classroom). Eloise whipped up a snappy drawbridge, and you can read or listen to several Poe texts before "trying" to gain entry to the House to find text-related artifacts. Stop in at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Drexel/200/25/24

Near the Poe Classroom, you will find a brief little exhibit called "Virtual Rhetoric." Complete with tank, the lesson address visual rhetoric in virtual worlds. Stop by at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Drexel/178/52/24

MANY MANY MANY thanks to Jean-Claude Bradley at Drexel for providing land sponsorship to Literature Alive!!!

The Heroic Journey

2009-03-21T01:27:00.005-04:00

Among the builds that Literature Alive! still operates, the Archetypal Cave is among the list of the living. Visitors can learn about archetypal literary theory and the quest of the hero. In a classroom, it is an engaging and interactive lab full of hunts and student-created content. Alone, however, it is a pretty dish with stale candy....pretty to look at, but a little dusty.

In Second Life, this seems to be the norm. There are lots of pretty dishes. There are lots of fabulous places that are chalk full of content but are empty, abandoned, and, well, virtually dusty. Even my most favorite builds are empty when I take people to visit them...they have, somehow, lost their magic, their wonder, their passion...

Right now, Eloise and I are finishing a how-to chapter on building a viable workspace. This comes at a time when we have lost more than 50% of our donated land because the owners have given up. What can I possibly tell businesses about Second Life when we are holding on to Literature Alive! by a simple thread? Should we pack it in? The thought has occurred to me on more than a few occasions.

But then I think about those wandering avatars. The ones that get tired of the hair of the week hunts and lucky chairs and type "Poe" into the search box. They will find the Literature Alive! Edgar Allan Poe House of Usher plot hosted by AJ Kelton and Montclair State University. Or, if they type "literature" they will find the Literature Alive! group that was formed for 3 people and now is home to a few hundred. They can find Dante's Inferno in a simple search and learn about Italian and literary history. These are the reasons why packing it in is not an option. As a teaching professor, the mission was always to get students to love literature. The goal wasn't to be the most popular professor, but to be the professor that sparked interest and cultivated a little flame

The virtual dream was the same. I started Literature Alive! alone as an alternative to the crappy content that can be found in SL. Literature Alive! would have died without the scripting genius of Eloise Pasteur, and since she came on board, we have celebrated all sorts of successes for over 2 years now. The students that have gone through, most notably Daliah Carter, have become proficient communicators. Daliah is such a success story...an adult learner gone from sewing factory worker to newspaper editor. She never planned to be a writer., but Second Life gave her a chance to write publicly. It is for the the Daliahs of the world that we need to keep on track.

That said, we do need some fresh air; we to open the windows in our virtual world and kick out the rugs. Once the light cracks through the dust, we can see what it is that makes us love virtual worlds. Eloise and I have been kicking up the rugs, and underneath the dust, we are finding the gems that have made us strong. The content, the builds, and the documentation have all been strong since the first prim was raised in the name of Literature Alive! While things might be dusty, the is solid. There is no structural damage. There has been no weathering.

Jean-Claude Bradley (SL Horace Moody) is donating some of the land at Drexel Island to Literature Alive! In real life, Jean-Claude is one of the most inspirational people I know, but he has now become that open window of fresh air for my virtual life. Literature Alive! is organic, much like the chemistry he teaches, and it relies on constant care, examination, and experimentation. Alone, the structures are just molecules, but adding the chemistry of intellect and passion will be the air that is much needed for us to stay successful in SL. What makes SL the tool of choice is its ability to connect people together - the collaboration of many for the sole purpose of educating others.

OK, so we have let ourselves get dusty. There are always Pledge and Old English. We need to grab our rags and polish and get to work. It is time for Spring Cleaning!

Where Have I Been???

2009-03-19T22:34:00.002-04:00

Lordie! It seems that I have been away from this blog FOREVER, and then I checked the date, and, d'oh! - t'is true!

Life, as is usually does, got in the way of composing witty posts for all y'all. Most specifically, my mother's terminal illness raised its bar on Christmas Day, and it has been an all consuming journey. She is stable for the moment, and I can breathe once again.

Sooo....I'm back!

My Second Life is a little smaller now, as I have packed up a number of our builds. Sadly, the economy is hurting everyone, and my generous donors are giving up property left and right. One day, Literature Alive! might have its own island to call home, but, for now, all of the builds are available on request with a few stable properties left standing. It is sad to watch SL shrinking. It is a great tool for educational collaboration, and I hope that, one day, the powers that now rule LL will see the educational value of programs like Literature Alive! - the ones that serve the community as a whole and not a specific college or university. But, then again, they are a business, and money is usually the bottom line, so I guess we will just keep on trucking with what we have out there.

It feels good to be back :-)

A Card from the Boys

2008-12-14T14:12:00.001-05:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Support Joel Tenenbaum

2008-12-04T06:44:00.003-05:00

Please join me in supporting Charlie Nesson (Harvard) in spreading the word about supporting Joel Tenenbaum. Joel is being charged with pirating 7 songs using Kazaa in 2004. He could have to pay a million bucks for those 7 songs. I urge you to gaze at your iPod and count how many songs you might have to pay for if you were in his shoes.

There is a Facebook group to join, but also BLOG about the issue! Twitter it! Spin it off into the viral world. This poor guy is standing where any one of could be...let's STAND UP FOR HIM!

Award Winning

2008-12-03T14:01:00.003-05:00

T'is the Season to win awards. MANY congrats to Drexel Island for winning a nomination for the EduBlog Awards! I would like to hope that Literature Alive!'s Women and War Classroom helped, but, truly, it is likely that Jean-Claude Bradley's amazing work with chemistry is the culprit! To vote for them, go to EduBlog Awards voting.

I always wondered how these voting things work. I didn't get to vote for the Webby Awards, and I didn't even know that the EduBlog Awards were happening. I always think those things are stacked anyway. The same bloggers (the "A" List) win every year, and yet the people who I always think should win (Vicki Davis/Kathy Shrock/Larry Ferlazzo) do not. And, of course, I never voted because I had no idea there was voting going on. So, the blogosphere is a bit like High School. The popular kids are very popular amongst themselves, and the other kids, the ones that really make a difference, get little recognition. The prom queen is someone made only of legend and taffetta. Not that I think the winners aren't deserving, and there are surprises every once in a while (YAY DREXEL!). But, I have vowed to vote for these things from now on.

Mashable, by far my favorite blog ever, is promoting the Open Web Awards. They have all sort of nifty skippy categories, and you can have a voice in who gets picked.

I am not a campainer, but I will champion this one cause: VOTE FOR DIIGO! Diigo is the best social book marking system out there. It is easy to use, and, honest to Pete, I get so many great resources from there! SO VOTE.

Choices

2008-11-23T08:53:00.004-05:00

I caught this TED talk by Barry Schwartz on the "Paradox of Choice." Fascinating. Although created in 2005, I believe the content is still important (and, I am holding out for the Creme Brulee torch!). We have so may choices, and the paralysis of choice is very true.

Here is his advice: "The secret to happiness is low expectations." and "We all need a fish bowl."

He is a great speaker:

The Book Club

2008-11-17T00:36:00.004-05:00

I needed to feed my brain. It was starting to dry rot. Well, maybe it was always a bit touched with soggy wood, but I felt the need to read something other than a blog.

The beauty of New England (besides the leaves in fall) is that everyone belongs to at least one book club. I joined the one for female faculty at Hotchkiss, and I was so excited and motivated at the first meeting.

Instead of the traditional format, this month they did a "share" session where you bring in books you have recently read and loved and share them. At the end, you toss them into a circle and pick out a few to take along to read.

I selected three books, and have started the first one: La Tour Dreams of the Wolf Girl by David Huddle. So far, the book is an excellent read (even though I HATE the main character, Suzanne). But, truly, to get me to hate a character so well is a gift of genius. The opening story about Suzanne on the school bus sets the tone for her character, and I dislike her already. If La Tour is indeed an "old fart,"Suzanne is his modern prodigy (an old "fartress"?).

For our next meeting, we are all reading Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. Ms. Brooks spoke at Hotchkiss earlier this term, and I am eager to read another book by her.

People have asked if I have given up on Second Life. The answer is no. I am not teaching right now, and so I am using my free time to explore some other things, but I will be back again once I am teaching. Plus, my best friends are in SL (Eloise and Dal), so I will be back very soon.

Is Blogging Dead?

2008-11-13T09:07:00.003-05:00

I just read a fascinating article over at the Economist about the "death" of blogging. My knee jerk reaction was that, NO! BLOGGING IS ALIVE!

Is it?

True Confessions of a Social Media Slacker!

2008-11-07T02:10:00.004-05:00

Lordy...I updated my MySpace page today. Jeebus; the pics were like 2 years old! Then I got a Plurk thingy that said I had to update my Plurk. And, I hadn't been there for a majillion moons! I Twitter every time I Diigo, so that seems like I am on 40000 times a day, but, well, not so much. There seems so much to keep track of out there!

I took a break from SL for a bit. Since I am not teaching this semester, there isn't an urgency to be there, so I tried out some other things. I start coaching diving next week, so I may still be a little scarce until I start teaching in January.

In any case, I thought that I should "try" to be more useful to the online community and post useful things here again. So....

My presentation for NMC is located here. The cool A-Z tools wiki is here. But, to make life a wee bit easier - here is the list!

A = Amazee, Animoto, A.viary and AwesomeHighlighter

B = Broth and BlockPosters and Brush Video

C = CoSketch and Campfire

D = Discipline Specific Tools and Diigo

E = Encyclopedia of Educational Technology and EgoBoxes

F = FURL

G = Google Suite and Group Table and Go2Web2.0 Directory

H = Huddle and Hulu

I = Indezine

J = Joodo

K = KEEP Toolkit and Kwout

L = LectureFox

M = Mixbook and Merlot

N = Ning

O = OneTrueMedia

P = Penzu, Project Gutenberg and Preezo and Picitup

Q = Qlubb and Qollage

R = RTM, Rememble and Review Basics

S = Slideshare and SpringNote and SlideRocket and Storytlr and scrnshots and Scrapblog

T = Technology Dictionary and Teacher Training Videos and Teacher Tube and TimeRime

U = Udutu

V = VoiceThread

W = Wikispaces and WeGameand Web2Rights

X = Xtimeline

Y = YouTube and Yudu

Z = Zotero

A New Day Has Arrived

2008-11-06T01:50:00.004-05:00

My children will never know what it was like to only have rich white men in the highest office in the US. This is a good thing. I hope, in my life time, that the words "Madam President" will also be a reality.

No matter what side we were on last night, today we must all work together. This was the message that both McCain and Obama stressed in their speeches (and, why, oh WHY, couldn't ALL of the speeches have been that good???). As a member of neither of the two major parties, I watched with interest as the polidoofi (my term, not theirs) talked little about issues and more about the costs of dresses and someone's great aunt Annie. But, all that is behind us...today is a new day.

Working together is never easy, but working apart is so much harder.

Today, I had the excellent fortune to present at NMC's Fall 2008 Virtual Symposium. The number of new faces was refreshing. NMC does an amzing job of getting new people hooked into the newest technologies.

So, today, educators started our day together...finding ways to teach and learn together. And, outside of the conference, others spent their new day doing the same.

Scientists like Jean-Claude Bradley are finding ways to do research together - breaking down the barriers of patents and antiquated publishing methods. Teachers like Eloise Pasteur are technology to help learning disabled students harness intellectual freedom. Lawyers like Charlie Nesson are challenging the music industry to stop abusing their power. There is a lot more sharing and less competition...and this is an amazing time to live.

