I was, to say the least, surprised by the reaction caused by Joyce Valenza and my School Library Journal article, Things that keep us up at night, published earlier this month. The article itself was more or less a distillation of observations, predictions and warnings that Joyce and I have been making for some time - not really covering a lot of new, radical ground. So why the reaction?
Joyce, on her TeacherLibrarian Ning, calls out these substatial reactions to the article:
I received, as I am sure did Joyce, some direct e-mail comments as well.
So why this article, why the reaction, and what did I learn/observe?
The conversation began, for me anyway, with a strong, thoughtful disputation of the article. Had it not been for Beth's taking us to task a little, this may have simply died a quiet death. The richness of this experiences came as much or more from the great critical comments to Joyce's post, my post and Beth's post as it did from the article itself. (Go back and read the comments if you haven't!)
I find it interesting that the original article appears in the electronic version of an (old) traditional publication. Wide readership of SLJ plus convenient access = lots o' reactions??? Is this an example of an "and" rather than "or" kind of future envisioned by Walt Crawford and others?
The vision of future libraries and services is coming from practitioners, rather than traditional "experts," resulting in a new generation of leadership emerging from the field rather than academia. Carolyn, Buffy and Cathy Jo linked to above who responded in their own well-known blogs all lead by example - with Joyce being the model for this type of in-field leadership. Best practices are less research-based and more driven by what actually works.
Five years ago the "conversation" this article may have produced would have only been a couple (heavily edited) letters to the editor of SLJ and perhaps a few e-mails on LM_Net.
Today I am blown away, still reading, still digesting and still thinking that next time I write for SLJ I'll ask for a damn raise ;-)
While I was playing with my grandsons all weekend, my Ozzie colleague Judy O'Connell who writes the prestigious Hey Jude blog was busy putting her thoughts together about virtual worlds. Our Australian friends have long been leaders in online learning, so Judy knows where of she speaks. Thanks, Judy, for the infomative post!
Virtual Worlds Coming of Age – with help from ‘downunder’
Virtual worlds are providing new environments for learning, with new interfaces and new options of choice for schools. This shift represents a recognition of the value of experiential spaces, where learners have rich, embodied, collaborative and cooperative interactions andwhere they think with complex tools and resources in the service of complex problem-solving (Gee, 2003; Squire, 2003). The idea of 'serious games' is fast converging with educational virtual worlds with more organisations and schools exploring the benefits of game play within immersive experiences - to learn and assess learning.
The key in virtual worlds is matching the promise of technology with the creative minds of educators and their students. Virtual worlds can be interdisciplinary, provide authentic cultural, historical or scientific experiences, and offer systems of teaching that point the way to a new way of learning – one that is immersive, interactive and virtual (Hutchison, 2009). Planning a new curriculum that incorporates virtual worlds requires a re-evaluation of our technology strategy, and a re-alignment of our school library services. No doubt, whatever we do needs innovation and careful planning for a successful integration into the curriculum.
If you are actually wondering what all the possibilities might be, take a look at this short review from Education.Au
But how do you find out what the options are or stay in touch with developments?
Australians are generally an innovative bunch, and so it’s easy for me to find the inspiration I need ‘downunder’ – and would like to share some of this with the readers here.
Visit the blog of Jo Kay , and delve into her newly created Virtual Worlds in Education Wiki! She has established this wiki to document the educational uses of a range of virtual worlds as part of her work as facilitator of the Islands of jokaydia Community of Practice.
Australia's