But, we still have work to do. 52% of Californians voted down the right of marriage equity. My concern here isn't the number or even the final vote, but that there are literally two nearly even sides of that issue in CA and both sides need to listen to the other. Where can they find compromise? Where can they talk without feeling bashed (and, truly, I mean that for either side)? There seems to be a need for a discussion - not just name calling and veiled threats?

We have lost the art of conversation. Whilst the computer might be part of the demise, I suspect it has a lot more to do with not wanting to anger anyone...or not wanting to "cause a problem."

Teaching Naked requires one to think about life as both being dressed and being open. It is very easy to try new clothes on all the time...it is easy to buy a new outfit when things get rough or go south...it is easiest to layer up the clothes so that the layers can peel off easily in any situation. It is much harder to teach naked...everyone sees all of your everything every minute of every day. But, it is real, and they can expect it always to be real even sometimes imperfect.

I hope that President-Elect Obama will "Govern Naked" as much as he can without selling our national soul; I hope that Charlie Nesson will continue to work toward changing our outdated copyright system; I hope that we will all try to work together to save our planet, our children, and our future. This is a GREAT new day...let change begin with me.

(side note...here is a clip someone took of me and put on YouTube):

Catching up!

2008-10-18T09:56:00.001-04:00

I can now see. Really. Had the second cataract removed on Thursday (yes, yes, I am too young, but tell that to the eyes). Since I can't really see, I am not going to type much, but, rather, leave you with a great artist to listen to :-)

That John Denver Song

2008-10-06T07:51:00.000-04:00

Many thanks to the anonymous poster who sent me a link to this:

Good Gravy! The Blog is Back!

2008-10-04T19:10:00.002-04:00

As I have settled in to my new life, I have really let posting fall by the side of the info super highway. It has been like TWO MONTHS! Does anyone still subscribe?

Fear not faithful readers (if there are, indeed, any of you left), I am back!

Life in Lakeville, CT is MUCH MUCH different than in PA. For one, the scenery is simply incredible here. Our house overlooks the golf course and distant mountains. The clouds are spectacular here; it is almost as if they are closer to the ground than the ones in PA. Maybe they are smore swirly or swishy - I donno - they are just cooler.

We are adjusting to life at Hotchkiss, and I am daily amazed by the talent of the students and teachers. In one week, we heard a GREAT lecture about historical travels to Antarctica in preparation for a school trip to the Antarctic donated by Mr. Forrest Mars (think M and Ms); the faculty met with Sir Michael Barber, formerly of the Tony Blair administration, on change in education; listened to the unique music performed by Alturas Duo; perused paintings by artist Steven Romm, and, oh, did I mention that we had the honor of meeting and listening to a lecture by President Enkhbayar of Mongolia? Imagine - this was just ONE WEEK.

I am incredibly impressed with the faculty here; they are talented, engaging, smart, opinionated, diverse, and resourceful. They don't follow one another blindly; they carefully consider opinions, positions, and, truly, discuss matters. Previously, I would have winced at the conversation about the VP candidates in the hallway near my office; after this one, I was actually excited to hear everyone's take on it.

Who knew that there could even be a group of such diverse people that can laugh and debate and still trust each other at the end of the day? Amazing. I am blessed to be surrounded by such great and inspiring people!

The students are equally diverse, but also equally passionate. There is no apathy here; they are engaged. This stems from having great teachers (ones that want more than spitting back MLA formatting). But, it also illustrates the culture fostered in an awesome place like this.

It is great fun to play board games with the boys on my floor, but we also have great conversations about sports and politics, too. They are informed, and make strong arguments to support their positions. We just won our home football game (really, like 5 minutes ago), and the kids are in the hall having fun, laughing, and just being teenagers. It is a great place to be.

The Whirlwind

2008-08-26T06:53:00.003-04:00

Picture: Mustache Man takes a break from being a cowboy...

Patient blog readers! Methinks you need a raise. I have not posted in a long while, as I have been moving and starting life in a new state.

Our move to Connecticut was fairly smooth. While a fair amount of china was crushed, all of the humans, pets, and fish have arrived safely.

New Faculty Orientation started Sunday evening, and, dare I say, I am actually enjoying it. Hotchkiss is an amazing place for a number of reasons, but it is most refreshing to be surrounded by bright and engaged faculty members. They do not agree on everything, but they celebrate diversity of thought, and it is simply a rich intellectual environment.
Picture: Sharpie Boy takes a break from drawing number and letter machines (um, Talking Word Factory thingers).

Training lasts from sunrise to sunset, so I am generally too tired to do anything else, but I am up early today because my Dad is having surgery on his stomache cancer. So, the worrier in me is up with him (though the distance is hard at a time like this). If you are of the praying sort, his name is Paul Ritter, Jr., and I appreciate any prayers you can send his way.

The kids are adjusting fairly well. Julian cried every single day last week, but is getting a bit better this week. DD is finally meeting some of the other kids around here, and is loving his newest Star Wars addiction.

The Boss starts EMT training tomorrow night. He is happy to get off campus :-)

I am happy but truly exhausted; I am looking forward to some kick back time in SL!

Favorite Diving YouTube Videos

2008-08-10T13:26:00.003-04:00

Here are some of my favorite diving videos from YouTube (yes, yes, I should be packing).

Highlights from Athens (and a welcome for sync diving! WOOOOOT!):

2004 men's 3M Diving

The Olympics Vs Packing

2008-08-10T11:20:00.002-04:00

As much as I NEED to be packing the kitchen, I am sitting on my butt watching the Olympics.

The sport I am most interested in is Diving, but I also wanted to catch swimming, fencing, and archery. When I got my certification to teach archery, my instructor was a retired Olympic coach.

Anywho.

Here is my recap...although I TOTALLY recommend NBC's website.

The opening ceremonies were GORGEOUS! Many kudos to Beijing for putting together the BEST opening I have ever seen. I get very emotional during the parade of nations, but usually calm down during the speeches and the lighting of the torch. But, this time, I had Kleenex by my side for the whole thing, and I needed almost a whole box for the torch lighting. I know it is dorky, but I always think about those athletes from small countries like Sierra Leone. And I think about those countries that are allowing female athletes for the first time. And, I think about those countries that have just ONE athlete...imagine how proud that person's mother must be! Even as a kid, I always rooted for the Moms!

I am just incredibly touched by the idea that there are these athletes that have beat the odds of poverty and are now standing in the center field surrounded by the most incredible fireworks display EVER. Even though we know those folks have no shot at a medal, still they stand proud representing the thousands of people who can not even watch them on TV. Ack. Where are the tissues!

Of course, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Mike Phelps (US Swimmer), and I love his Mom. In Athens, I cried as his Mom watched the race. And, of course, I cried this time because not only did Mike set a new world record and capture the gold, but he couldn't find his Mom in the crowd. The kid has a bajillion things going through his mind, and he wanted to find his Mom!!! If you missed the race, here is NBC's video of it!

I watched fencing with great interest, and was rooting for Sada Jacobson. But, I was happy to see Mariel Zagunis win the gold. Mariel was the first US woman to win the gold and she defended her medal well.

Sadly, I missed most of archery. I caught a piece of it live, but the coverage wasn't all that great (hint: focus the camera on the ARCHER and then the TARGET).

I did catch the gold medal ceremony for Judo, as I was proud as pie of the Romanian athlete, Alina Dumitru. She came out of the blue, wasn't the favorite, and won the gold. When they raised her flag, she cried, and I cried, too.

Okay...the dishes won't pack themselves. I am off to an Olympic sprint in the kitchen!

Cooties

2008-08-08T10:11:00.001-04:00

In lieu of an actual post, seeing as I am knee deep in moving boxes...here is something that makes me laugh every time I see it!

Pandora's Box and Other Tales

2008-07-30T02:51:00.002-04:00

One of my favorite memories from my teenage years involves a Chevy Nova, a John Denver tape, and my friend Tracey.

Tracey's Mom drove us everywhere in her blue 1970something blue Chevy Nova. She was a nurse at the State Mental Hospital, and she often told us stories of the men on her floor thinking they were Jesus. But, when she wasn't telling us stories, we listened to this old John Denver tape with the poem "Pandora's Box" or something like that on it. It's funny, after all these years, I don't remember the words or the tune, but I remember that I sat in the front seat because Tracey would never, ever, ever sit in the front seat of any car. I remember singing all the other songs but hoping that the Box song would come around before I got dropped off.

I am surrounded by memories.

Packing and cleaning my childhood home is therapeutic and, sometimes, a little sad. I am looking soooo forward to our new life in CT, but, for the next 14 days, I am surrounded by voices and images and, sometimes, tears.

Today I packed my library. I donated EIGHT LARGE boxes to the library. As I packed the books, I could remember little details about them. Some were ones I read as an undergrad; some were from graduate school. I am fairly certain I have the largest collection of Jung and Archetype resources in Bethlehem. Inside many of the books were notes tucked here and there. Some were reminders to "pick up cat food" and some were doodles with phrases like "Matthew Lewis was a twisted X!#!" Only true nerds can understand, lol.

Parting with books was hard.

Cleaning the boys room was harder.

As I packed away all the little itty bitty clothes, I can remember where and when or who or why we got most pieces. The baby clothes were packed in a sealed container and, honestly, smelled just like I remember (not poopy - um, fresh like little daisies). As I packed up the Noah's Ark items for Good Will, I just remember the excitement of being pregnant and the anticipation of a new baby...then the instant jolt of finding out we were having a second one! But, the cute matching clothes, the little stuffed toys, the rattles....they are all in boxes ready to go to another baby....to another Mom with the same hopes and fears...

Ack.

The hardest part, by far, has been seeing pictures of my parents. At one time they were happy and smiling...but, today, those smiles, that joy, is only a very distant memory. Today we tossed out a furniture thingy from the basement; it was covered in crayon. But, those crayon marks were not from my children; they were from my brother, Timmy, who died when he was 8 - nearly 35 years ago. As they carried it to the corner, I felt like they had raised the Titanic in front of my eyes. Those crayon marks sat silent all these years - peppered in dust - but seeing them now, in the sunlight, in the open...

I think about that John Denver song, and it reminds me a little of what I have to do here in the next two weeks. I have to open the boxes of time and sort through the memories...and decide which of them are going with me to CT, which will cause damage, and which ones need to be let go.

Thoughts About Moving

2008-07-28T02:55:00.003-04:00

At the moment, my life is random. I pack a little, spend a LOT of time sorting out the antics of the neighborhood kids, clean up wikis and blogs, yadda yadda yadda.

So, in the spirit of the moment, here are some random thoughts.

In my spare time (har), I like to read through decorating magazines to get ideas for our new pad. But, here is the thing. I really don't think people LIVE in places like that. It can NOT be possible. These are supposedly "kid friendly" houses. But, um, MY KIDS would wreck those delicate vases and soil any couch not made of teflon or rubber.

I love how the magazines talk about having "fun totes" all over the place. What tote is fun? What will my six year old do that is FUN with a tote that doesn't fall under the "please don't kill your brother by suffocation" category? Truly, it is a lot full of rubbish.

I am convinced that I am both a terrible mother and a horrid wife. My house has never been spic or span, my kids don't eat broccoli flourets whipped up in a snappy second, they don't do arts and crafts in the family painting lounge, and, jeebus, they don't say things like "Please, Moustache Man, I feel that it would be super swell of you to pass me that crayon. Oh, I can totally understand why you don't want to share it, but really, I feel it is my turn to use it. Oh, thank you for being such a wonderful brother. I admire you for giving me that crayon."

Here is the real deal around here...

Sharpie Boy eats food he hides. This is a gross thing. I understand it is gross. But, I CAN'T FIND HIS HIDING SPOTS. The doctor says he will survive.

Not only do I not whip things or souffle them in my kitchen, I don't think the word flouret is in any cook book I own (unless there are brownies decorated with them). Even if I could whip a flouret, I am fairly certain that Moustache Man would still demand a waffle or a hot dog, and Sharpie Boy would ignore it and find his stash of goldfish crackers.

Arts and crafts happen on the floor, on the porch, and in the tub. The floor and porch are sanctioned; the tub creations are rarely approved. The best art, at least to my crew, is clogging the toilet and yelling "Run! We have a FLOOD!"

And, at no time, does sharing of toys happen unless there is a negotiation on the table. This is the real dialogue:

MM: Gimme that crayon.
SB: No
MM: (Hits SB)
SB: (Kicks MM)
MM: Cries
SB: Cries louder
Mom: Yells

So, you see, I need these magazines, but their advice is truly crappy. If I HAD A MAGAZINE, it would have articles like "How to Get Sharpie Marker Off The Antique Piano" and "The Best Hot Dogs for Kids" and "12 Ways to Unclog a Toilet." I would have layouts of REAL kid rooms where the clothes are all stuffed under the bed and dirty underoos are hanging from the crooked train lamp. I would have marriage columns called "My Marriage Survival Tip: Always Sleep when Husband Drives" and "How to Guilt Trip Husband into Washing His 4-Day Old Coffee Cup that HE Hid"

I would only accept ads from places where I can actually fit into the clothing. And, all of the models would be well fed and robust, so that we can SEE what would look like crap on us BEFORE we dream of looking like Genie. There are NO "carefree pants" and "brilliant hues" for Moms. We wear what doesn't smell, and we find the least stained item to go to PTA.

Anywho. Those are my random thoughts for today. Tomorrow, I might talk about cleaning out all my wikis and blogs. That was a CHORE! But, I needed to change all the references of my former employer to my current one, and I also cleaned up some odd looking stuff. It wasn't as fun, nearly, as unclogging the toilet.

Bye Bye L C C C

2008-07-22T07:17:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, I had my exit interview at LCCC. I am officially done on August 15th because of the contract year, but, for all practical purposes, we have parted ways.

My friend asked how it felt to be "done." And, I couldn't answer her. I am not sure I can even now. I loved most of the students at LCCC, and I will miss them. Students like Daliah and Nada made everything very much worthwhile.

Even though there are people at LCCC passing rumors about WHY I left, I can assure you that I didn't leave because I was unduly unhappy. In fact, I wasn't even looking for a new job. Because of Second Life, I met a guy who told me about this new position at a great boarding school, and the rest is history. I fell in love with Hotchkiss the minute I landed there, but not because I was trying to escape LCCC. I love it because it is a beautiful place to live and work, the people are amazingly smart, the students are bright, and the facilities are out of this world. The job is something new and challenging, and I am looking forward to a new chapter.

But, truly, I could have stayed at LCCC until retirement. I was eager to annoy my critics for at least another 30 years. But, now that I left/am leaving/transitioning/whatever, I can really see with a clear eye what is great about LCCC and what sucks about it.

The great part is easy - the students (for the most part) are great, and the support staff (secretaries, maintenance, security) ROCK! My goodness, they really should get the better pay cuz' they do all the work. The library staff also rocks. In fact, I am not sure I have ever met a librarian I didn't instantly love.

The sucky part is more complicated. For one, the leadership wastes money out the wazzzzzooooo. Case in point: Yesterday, when I was returning my laptop, I couldn't walk through the Student Union Building. Why? Well, apparently, the flooring (which is only about 8-10 years old) was not pretty enough for someone at the top, and, thus, the maintenance staff (who are working on a bajillion other projects) are BUFFING IT and REPAINTING it. That money SHOULD be going into positions, technology, and staff.

Laptops and iPods are locked in cabinets...never even opened or used. WHY?

Now, these just grace the tip of the tip of the TIP of the iceberg. Don't even get me started on the crotchety old farts that need to retire already....teaching outdated crap and calling it "the right way." Pretending to be all Harvard (and CLEARLY they aren't up on what Harvard is doing because Harvard is doing LOTS of wicked awesome stuff)....Training up the junior faculty to be as bitter as they are...whining and complaining and demanding more money to do mediocre work. Ya know...they always say "We just don't get paid enough to do X and Y" Well, I got a raise every year just along with everyone else, and more money didn't change their apathy. I wonder what price it is to get people off their butts?

Of course that doesn't apply to all the faculty; it really only applies to many of the ones I dealt with daily. I have seen many of them belittle students, belittle adjuncts, and then chant about how they are upholding some imaginary standard (which, interestingly enough, they don't even agree on).

Ack.

So, I could have stayed and been a click in the wheel of apathy. But, then again....brilliant kids, brilliant and diverse colleagues, gorgeous facilities, awesome benefits, amazing place for our family to live and grow.... Hmmmm.....

To answer the question posed by my friend: I am not sure how I feel about leaving, but I know that I am really happy about where I am going.

Moving on Up

2008-07-21T04:39:00.003-04:00

And the packing process is a pain.

We are three weeks till moving day, and life couldn't be any more chaotic. So, my conviction for blog writing has been swallowed by the process of "we have not used this, um, EVER, but it is a blender, and, ye gads, at some point in life I will have to grow up and use one, and better to use this one that we have right here than to try to find one in Lakeville (where there are no stores), so maybe we ought to keep it? Put it next to the other wedding presents we never opened, namely the iron, breadmakers (3), and ice cream churn."

On top of moving, we are cleaning out the house - which was owned by two parents that collected everything under the sun. And, sheesh, we EVEN had a yard sale this past Saturday, and we only made a dollar. Ok, so I forgot to avertise it. Oh, and it was at least 105 out at 7AM. Ok, so we will try again next week.

I have lots of thoughts about moving - some are perky and oh-so-Desi like. The others are melancholic and are way more Beth-like. I just have to thank my army of friends for A) listening to me whine (that would be Eloise), B) cheering me up when I am gloomy (Eloise, Daliah, and Liz), and C) understanding that my mind is mush from packing the attic (um, that might inlcude everyone I have ever known, but my mind is mush, so I can't remember).

The process is sprinkled with having to be a cheery Mom. So, I sing silly songs pretty much all day, and, of course, had to take Moustache man to see The Dark Knight (you must stop reading RIGHT NOW and go see it...even if it means hopping a plane to get to the states. Go. Now.).

Sharpie Boy has figured out that markers ALSO work on Mommy's VERY EXPENSIVE quilts. I am so glad that I do not understand the Chinese lady that does my dry cleaning. She said something to me in Chinese, and I am pretty sure I didn't want to know what it was based on the look on her face. She always says the same thing to me "You just give it. Pick up Friday." I will miss her...cranky, old, tired, and very amusing. I pity that guy in the back (I think it is her husband, as no other guy would listen to all that yelling she does). But, she does excellent work all the way around, and I like that she is cranky. By simple comparison, I can always say that I am not the CRANKIEST person alive. The Boss says she reminds me of the Mom on that MASH episode when Sun Lee's mother chases Klinger with a stick. Yeah, she does act a bit like that. But, thankfully, I haven't pushed her to the stick stage, just the swearing in Chinese phase.

Anywho.

You might wonder what I am doing writing at 4:54 AM. Other than ramblin on about the dry cleaner, I am waiting (for the past 5 hours) for my zip file to speed off to the server...as my most daunting task this past week is not ranting and raving about LCCC.

There is a whole subtext here that I can't talk about. But, corruption, greed, stupidity, and insanity are all words that describe SOMETHING, and for some of us writing this blog post, that SOMETHING has been up our collective butt this last week. I can only say that I am thankful for change.

I am at 80% so I can blabber on for at least three more hours.

I was really nervous about the Big Move of 2008. But, I spent some time with my new colleagues last week, and can honestly say, they are truly awesome. I am excited now, and sooooooooooooooooooo ready to be done packing. I am even more ready to be at more than 81%.

I am DORKY NERD

2008-07-10T00:19:00.000-04:00

Yup; 'tis true. I always knew it, and now I know it.

Dumpster Diving and Web 2.0

2008-07-08T07:55:00.002-04:00

All I need to know can be learned from dumpster diving.

You think I speak with tongue in cheek...

You see, we are cleaning out 40 years of my parents crap and sorting through ten years of our own crap in our Big Move to the great state of Connecticut. In an effort to save the nice Garbage Man from back problems, we rented the largest dumpster money can buy (well, at least the largest they allow on our suburban street).

Every day, the Boss takes all sorts of crap out to the dumpster. 14 TV sets from BEFORE 1990...a mini fridge that was my Moms (that she forgot to take crab meat and butter out of before it was stored in dry storage....a coffin of stink...gag)...broken fishing poles...you name it.

Now, mind you, the NICE stuff (and even not so nice but still usable) goes on the corner with a little post to Craig's List for a curb alert. All paper and cardboard to recycling...all books to the library book sale...all clothes to the Good Will.

I can verify that THERE IS NOTHING NICE IN THAT DUMPSTER.

Still.

At 3 AM I am woken up (or I haven't yet fallen to sleep) by the Dumpster Diver. There are many, some I now know my first name. Though I tell them to come back during the day, they still prowl about at night..hunting for treasures that I would gladly just give them.

Then there are the DUMPERS..who I want to KICK...who go forth and dump their undumpables in our dumpster (things like tires). They wait till my light goes out. I imagine there is a parade of pick up trucks lined up around the corner just WAITING for me to turn off the light...

Anywho.

This dumpster, and all the antics that go with it, remind me a bit of Web 2.0 and all the sharing tools I am using right now (Twitter/Plurk/Diigo). Some people share great stuff (woot for Diigo!). Some people blabber on and on and on and on via Twitter. Plurk is cool if I can remember it is there and to go grab my posts from the corner.

But, the basics are there. Some people share, use what they can, and then pass it along. Some people hoard. Some people steal. Some people take advantage. But, stuff is spread. By golly, SOMEONE is using that stinky fridge!

Jeebus! SearchMe!

2008-07-07T23:34:00.001-04:00

Lordy, this was fun, but, truly, we could use it for other things like authors and writers.

Searchme

Maximize stack view

I am an EduPunker!

2008-07-07T23:19:00.003-04:00

Finally! A Category for ME! Edupunks are those people irritating the curmudgeons at colleges and schools all over the nation. We are the ones who don't live and die by the status quo. We are the ones that truly believe that STUDENTS are at the heart of teaching (and not our trumped up egos!). Are you an Edupunker?

In addition to LOVING this song, this is me:

Charity Shopping

2008-07-07T22:39:00.002-04:00

My friends down the street have started a new company that is really worth a mention! CharityShopper.Net allows you to shop for stuff you already need (at a discount), and a portion of the donations go to your favorite charity (for us, that is the Pediatric Stroke Network).

Now, I am not all about the cash flow here, but I AM ALL ABOUT CHARITY! What a cool concept! Help me get their name out there; spread the love!

The Thing About Bullies

2008-07-07T12:58:00.002-04:00

Many thanks to Loony Hiker for passing this through the web hallway. Grab tissues first. This boy, Andrew Johnston (13), has the voice of an angel.

Thing 22

2008-07-05T18:55:00.002-04:00

Cyndi Uriza posted this video on her blog. It is really worth 8 minutes of your time, as it shows the great gap between veteran teachers and the kids of today.

Reading Romeo and Juliet in 5 minutes??? Good Lord. That is a crying shame. The idea of "everyone spark notes" just reminds me of the intellectual robbery going on. There is plenty of time do make and post "model shots" but not enough time to read the best love play in all of Christendom?

Thanks, Cyndi, for posting the video!

It's All About Immersion

2008-07-05T04:09:00.003-04:00

Right, so.

You don't hear from me for a month, and now you can't get me to shut up.

As I was unsleeping (you know, not NOT sleeping and yet not sleeping?), I was thinking about immersion (it is prolly all Freudian and wombish).

Every so often, we have to update the Wiki for Literature Alive. We move projects, we start new projects, we holodeck old projects, sponsors change, we get new pics...you get the picture. When we do that, we check all the Slurls and whatnots, and we revisit the mission and purpose of Literature Alive! We also go through each of the builds to make sure that things are as they oughta be in the world.

As I was looking over the wiki tonight, I had this pang of panic. Are all of our builds immersive?

There is probably a real definition out there, but to us it means making visitors DO stuff in order to learn. Reading notecards, listening to lectures, and watching videos is not enough; we could do that in REAL life, and it is passive in EITHER this life or that one.

Often, we think of builds being immersive because WE were immersed when we built them. On an average building day, we three queens are immersed....Eloise is generally scripting my latest bright and crazy request, Daliah's off shopping for low prim farm animals, and I am looking for Flickr photos. But, just because WE are immersed in the making of an environment, we must be careful not to OVERDO it and ruin the fun for students.

Right now, we are working on the Blithedale Project. Students at DeSales are reading it, and the project includes a virtual Fruitlands and a virtual Brook Farm (read up on Hawthorne :-)

As students complete classwork (Mixbooks, Animotos, wikis), I am imbedding them in flowers and lilly pads and fire logs. I'm into it. Totally. Daliah is building her first academic build, Eloise is being driven to edge with my random requests for scripts that do the impossible (are you SURE we can't do [insert wild brained Desi thought here]) The hard part is leaving stuff for the STUDENTS to do! It isn't that I want to DO it all; it is just that I am like a little kid at Christmas! I am excited; I love the American Romantic period...it IS my period...it is what I have loved since childhood...it is the one class that I would teach if I swore off teaching!

It is a bit like tutoring writing. It is SO easy to say "write this" "write that" - but, truly, students learn nothing if you do it for them. So, I have to sit on my hands, and that gives me more time to blog!

As we look over our work, it is clear that we try very hard to make each and every build immersive for students. Our hope is that we won't ever lose sight of our mission: to foster a lifelong love of learning through a lifelong passion for reading.

My Leadership Day Post: Leadership in Virtual Worlds

2008-07-04T16:18:00.010-04:00

This is my 2008 Leadership Day Post

Many of us are participating in the Leadership Post 2008 Challenge. Since most of my work has been centered on building immersive literary builds in Second Life, I thought I would discuss Edu Leadership in that arena.

Is there an "A List"?

I have no idea. If there is one, I am not sure who is on it or who created it. I am fairly sure there are people who think they are on it, assuming it exists, but I am not sure how they arrived at the notion that there is an A List or should be one.

The Leaders

Even though I can't identify all of the leaders that exist in SL, there are attributes of leadership that are readily identifiable. A leader is someone who:

Shares Resources It is very easy to hoard ideas, concepts, and tools. It is very easy to withhold great information in an effort to look better. But, leaders share resources. Max Chatnoir/MA Clark, for example, shares her pooping Llama, her DNA Cats, and all of her teaching resources with me. She wouldn't have to, ya know. I don't teach science. But, she does. Horace Moody/Jean-Claude Bradley and Hiro Sheridan/Andy Lang are out there sharing tools AND real life scientific research. In fact, Jean-Claude is giving up potential PATENTS because he believes Open Notebook Science is the way of the future. Eloise Pasteur donates more scripts and builds to the Metaverse than anyone else (INCLUDING the Lindens!). Butch Dae/George Kurtz collects and shares research through his MindMap tool. Troy McLuhan/Troy McConaghy shares all that incredible science. Organizations like the Foundation for Rich Content, SLNN, Cattle Puppy, FireSabre, the V3 Group all share resources with Literature Alive! in the form of Linden and Land grants. Colleges and Universities like Drexel, Montclair State, Finger Lakes CC, Monroe Community College, North Georgia SCU, and Lehigh Carbon CC share land with Literature Alive! for our builds. Organizations like ISM, NOAA, ISTE and NMC share resources for new educators and programming for both veterans and newbies. There are so many others, and I apologize if I missed anyone. But, just this short list proves that leaders share and don't count the cost.
Share and Cultivate Research While there are many of us out here teaching, we rely on others to prepare and gather research ABOUT teaching in virtual worlds. Wainbrave Bernal/Jonathon Richter, for example, is coordinating the 2008 SLCCed conference with an eye for professional development in mind. There are so many doing this, and others working on tools to share (Jeremy Hunsicker and Daniel Livingstone, for example).
Share Ideas/Feedback/Comments/Criticism Our success at Literature Alive! has been a result of awesome students and wonderful collaborators. When someone leaves feedback about one of our builds (Glenn Linden, for example), it helps us to make our builds better. Active participation is a true form of leadership.
Evangelize Those who go out and speak on behalf of Second Life solidify our usefullness and help us to gain professional merit for our work. Sarah Robbins, for example, has been out championing this teaching tool forever, and her grassroots leadership has made a difference!
Teach in Second Life It is one thing to talk about teaching, but it is a WHOLE other basket of peas to actually DO it. I have infinite respects for those who are actually using SL to teach: Bryan Carter, Max Chatnoir, Jean-Claude Bradley, Dave Longenbach, Eloise Pasteur, Hiro Sheridan, Intellagirl Tully, Charlie and Becca Nesson, Peggy Sheehy, Larry Dugan, and countless others.

These are just a few traits of leadership. And, certainly, I missed a whole host of people. But, suffice it to say, we ALL have the potential to SHARE, EVANGELIZE, and TEACH.

More Cool Tools

2008-07-04T03:23:00.004-04:00

I stumbled on this fantastic Mind Map whilst digging through the NECC resources. It is a listing of all the different Web 2.0 tools out there. It was created and presented at NECC by Greg Brandenburg. While I have tried most of these tools, there were a few new surpises. Also, Mindomo, the tool Greg used for this, is actually a really nice mind map tool. Given that mind maps never make sense to me, I was uberly impressed with this one.

Here are some of the new tools I learned because of Greg!

Scriblink
This is an easy to use online whiteboard. I am always on the look out for easy to use ones, as students can really do wonders with them when they work in groups.

WizLite
Like Awesome Highlighter, WizLite marks up pages. i am not sure that there is an advantage of one over the other, but I hadn't heard of it.

Twiddla
Need to hold a meeting right this second? Twiddla is a meeting tool, and it is totally free. WOO!

FootNote
This cool program allows people to share primary source material (photos, letters, etc.) with others. This is really interesting to me in my love of American literature.

Ghost
I don't really know how to describe this program. It creates a ghost desktop from your desktop that you can access anywhere. I thought it might be really handy for Literature Alive! as we could all share a desktop. I have to play with it a bit, though, before I go endorsing it.

FotoFlexer
This is a free paint shoppy program that is actually really fun and easy to use. I used this picture, and turned it into the one next to it. Isn't that cool? Those can then be posted in SL as textures.

OMG! I need Karma

2008-07-04T01:04:00.003-04:00

Oh jeebus.

I heard about three new tools at NECC...Diigo, Chatzy, and Plurk. Well, truthfully, I had heard of Diigo before, but had no idea why I needed one more sharing tool. I share on all the other tools...for the love of Pete...

But, I stand corrected. Diigo is better than all the others. I dont know how to explain it, but it just does more. You can highlight, comment, share, twitter, etc. It has a great tool bar, too. Mostly, I hate add on tool bars, but this one is actually easy to use.

Chatzy is a tool that allows you to create a free virtual room. It was used at the back channel for our NECC presentation, and I really like it.

The last tool is a little odd, and the jury within my mind is still mulling it over. It is called Plurk. It is a visual Right to Left version of twitter. Or maybe it IS twitter, or maybe a competitor? Who knows. Anywho, it tells me I have no Karma and I have to earn it. PUHHHHHLEEEEEZE.

NECC 2008 Photos from Second Life

2008-07-03T14:25:00.002-04:00

Here are some pictures from NECC 2008 (the virtual edition)!

Viral Learning and Teaching 101: Reflections from NECC

2008-07-03T07:11:00.003-04:00

I wasn't able to attend NECC 2008 in San Antonio, TX. Well...I wasn't physically in Texas, anyway.

Technology, being what it is, allowed me to participate in so many ways that were not possible 5 years ago.

On Wednesday, for example, using Skype, virtual help from Darren Draper, and the can-do spirit, I was able to present with Vicki Davis, Robin Ellis, Darren Draper, Kristen Hokanson, Kelly Dumont, and Carolyn Foote on Viral Professional Development. Here is the UStream:

At the same time I was presenting with them, the Ramapo Story World Kids presented their amazing work. Peggy Sheehy, BernaJean Porter, Knowclue Kidd, and Kevin Jarrett presented the work of students who took Robert Frost's poem, "The Road Not Taken" and crafted an amazing and immersive application of it. Literature Alive! was able to step in during the final hours to help the students see their work materialize in Second Life. While I am proud of everything we do at Literature Alive!, I am really pleased with this project. Our mission is to help others share a love of literature through a passion for reading, and we say that we support others in their quest to share literature. We don't often have the opportunity to help others, so it was personally fulfilling to be able to do just that...to meet our mission in such a complete and focused way. And, of course, that would not have been possible with out the tireless volunteerism of Eloise Pasteur and Daliah Carter.

Aside from being able to present at NECC, I was able to participate, as well. In addition to being able to listen to the excellent keynote addresses, I was able to participate in a workshop led by Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay. The Flat Classrooms workshop was very engaging, and it reinforced some ideas that were floating around in my head. For one, I have realized that I need instructions. I am not able to look at a wiki and guess the next step. So, I truly felt like a student because I often forget to break things down for them. Since I didn't understand the rules, I went ahead and created all kinds of pages that weren't needed and, as a result, messed up some other groups as they tried to prepare their wikis. I also learned that I love working with my international friends...I got to spend some quality time with Nick Noakes and Eloise Pasteur as learners, and we all struggled together as students instead of as teachers. I am fairly convinced that the three of us would have been in the naughty chairs in school!

So, in the span of 12 hours...I was connected with a boat load of people and, yet, I was alone in my dining room. Isn't technology great???

SIDE NOTE:

I love photoshop! I played with this image and made a wee movie. Someone needs to remind me to keep packing and stop playing!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Magic of Literature Alive!

2008-07-02T01:15:00.003-04:00

Peggy Sheehy and the folks at the NECC conference are very kind to Literature Alive! They have truly said some nice things about us, and we really appreciate it.

We had the good fortune to work with Peggy and BernaJean Porter on the Story World Project that they are presenting at NECC on Wednesday (a link will be posted after their presentation).

When I started Literature Alive! over a year ago, I was all alone. I wanted to share literature with my students, but I also wanted to share it with the world. Eloise started volunteering a few months later (probably after seeing what a nightmare I was in the scripting department), and Daliah Carter was in the first group of students that came into SL. Over time, we have had some really great volunteers, but, for the most part, it is just the three of us. We have a special magic. Maybe it is because we all do something different (like a rock band), and we don't "compete." Maybe it is because our personalities just mesh, and we adore each other. Whatever it is, it works.

Eloise is our drummer. We all know that the drummer is the most important piece of a band. You can't keep time without it. Eloise is like a virtual Neil Peart (that would be RUSH's awesome drummer for those of you with bad taste in music). She quietly and shyly goes about her business, but, trust me, Literature Alive! would not exist without her. Gondola's through hell? Albatross HUDs? Only Eloise can make that kind of magic.

Daliah is the one that most people never see. She is a professional shopper, and now a growing builder. She also keeps my schedule, and calls me at home to remind me to do stuff. She is the queen of freebies, and does all the makeovers with students. She also hunts for textures like no one's business. She keeps our files up to date, and backs up our backup avatars (ya just nevva know, ya know?). She also reminds me to have fun in SL by dragging me to hair hunts and lucky chairs. In the band, she is our bass player (Geddy Lee, for my fellow RUSH fans).

My job is easy. I am like a lead singer (um, Geddy Lee without the guitar? Mick Jagger?)...I speak on behalf of the band, and I plan out the gigs. My job is content...and only content. I make sure that everything is correct and ethical, and that the overall build is immersive. My focus is student learning, and, for me, that extends beyond my own students and spills over into my global classroom - all those people I don't know that might stumble into one of our builds. I am an idea gyrl. And, of course we all know, I look like Barbie.

So, this is our dream team. We have magic; we have lots of magic. And, we appreciate when people notice and say lovely things about us (thanks, again, Peggy :-)

IMAGE: My first attempt at something creative in Photoshop!

Fruitlands at NECC?

2008-06-30T09:37:00.005-04:00

Right now, many of the coolest people I know are in San Antonio at the NECC conference. In a Pink Floydian way, I wish I was there, but NECC being a K-12 gig, the college doesn't cough up the coveted ticket stash or room and board for such events. I feel like the only kid in the hood that didn't get to go to summer camp. Fortunately, because of the technology - I will be ing with a group of wicked cool educators on Wednesday.

So, I watch with my binoculars...using RSS...among the posts I read, Wes Fryer's blog has been very helpful in my quest to keep up!

Anywho...next year will be different.

Like may others, I am following the conference via my RSS tab. I am convinced that my friend, Vicki Davis, does not sleep. I am also convinced that I have no idea how big NECC is as an event. Tons of stuff seems to be happening. But, in a Transcendental way, some things seems to be intellectually edifying but falling flat in practice (like the Transcendental communes "Fruitlands" and "Brook Farm").

Among the things happening, I guess Pearson Ed (the textbook publishers) showed up to do some filming. Some folks got their britches in a knot, and some folks think it is uber cool to be caught on film.

Since I am not there, and I don't know the whole story, I won't comment much. But, Pearson IS, indeed, a PROFIT company. So, you should expect that they will use that video in a PROFIT venture. For people like me (ya know, those Edupunks who denounce profit-based learning), I would be in the britches group. We give all of our material away under the spirit of collaboration; for a company to come in and capitalize on what we deliberately choose NOT to capitalize is wrong. The folks that set up edubloggercon should have thought about the implications, and they should have made the plans known to folks ahead of time.

This wasn't the only instance of things gone strange, though. Apparently some person took a photo and another person used the photo on his web page without citing the source. People still don't get that Creative Commons is a BRIDGE copyright...it means you can USE it but ya still have to tell people where you GOT IT. Now, if I send up images, I expect that people will not use them right because they haven't a clue. But, the folks in THIS case are well versed in CC issues.

Now, the big deal is that APPLE IS NOT IN THE HOUSE! (Well, they are giving presentations, but they totally skipped out in the vendor area). Wes Fryer does up a nice post about it here. Apple is losing mega steam (IMHO). They skipped out on THE LAST THREE conferences I attended. Not only did they SKIP...they didn't tell anyone! Google also skipped out at Innovations. Perhaps Apple doesn't need educators? Well, that is fine...Dell and Gateway go to everything, and I am happy enough to look at their products (BTW, Apple, I don't get out much, so I doubt, highly, that I will get around to your store...). Isn't it interesting that the apples were ALSO bad at Fruitlands??????

But, to end on a high note...Smashing Magazine is an absolute JOY to read. I love their wallpapaer collections, and you will, too. Go there!

Learning 101

2008-06-26T06:46:00.003-04:00

This summer is flying by...I can't EVEN believe it is almost July!

The packing/sorting/cleaning process is just as daunting as ever...and the large dumpster in front of the house is nearly full. In many ways it is bittersweet...this house has needed a good cleaning for at least 40 years, but cleaning it reminds me that my parents are no longer together, and that I am moving on and away from my childhood home (yeah, yeah - most of y'all did that YEARS ago).

We are finding some interesting things, though. I think The Boss said he found 14 buckets of screws. I am hoping there is nothing Freudian in that collection.

Meanwhile...upstairs...I am responsible for the kid camp. Moustache Man has taken a serious liking to James Bond and Westerns. Sharpie Boy loves to watch dominoes and dinosaurs on "Tube Tube."

In order to keep myself sane (?), Eloise, Daliah, and I have been volunteering for the Ramapo Island group (Peggy Sheehy, BernaJean Porter, et al). Peggy sent out an SOS on Friday night - - apparently her students had worked on a project that (seemingly) was not going to be built on the Teen Grid. So, she wanted to have it on the AG, and had no space for it and no one to build it.

Well. You know Literature Alive! staffers can't leave kids out there in the dark...so...we just jumped in and said, OK, we'll do this. Eloise, Daliah, and I are like a well oiled machine. Each of us does a different thing, and we work very well together. Daliah, for example, is our detail girl. She made a lunch line that would set anyone to shame. Eloise, the Goddess of Scripts, did all sorts of crazy things with scripting. I worked on content and playing with the media. All in all, we finished the build over the weekend, and were rewarded with happy faces on the kids.

The project, one built around Robert Frost's famous poem, The Road Not Taken, is amazing. The kids did a lot of work with storytelling goddess, BernaJean Porter, and their teacher, Peggy Sheehy. They made little movies, they made audio clips, they did EVERYTHING! There was no way we could let all that work fall to the floor.

Meanwhile, my students at LCCC worked on building Fruitlands - the location of Bronson Alcott's communal experiment. This build is the foundation of a project that will start in a few weeks - The Blithedale Project. Students at DeSales will recreate Nathaniel Hawthorne's text in SL.

So, we are busy, as usual.

But, that isn't the focus of this post.

Within the web of all of this activity, Eloise has been teaching me how to use my brand spanking new photoshop. Being a student again is really frustrating. I have in my head what I want something to look like, but it is hard for me to create it in Photoshop.

Eloise is a really patient teacher! It is good to be a student again; it reminds me to take steps and to foster step taking. Anywho...the images you see around this post are my first attempts at creative genius. Thanks, Elo!

The Kevin Honeycutt Fan Club

2008-06-17T19:28:00.002-04:00

Many thanks to Wes Fryer for posting this link to Kevin Honeycutt's Keynote at the TTT conference.

Kevin is a wonderful speaker, and he and I share a lot of the same youth experiences with education. In the height of feeling washed out and burned out, I needed to hear Kevin. The best line:

If you want to find the best teacher in any building, find the one in trouble.

That made me feel a lot better.

NMC 2008 Summer Conference

2008-06-17T18:51:00.001-04:00

Here is a link to my NMC presentation at Princeton: Rez High the Virtual Rooftops

If you want to access the wiki, it is located here.

The Rumor is Out: Moving to Lakeville

2008-05-25T22:11:00.003-04:00

Well, I am sure you have all forgotten about this here blog (except Adrian - he is tapping his foot and waiting for a post :-). But, here is the story (lame as it is). We are moving.

After 5 years at Lehigh Carbon and 12 years teaching at the college level, I am turning in my grade book in exchange for a new life at a boarding school.

Why?

Well, here is the thing. I wasn't actually looking for a job. I would have been content retiring from LCCC. I love the students, and I love the diversity. Even the annoying grumpy people are slightly entertaining, and I would have loved to drive them nuts for another 35 years. But, when a SL friend named Lozvare sent me the job description, I was entirely intrigued.

Perhaps it is my love of boarding school stories (A Separate Peace, Peace Breaks Out) and their collegiate counters (Cherry Ames, Superior Women) or movies like Dead Poets Society that have always inspired a love for boarding schools. Maybe it is my love of New England (and Connecticut). Or, maybe it is my respect for the accomplishments of The Hotchkiss School or the spunk of its founder, Maria Hotchkiss, that prompted me to apply. Most likely, it was a combination of all these and a desire to raise my boys in a place where they can be safe, well educated, and creative.

I applied late for the position, as I found out about it at the end of its call. But, the position for an Educational Communications and Technology Facilitator was right up my alley. While I will certainly miss grading 200 papers a week and marking giant red Xs over comma splices, I was captivated by the potential of a position working with faculty to transform their use of technology in the classroom. I felt that my own experience as a professor using the technology would be a great match for what they were looking for in this new position. I also like the idea of living on campus, coaching a sport (diving), and being an active part of the community.

Even though I accepted the position early this year, we only told a few people, as I had a semester to finish out here. But, now that the semester has closed, it is now official: we are moving to Lakeville, CT on August 1. We will be dorm parents to first and second-year boys, and I will be coaching the diving team. The boys will be going to a wonderful elementary school (Salisbury Central), and Dave will either open a hobby/ebay shop, or work at a local cardiology office.

Moving is bittersweet. We have dear friends here (Liz, Terri, Colleen, and Gene), and family, too. But, it is only 3 hours away, and the benefits are tremendous. Above is a picture of where we will be living. Below is a little movie we made for our friends and family:

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

If Facebook Hits Real Life

2008-05-03T22:48:00.000-04:00

Many thanks to Ewan McIntosh for this video!!!

Mad World by Gary Jules

2008-05-02T23:16:00.001-04:00

It has been a while since I fell in love with a song. But, as I grade papers, I am listening to this song and thinking about our youth and the world they have inherited. Tears for Fears (one of my all time fave bands from back in the day) did it originally, but truly, I kinda think Gary does a better job. That just might be because I prefer piano over guitar, and I prefer slow and dramatic over fast and furious. Here is the Tears for Fears version.

This is Gary Jules performing the song live:

Here are the lyrics (source):

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow

And I find it kinda funny
I find it kinda sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very mad world mad world

Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday
Made to feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me

And I find it kinda funny
I find it kinda sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very mad world ... world
Enlarge your world
Mad world

BLOG NEGLECT 101

2008-05-01T23:01:00.001-04:00

Yes, Yes. You should all get a free ice cream for my negligent blog slacking, but I have a good excuse.
Finals.
This semester was crazy, but it is nearly over. So, I will return to penning brilliant prose in a few short days.
My stress release has been watching CSI on my Tivo. I love all three shows, but am really drawn to Horatio on CSI: Miami. It is a well drawn character. Sadly, my other favorite character on that show, Alexx, the uber cool medical examiner, is leaving the show. Here is the clip:

The Story of Victoria

2008-04-15T13:11:00.000-04:00

So, it is all over the news. A bunch of girls beat up 16 year old Tori Lindsay in Florida, and then posted the video on YouTube. The kids wanted to be famous, or so it seems, or wanted to settle some kind of score.

Now everyone cried foul and says "It is the internet's fault!"

Jeebus.

Let's examine this story. First, we have Tori. Tori used her MySpace account to get in a cyber scuttle over something or other with her friends. So, they pass virtual notes and meet. In the olden days, we would have passed a piece of paper saying "meet me at the school yard at 3:15" and everyone would chant FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT! But, some wise person, usually the principle, would come, take everyone away, call the parents, and suspend the kids. But, in some cases, it was one kid on 50 in the school yard.

So, this isn't really a new situation. What makes this different is that it is taped. And it isn't taped by some innocent bystander shooting footage of rare Floridian birds; it is the attackers documenting their "victory" by sharing a camera and laughing as the girl is beaten down.

Now, I don't give one crap about the use of MySpace here. This could have happened on paper and in any school in the nation. It doesn't matter that these girls appear to be from the "backwoods" as rich kids can get in the same kind of scuffles.

I am entirely tempted to place some of the blame on the parents. One mother says Tori is to blame and a gaggle of others said, "no no, these are trumped up charges; my Susie is a good little psycho path." I mean, really. No kid, no matter how bad, deserves to be beat down by a gang of her peers. And no parent should justify it. Period. And, what are the parents teaching these kids? Ah, yes, don't take responsibility for your actions; it is always someone else's fault.

How about this...

Let's imagine these are teenagers who have done something REALLY bad and stupid. Let's coddle them and say, oooooh, you poor thing, you are from a lower middle class family, and you have had no upbringing, and, oh my, you poor little thing...all that violence on TV has made you loony, and Myspace is Satan, and YouTube is its bride, and omg if we get rid of that, all of our problems as a society will dissipate!

OR

Let's image that these are teenagers who have done something really bad and stupid. Let's make them apologize to Victoria. Let's make them work at breaking rocks at half of minimum wage until they pay every cent of her medical bills. While they are doing that, lets require them to wear house arrest belts, eliminate their use of TV/Video/Games/Music/Internet. Let's force them to be homeschooled by visiting teachers that they have to pay (with money from rock chopping), and let's make them meet twice weekly with a therapist and an anger management counselor.

Let's do this for one solid year. This way, we can teach them that being part of society, a civilized one, requires that you act and behave in a way that is appropriate. Let's demonstrate that attending school, visiting friends, and using the phone are privileges in civilized society. But, most of all, let's demonstrate that we believe that people can change and rehabilitate with correct instruction.

Ah, but you see...in order for any of that to work...the parents have to help be an advocate for change, and, well, these parents aren't up to that challenge.

CMN 112 Video

2008-04-14T00:13:00.000-04:00

Here is Hannah's Video for CMN 112:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

CMN 112: Get the Vote Out!

2008-04-12T19:40:00.000-04:00

I am sorry that my posting has been slacking; it is the end of the semester, and life is uber crazy!

Here is the first student video for the inworld "Hot Campaign Topics" challenge in CMN 112. These will all be available on LCCC island, and we will vote for the best one!

By Sunflower:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Importance of Spell Check!

2008-03-30T09:33:00.000-04:00

Many thanks to Coach Brown for posting this video on his blog (warning: mature content).

Hell is BAAAAAAACK! (Dante's Inferno Returns to Second Life)

2008-03-25T02:06:00.000-04:00

Dante's Inferno has returned to Second Life!!!

With MANY thanks to our anonymous donor, we were able to unpack and rebuild the Inferno. We have added a few new features, and are continuing to think of new and better ways to add content!

Ironically, the land arrived on Good Friday. If you know about the text, you know that Dante (the character) began his journey on Good Friday.

While we had hoped to have Hell opened by Easter, it takes a lot longer to build hell than we expected :-0 Visit it and make sure you have your ambient sounds, movies, music, and particles turned on.

Many thanks to Eloise Pasteur and Eloise Pasteur Educational Designs for building the Inferno (again), and we are always looking to add content!

To open the island, we are having a Build-a-Lucifer contest (kind of like build-a-bear, but not).

To build him, you need to use the description of him here. The winner will receive our undying praise and 10,000 Linden Dollars.

Interesting Questions about My Second Life and Twitter Neglect

2008-03-22T03:23:00.000-04:00

This is the COOLEST chair in Second Life.

There must be a gaggle of professors requiring interviews of SL educators. I must have done 5 or 6 interviews this week. Most of the questions are pretty standard...who are ya...whatcha doin...whya doin it...

One student asked: Where do you get your inspiration?

Well, truly, I am inspired by literature. I love a good story. I love a bad story written well. Literature is full of great stories. Think about it...isn't is interesting that Grendel just took over a whole big hall and a bunch of guys sat around and said, "oh yeah...that is our resident monster dude over there, but we, valiant warriors, are too lazy to get off our duffs to do anything about it..." until Beowulf shows up and says "DUDES! Why on EARTH are you eating out here when you got that big ole bad hall over there???" See...it is all about language. Making it fun for students. At some point, SOMEONE loved Beowulf (and not just stuffy academics). It was a bedtime story. Little kids and giggling teenagers sat around listening to Dad tell that tale AGAIN to the guests.

In an email today, someone pestered me about my lack of twittering. I READ my twitter log; I just don't write on it much (I am a busy girl, ya know).

Honestly, I love the concept of Twitter. I think it is a great tool for learning. I don't use it in the classroom because I have 50000 other tools that I do use. And, to be honest, there is SOMETHING to be said for privacy. I don't need to know what all my friends are doing every moment of the day. Hell, you really don't WANT TO know what I do all day (wash dishes, more dishes, more dishes, then some more dishes). It isn't that I don't love all my dear friends; I just don't need to be attached to them all the live long day.

Now, some people use Twitter to post interesting links to articles they are reading. Others use it to say, "Ooops! Dropped the Soap!" Really? Oh, that is fasssscinating. Ugh.

I am not much of a phone person either. Ask Mark. He calls all the time: Whatcha doin? Nuttin. How about now? Still nuthin...getting ready to wash dishes. Again? Yup, again.

I really am not that interesting. I could maybe drum up something interesting, but it would be bupkus. My life is relatively boring. I am infinitely jealous of the twitterers with these exotic exciting lives...they MUST have maids or dishwashers or SOMETHING!

I have friends that twitter from their mobile phones...documenting every second of their lives (getting on the plane...got to my seat) and (plane has landed...I can Twitter again!). ARGGgggg. I hate my cell phone, and I do not use it for ANYTHING except calling cabs and my husband (on rare occasion...like car accident kind of occasions). Trust me...you do not want to talk to me when I am in the grocery store with Mustache Man thrashing about on the floor demanding Spiderman Cookies or when I am in the middle of chasing Sharpie Boy down the street as he chases a cat that LOOKS like Mikey-our-cat but isn't Mikey-our-cat. You DEFINITELY do not wanna interrupt my loud singing in the car, and you don't want to talk to me when I am working out at the gym (truly, I could only huff at you and maybe snort). So, your best bet? Email.

My Twitter friends think I am being old fashioned. Nope. I celebrate the use of Twitter in the classroom. I celebrate your right to post your most mundane details. I celebrate the documentation of every moment of life for all of the world to enjoy. But, I am not inspired by it; I am inspired by a GOOD story or a BAD story written well :-)

The American Project in Second Life

2008-03-21T12:16:00.000-04:00

Life is cooking in my virtual world. Three sets of students are now inworld. One group is testing their American values (DeSales), one group is studying feral cats (LCCC), and the last group is building Spoon River (LCCC) for literature class. In total, there are 123 students in SL this semester. So, yeah, I am fairly busy :0

The students at DeSales are full swing into their immersion/survivor activity, "The American Project." We have lots of drama going on; please visit our faculty voice thread where Eloise and I (and our student assistant, Daliah) comment on the challenges and twists in plot.

Here is a small little video, as well, about the project:

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Philip Rosedale Linden Leaving Linden Lab

2008-03-16T06:46:00.000-04:00

Apparently, in the world of hot start up companies, the CEO lifts off and leaves after the honeymoon period. As the blogosphere will tell you, Philip Rosedale Linden is no different...he is just following the prescribed path.

The flood of articles range from "OMG! The Sky is Falling! Run Now!!!" to "Yup - this is what happens" to "You'll see...it will be BETTER now."

Seeing as I don't know the future, and I have no way to predict how this will go, I can only read the articles of reputable publications. The problem is...many of them hated Second Life to begin with...so they are doing the whole "told ya so" dance. The Wall Street Journal, for example, says that businesses have scaled back because of "pranksters." Um...maybe they scaled back because they missed the WHOLE point of virtual worlds? Maybe they realized that people wouldn't just pop over to virtual space to read URLs out to web space?? Ack. Don't get me started...

Look. Second Life ain't dead.

Jeremy Kemp, in a great post to the educator listerserve, listed all the reasons why education isn't gonna die any time soon in SL. In fact, it may just pick up...many of us wrote grants that are JUST coming in now...so we have commitments for at least 2 years. In many ways, educators are really suited for this type of change in helm, as we often experience change of administrators in our daily lives. Our colleges have not yet closed, and we change chiefs a LOT.

But, there are more than businesses and educators to worry about here. What about the residents? They do, in fact, make up the rest of the world. Anshe Chung, the amazing woman behind the millions, is not going to pack it in because Philip is stepping down. She will continue to make money because new people will still want their own slice of the land pie.

Additionally, there will always be people in Second Life that make it what it is...a great social space. Prokovy Neva, also a land holder, is the King of Drama in SL. His blog is, whether you love him or hate him, one of the best out there. He coined phrases like "fettered inner core" or "FIC" to refer to the people who, evidently, attend SL Views or get special preferential treatment by Linden Lab employees (note to self...I attended SL Views, and I don't get special treatment...in fact, I am fairly confident I am not even on the radar to receive even a free tee shirt). Anywho. Prok has invested a lot into his SL work (as a writer, as a gossip hack, as a land owner), so I don't see him leaving either.

Will things change? Well...sure. The changing of the guard always means...um...change. But, it may be BETTER. Maybe someone will come in and say "fix the damn lag." I am not sure it is possible with the bajillions of UUIDs floating in the space, but, hey, you never know.

So, am I jumping ship? Will Literature Alive! step down?

Not a chance.

For starters, my best friends in the entire world live in virtual space. While I can certainly IM Eloise Pasteur in GChat, I would not be able to build Dante's Paradiso with her there. or go to the Job exhibit at Sea Turtle Island. Daliah Carter and I would not be able to go Lucky Chair hopping in real life. I would never have met any of the people that I hold near and dear...Brainwave, PipSqueak, Hiro, Horace, Lorelei, Intellagirl, LauraMaria, Adrian, Bryan, Jeremy, Butch, CDB, Larry, Fleet, HappyHolly, Marius, Crash, Gus, and the list goes on and on and on....

And... students and I could certainly NOT have a watermelon massacre in real life.

Secondly, students LEARN better in virtual worlds. The students building Spoon River hate me and Second Life right about now (their projects being due in less than 26 hours). But, if I call them in 10 years, the chances that they remember something about Spoon River will be significantly higher than if I just gave them some paper to write.

Finally, there is much to be done. Now that we have all figured out that we shouldn't just build what exists in real life (one article called it "a boring place to be"), there is much to do! I am STILL looking for a full sim to place Dante's Inferno (and Purgatorio and Paradiso). Walden Farm is just being built! The World of Wartime Journalism Project will take place this summer...and there is rumor that there might even be a home for the Underground Railroad/Tribute to African American authors build. Eloise, Daliah, and I are VERY busy - no matter WHO takes the helm at LL.

Second Life has never been about the employees at LL. Second Life has always been about us...the content creators. Whether we are educators building that interactive Testes...or land owners like Anshe...or writers like Prok....WE, the collective, have made the place great. Since WE haven't resigned, we have nothing to worry about!

IMAGE SOURCE

Reflections and Predictions

2008-03-12T11:34:00.000-04:00

Literature Alive! recently celebrated its first birthday. Literature Alive! was created because I simply could not find anything literary in SL, and I needed something of substance to offer students.

The first build was on a rental property in Knightsbridge; it was the first British Literature classroom. In these pre-Eloise days, I did all of my own building and scripting with the help of Adrian and Ligeia Westwick. Back then, it was a beautiful house with lots of things to click, but there was nothing to do other than read.

At first, we used the British Literature classroom for everything, but then gave birth to Literature Alive! We established a headquarters at Lukekini Island, and interest in literary projects caught on at the SL Insider (w Massively) where Eloise was a columnist. During her interview, she asked where LA was heading, and I explained all that I wanted to to do but recognized that my basic building skills and lack of funding would prevent any forward movement. Eloise took pity on me, and started to build interactive displays while I went out a-beggin for land grants. My thought was that people would donate land before they would donate Linden, and they would welcome builds that would help establish their own presence within SL.

Fast forward one year.

We have hosted over 30 builds in Second Life devoted to literature. We have held 52 workshops for faculty. We have been home to over 250 college students using SL to learn about literature. Through the very generous land donations of our colleagues and the volunteer efforts of Eloise, Literature Alive! has grown in leaps and bounds.

Where next?

Our main hope is to continue building environments. This summer, students will be working on WW2 and Journalism, and we hope to build a full sim Dante exhibit (inferno, purgatorio, and paradiso).

We also hope to return to offering free workshops for faculty using SL to teach. This is the best part of what LA has done in the past, and it is something that ebbs and flows with student presence.

As we look over the past year, we are amazed by what we have been able to put together with no budget. We - literally - grew out of a dream.

As we celebrate this first birthday, please let me take just one second to thank the people who have made it possible to exist and thrive.

Without the help of Eloise Pasteur, Literature Alive! would still be at Lukekini hoping to do something MORE in SL. While she makes her living by building and scripting in SL, she has volunteered her time, talent, and treasure to help us grow. Without her, we would not be where we are right now.
Daliah Carter is the assistant everyone dreams of having. She shops for props, she helps students get dressed, and she takes excellent notes.
Our sponsors: There are so many of them, but we are eternally thankful to Finger Lakes Community College, Monroe Community College, Montclair CHSS, Georgia Southern SCU, Education UK, SLCN.TV, Cattle Puppy, the Foundation for Rich Content, The V3 Group, Liz Fherenghetti Landscaping, EduIsland II, NMC, FireSabre Consulting, MillionsOfUs, Eloise Pasteur Educational Designs, Alliance Library, Caledon Libraries, VIT World Group, Nature Island, and Drexel University.
Our Friends: We have so many friends on the grid that it is impossible to list them all. However, there are a few that have been truly special to us and we want to be sure to thank them as well: Butch Dae, Marcius Dowding, Crash Thibauld, Larry Pixel, CDB Barkely, Intellagirl Tully, Bryan Mnemonic, AJ Brooks, LauraMaria Onomatopeia, Claudia Linden, Blue Linden, Glenn Linden, Sambuca Carter, Lorelei Jonot, PipSqueak Fiddlesticks, Audio Zenith, Max Chatnoir, Horace Moody, Troy McLuhan, Fleet Goldberg, Fred Fuchs, and FlipperPA.

The Boss's First Video

2008-03-09T23:25:00.000-04:00

My husband, Spiff, made his first movie:

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Animoto v OneTrueMedia

2008-03-09T19:37:00.003-04:00

So, I want to see which one I like best. Truthfully, I like them both. But, I thought I would toss the vote out to my faithful readers. Which output format do you like better? Please vote in the COMMENTS tab below! Artwork in videos is by my colleague Ron Blue; check out his gallery.

OneTrueMedia

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Animoto

Open Notebook Science

2008-03-09T00:25:00.001-05:00

My friend and colleague at Drexel, Jean-Claude Bradley, is an Associate Professor of Chemistry. His revolutionary work in Open Notebook Science challenges the "old way" of communicating science.

Check out his latest video talk on what ONS is and how it will impact the world.

Summer Lovin

2008-03-08T14:46:00.001-05:00

This summer, I will be teaching in a learning community connecting students in Journalism I at LCCC with students in WW2 History at Penn State.

Here is one of our joint resources that can be played inworld with the new HTML on a prim concept!

Addicted to OneTrueMedia

2008-03-07T17:57:00.000-05:00

Another One...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Teaching in Virtual Worlds

2008-03-07T10:58:00.000-05:00

I just returned home from Denver...and have about 1000 RSS posts to read. Ack.

Anywho, I presented at the League for Innovation on teaching in Second Life. Here is the wiki, and here are the slides:

| View | Upload your own

A Family Video

2008-02-22T13:40:00.001-05:00

I have fallen in love with OneTrueMedia:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Please Watch!

2008-02-20T22:55:00.000-05:00

Please watch this video about feral cats. My students are working with Dr. Nancy Trun at Duquesne on a feral cat science and communication project, and Alley Cat Allies has been REALLY helpful!!! Please let them meet their goal of education people on the benefits of spaying and neutering.

Science Rocks in SL

2008-02-17T11:29:00.000-05:00

Wow. I am sooooo humbled by the science community in SL. Every time I turn around, they are doing something so entirely amazing, it makes me proud to know them.

These people are awe inspiring. If you think NOAA rocks...if you think ISM is the Bee's Knees...if the you think the Genome Project is the Cat's Meow....you MUST go see DrDoug Pernnell's (RL Doug Danforth, Ohio State) "The Tour of the Testis." Wow...how often do you get say, "I toured a Testis...TWICE!"

Dr.Doug did an INCREDIBLE job on this tour. While you sit in the little car thingy, you go through the exhibit and actually learn about the whole sperm production process. Now, before this tour, I could write what I know about all things sperm related on the head of a pin. At the end of the tour, I took the quiz, and OMG I learned something!!!! In fact, I learned all sorts of new facts about chromosomes and such.

You must, must, must got see this tour; it is up there with ISM, NOAA, Genome, and the rest.

But, if you get bored, pop over the amazingly new American Chemical Society Island being created by Hiro Sheridan (the amazing man behind the open source molecule rezzer) and Horace Moody (the amazing cat behind Open Notebook Science).

And, if you get bored with THAT, go on over to the SL Healthy wiki created by the lovely Perplexity Peccable, Prijian Toland and Skaidrite Norse. Once you are there, you can pop inworld to find real information about RL health! Health Info Island is simply an amazing resource.

If there were a competition between science and the humanities, science would win - hands down. While there are lots of people doing great stuff in literature and history, it isn't as much as we would like to see. For example, the folks at Seton Hall have done an amazing rendition of Hawthorne's House of the Seven Gables. Bryan Carter has created a Harlem Renaissance Sim. There are a few places to study creative writing, journalism, and poetry. Literature Alive! creates about 89% of the literature content available on the grid.

As far as history goes, the only sims that are truly educational (and not commercial in scope and nature) are Caledon (which is not owned by an educator) and the new Land of Lincoln (created and run by the amazing Lorelei Junot). While places like the Renaissance Sim are lovely living history places, the focus isn't really on education; they are more focused on reeneacting. The Ren Sim is nice though, as they do try, more than other social sims, to be period correct and educational in various events. So, they are a true mix, where places like Paris and New York are completely commercial. You will find the buildings, but you will learn nothing about the culture or content.

Image Source

Special Thanks to Eloise Pasteur for helping me collect the SLurls for this post!!!

Sing a Song for Change

2008-02-15T19:39:00.000-05:00

The glorious Vicki Davis wrote (yet another) inspiring post about Cute Cupcakes and Choruses for Change.

In her post, she includes this song from Les Mis. So, here is my challenge to you. If you think the world is ripe for change, post the song on your blog, too. Obviously, posting a song won't change the world, but if enough of us sing it (in the words of the infamous Arlo Guthrie), they will think there is a movement.

Makeover Madness

2008-02-14T01:26:00.000-05:00

I had a blast today! Bryan Carter needed some avatars modeled for his awesome Harlem Renaissance build...and he immed and asked if I had time to decorate three avatars!!!

YAY!!!!!

So here, are some shots...they all looked like the normal newbie here, and transformed into these three ladies...Georgia, Vivian, and Jessie.

The Newest Love of My Life: Windlight

2008-02-13T12:51:00.001-05:00

Larry Pixel (RL: Larry Johnson) introduced me to Windlight - a new viewer for SL that provides the most incredible (INCREDIBLE) lighting and environment views. The only thing that was super annoying was that it said that I didnt have the right graphics card when I installed it, but, lo, it was wrong. It works just fine in my machine. Here are various pics of Windlight....

Techno Lust or Techno Lazy?

2008-02-12T11:43:00.000-05:00

What is technolust? According to an article in the Washington Post, it is the reason why all that wicked bright technology goes unused in our schools.

Teachers interviewed for the article claim that teachers that use technology are lazy and THAT laziness is the motivation for the techno lust sweeping the educational floor boards.

I donno. I have met a lot of these technolustful teachers (Vicki Davis, Kevin Jarrett, Kathy Schrock). Not one of them is lazy, and not one of them uses technology to make life easier for them...it is to make learning RICH for students.

Frankly, the ones not using the technology are the lazy ones. They refuse to be taught anything new, and want everyone to applaud their stoicism. Horse Hockey.

The problem ISN'T buying the stuff (as the article suggests), it is that the Gen X and Boomer teachers refuse to LEARN it...

Wicked Sentence Maze!

2008-02-10T11:17:00.000-05:00

Need something to do that is FUN and challenging???

Try out this sentence creation maze at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cookie/183/86/23

The creator, Tooter Claxton, did an amazing job!!!!

Many thanks to Thinkerer Melville for the tour. Check out his awesome machinima on YouTube.

Collaboration in Second Life: A World of Possibilities

2008-02-09T01:41:00.000-05:00

I apologize for slacking off here, but I have been busy presenting, teaching, and doing all sorts of RL things. My hectic schedule is a wonderful tribute to the wonderfully chaotic nature of working in SL.

I belong to many groups in SL, and I would belong to about 65 more if they would allow such a thing. Obviously, Literature Alive! is my most active group (245 participants so far!). But here are some other groups that I love:

1. Real Life Educators - this is the official SL group for educators started by Pathfinder Linden. It is the most comprehensive list of educators inworld.

2. The Educators Coop - this is a group that I belong to by virtue of my membership in the Coop. It is quite active, and members like Grandma Bates (pictured) make it interesting and worthwhile.

3. ISTE - They offer a lot of great workshops and speakers.

4. Elven - They offer a lot of great resources geared to K-12 educators.

5. NMC Guests - NMC offers a lot of great programming (arts and education related).

6. SLDev - this is a group for developers in SL and is the one place where you can go with a technical question.

Now, I wish we could have more groups because I would totally add to my list of favorite shopping places. Lots of people ask about my favorites, so here they are:

For Hair - ETD, Calla, Panache

For Clothes - DE Designs, Crave, and Pixel Dolls

This is a pic of my super secret home :-)

Lane's List - Literature Alive!

2008-02-05T12:42:00.000-05:00

Literature Alive! is proud to make Lane's List! Check out the article!

Also, coming soon.....we are EXPANDING the School Store! There will be MORE freebies and educational vendors.

If you want to sell your stuff, and it is suitable for educators and students, you may use space at the School Store. Literature Alive! does not require a percentage of the sales (though donations are appreciated).

Check it out!!!

Fast Food Nation and Family Farming

2008-02-04T16:37:00.000-05:00

So...I watched the movie Fast Food Nation last week. Even though the book came out in 2001 and the movie a few years later....it is sooooooo worth it to KNOW where your food is coming from!!!!

OMG

As much as I used to love sliding through the drive thru for my Whopper with Cheese no onion, I made the decision not to ever ever ever eat at Fast Food Places again. In fact, I gave up eating meat entirely.

I have made it a whole week, and, jeebus louibus, I have not missed the fast food OR the meat.

I completely recommend the movie and the book by the same name. And, please - please - please - support your local farms!!!!!

A View from the Student Lounge

2008-02-01T07:54:00.000-05:00

One of my students recommended this video to our study of American culture and values:

I had to listen a few times (and then find a translation of the lyrics), but it is interesting that students identify with this song.

Pachelbel Hell

2008-01-31T20:52:00.001-05:00

THIS IS A RIOT!!!!!

My Students RAWK!!!

2008-01-30T01:02:00.000-05:00

They do. They totally RAWK!!!

My 106 (lit) students get up at the crack of dawn...all 30 of them...and they manage to get to English class. They pretend to be galloping knights or ladies of Shallot (saying "Dang! He's cute" when looking in the rear view tower mirror.

They used Animoto to create tributes to Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes in honor of MLK.

They used GCast to create oral versions of various poems.

Tomorrow, they will start using Imagination Cubed to help design 3D poems for Second Life.

The students in EN 104 (Comm Thought 2) used Animoto to create awesome "What it means to be an American" displays.

The students in EN 107 (tech writing) have started working on their Feral Cat Projects using Mixbook and Wikispaces. The students in CMN 112 are gearing up to work with Hiro Sheridan on a Cryptology project.

They totally rawk. Totally.

Local Porn Stars are Born?

2008-01-26T22:39:00.000-05:00

Oh My.

Seems as two high school girls and one high school boy from an affluent area in my neck of the woods got their skivvies caught on cell phone footage. One took a picture of her own, um, stuff. No one knows who took the other pic, but it shows that she was with an unidentified boy.

YUCK.

Ok, so the school went bananas and sent a letter home (as per the PA law on child porn). The letter is actually pretty good, and definitely prevents litigation. They know they will never get EVERYONE to delete the pics (seeing as they made their way all the way over to Harvard AND Oregon).

What to do?

Well, here is the thing. In the case of the girl who took her own photo - um, grounding? Take away the cell phone? Convent? The girl has issues and needs some help. I hope her parents focus on THAT and not trying to blame the world.

The other couple should go meet with counselors (and if a sicko took the pic...that person should get in loads of trouble). It might be a case of cyber bullying. It might have been a propped up cell phone. Maybe the boy took it? Maybe the girl? Perhaps the cat?

The thing that strikes me about this situation is the impact it has had in this community. At dinner tonight, we had a lively discussion about it.

Certainly, the passing and receiving of porn violates PA child pornography laws. Certainly there is some law (maybe FCC?) about such things, as well. But, as my cousin argued, is this a case of pornography if THEY (the kids) took the pictures?

It isn't surprising that kids are taking pics of themselves in, um, demonstrations of poor judgment...hell, back in the 80s there were lots of pics circulated - but (back then) they were polaroids.

An elder exclaimed, "BAN THE CELL PHONES!"

Um...believe me...banning the cell phone isn't gonna stop teenagers from "doing the nasty in the woodshed."

Is the problem that they were DOING it or that they spread the pic around to the free world?

Certainly, the former has been a problem for a long, long, long, time. We haven't fixed the problem, and the problem only seems to get worse. It got worse a long time before cell phones were available.

So, the problem here is the cell phone...but could just as easily have been the internet. The picture spread like wildfire...the current shake up will cause it to spread more...

In the case of the girl taking her own pic, my oh my, she must be awfully proud of her attributes. Because, as far as I know (and, truly, I have no idea), there are lots of similar pics on the web. I suspect the same is the case for couple number two...that stuff can be found all over the web (and in both cases...involving consenting and paid adults).

So, the problem here isn't really the CELL PHONE...or the INTERNET...the problem is that it makes a very affluent area look bad because, OMG, their TEENAGERS exercised bad judgment by TAKING pictures of yucky stuff and then, OMG, PASSING it around to all of their friends (and prolly enemies, too).

This seems to be a problem of "This kinda thing doesn't happen in our town."

Um...our town now involves the world...soooooo......as I have said a million times before...

TEACH DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP!!!!!

Immersive Learning in 3D Virtual Environments

2008-01-25T23:34:00.000-05:00

I promised JJ Drinkwater I would post this!

The UIUC (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences is offering a distance learning class (to be taught in SL) on Immersive Learning in 3D Virtual Environments for Librarians and Educators. . The class runs for six weeks, and will be taught by SL Librarians Hypatia Dejavu of Info Island, and JJ Drinkwater of the Caledon Library. Feel free to email JJDrinkwater@gmail.com for more information

Week One: Introduction to immersive learning
Week Two: Second Life as an immersive learning environment
Week Three: Immersive education in virtual space
Week Four: Technologies of learning
Week Five: Immersive learning library programs
Week Six: Immersive reference services

Dates and times: February 7, 14, 21, 28, March 6, and 13 from 7:30 - 9:30 am SL

More information on registration and such at...
http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/programs/cpd/VW/IL.html

Against Intellectual Monopoly by Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine

2008-01-25T13:55:00.000-05:00

I have two new best friends. Well, ok, we have never met. But, surely, they WOULD be my new best friends if we met.

Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine are publishing a new book called Against Intellectual Monopoly out of Cambridge Press. What's so cool about it???

You can read the FREE DIGITAL COPY HERE!!!

Many thanks to Charles Bailey over at Digital Koans for the heads up (and to Peter Suber before that!)!

Image Source

Lane's List

2008-01-25T13:06:00.000-05:00

Nazz Lane is putting together a list of edifying artistic content on the SL grid. Check out the interviews here.

Lane contacted me to add Literature Alive! to part 2 of the series. Woot!

2 Million Minutes

2008-01-25T11:14:00.000-05:00

Many thanks to Scott McLeod over at Dangerously Irrelevant for the link to a new documentary about students in high school across the globe. Be warned - the American kids aren't painted so well...

The documentary is called Two Million Minutes: The Movie. Watch the trailer...

The Pink Ranger

2008-01-24T18:12:00.000-05:00

Moustache Man and I worked on this Pink Ranger tribute using my new fave tool, Imagination Cubed by GE

Check it out!

My New Favorite Toy: Imagination Cubed by GE

2008-01-24T17:14:00.000-05:00

I have another new favorite toy!

This is called Imagination Cubed; it is a free writeboard offered up to the sphere by GE.

Check out why I love it!

Growing Up Online: Frontline's Amazing Journey

2008-01-23T14:41:00.000-05:00

We have all been patiently waiting for the Frontline show, Growing Up Online. Some people were worried...some folks are upset. But, truthfully, I found it was pretty good.

Some comments (go view it and then come on back :-)

One point that Frontline illustrates well is the divide between the teachers who are "out of date" and the ones who are "up to speed" with technology. Many of us using Second Life have felt the weight of this divide; in fact, the divide is creating rifts and tension in many schools in the K-22 system. Why?

Well, I can't claim to know the answer, but here is my guess. The students entering college today know a heckuva lot more about thechnology than most teachers (not the readers of THIS blog, surely). For some, this is an uncomfortable place to be...the teacher is supposed to hold the keys to knowledge...passing them out with each successfully aced test or essay. To allow students to be key holders means we have to give something up, right? For some, the answer is yes and will always be yes. Teachers teach; students learn. For the rest of us (the ones on the other side of the grassy knoll), we understand that learning is a shared process. Just today, a student showed me some Google shortcuts. Instead of acting like I was dumbfounded that he could possibly know more about Google than me (a Google Addict), I applauded him, had him teach everyone in the class, and gave him a gold star for brilliance. Sure, he had some sparkle in his eyes for one-upping the teacher, but, hey, he deserves a little sparkle! I am not threatened by his brilliance; to me, his brilliance and his ability to communicate it to me and to a class of 25 peers is an awesome tribute to the potential of collaborative educational tools!

Another point made by Frontline is the angst of parents. In dealing with many a frustrated parent, I understand the problem. It is easy to say "stay off the street corner" because you can drive by it and check if Susie is strutting her stuff there; it is not so easy to find a street on the internet where Susie has posted pics of herself nude. It is even harder to know that Joey, her MySpace friend, who says he is also 14 is actually 43 and collecting every pic of her and making a room collage of them arranging a time when they can meet so he can capture and rape her. Parents know the evils of the real world, and now a whole NEW world has popped up that they know little about. Now, kids are smart...if a parent goes to Susie and says "Susie, show me your MySpace page," Susie is gonna click up some sweet looking sight that makes her out to be next in line for a Pulitzer Prize. Kids aren't going to show their parents where the bad stuff is...did we show our parents where the lookouts were??? Parents are busy working, and there aren't many classes offered for parents on "how to spy on your teen 101." So, there is a whole host of people out there that have no idea how to monitor their kids. One parent recently told me that he was really irritated by the politicians and celebrities that say "Yo, Parents! Monitor Thy Kids." He said, "I would if I knew how." Since technology changes daily...it is no wonder parents are left in the dark.

And, what about these kids? Frontline does a nice job of illustrating how kids are connecting during every free second; they multi task (and, as one teacher put it, they have less of an ability to focus). These kids are surrounded my media all day long. Plus, there are no places for kids to hang out...they aren't allowed to lolligag at the mall, movies are waaaaay too expensive (and you can't talk), and we don't let our kids sit out on the front porch because they might get mugged, raped, or kidnapped. We banned all the skateboard parks, we don't them go out and play a good old game of "kick the can" because some parent might sue another if someone gets hurt. We banned barbies because they degrade women; we don't live near corner stores since that Walmart opened up down the street....there is simply nothing for them to do that is FREE, SAFE, and FUN.

So, is it a surprise that they have found a way to connect to one another online? Is it safer? Well, that depends on what you mean by safe. Cyber bullying is on the rise (and Frontline does a nice segment on it). Cyber Stalkers are on the rise. All of the scary things of Real Life (you know...the reasons they aren't allowed to sit on that front stoop) exist online. But, as Frontline reported, the ONE study done about cyber predators indicates that most kids DO KNOW how to spot cyber predators.

Sadly, I learned of the Goddess Ana - or the cult of eating disorders. And, I felt pained by Evan and her damaged relationship with her son; her quest to protect him has sent him further away from her. But, was her quest too strong? I never let my Mom read my diary...but, I also didn't publish my diary for everyone in the world to read.

My heart pours out to the family of Ryan; he committed suicide because some student teenage girl broke his heart and trampled his ego. Cyber bullying is just nuts. Kids think that the words in print hurt less than the words coming out from your mouth. Clearly, as Ryan's death shows, words hurt in any medium and clearly "amplified and accelerated" his pain.

SO, where do we go from here? We teach them to be responsible cyber citizens. Period.

Image Source: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/

Checking out We7 with Animoto

2008-01-22T22:29:00.001-05:00

I wanted to test out how to use We7 with Animoto...this is just a test (and some assorted pics that were on my C Drive)

First Mixbook is Out!

2008-01-22T15:01:00.000-05:00

Students in English 105 are creating Mixbook reading journals. Amy H. accidentally published hers, but it is well worth publishing here (or, if you are interested in reading it, click here):

View this book full size or get a printed copy at Mixbook

Ooodles of Web 2.0 Tools for Teaching!

2008-01-21T15:55:00.000-05:00

Many thanks to Eloise Pasteur for starring this article by Digitial Urban in her Google Reader! They posted an awesome video created by Simple Spark that shows 5000 Web 2.0 tools in 333 seconds.

You can check out and try the tools at Simple Spark. They have a WHOLE SECTION devoted to education!

Image Source

Drop.io and Literature Alive!

2008-01-20T12:14:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the amazing and talented Molly McDonald (AKA Demo Girl), I learned of a new tool called Drop.io

Why is this cool? Well, for one, it allows Eloise and I to share resources for Literature Alive. Right now, Elo and I do everything through Gmail, and that does work pretty well for us. Elo and I communicate at least 200 times a day. Drop.io will allow us to share stuff without having to hunt through our email accounts!

http://drop.io/literaturealive

Thanks, Demo Girl!

The Women and War Classroom

2008-01-20T02:33:00.000-05:00

This is a brief video about the Women and War Classroom hosted at Drexel Island.

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Drexel/194/37/24

My First Machinima

2008-01-17T12:04:00.000-05:00

Here it is! Using WeGame, I created this little ditty about the VIT Rezzer: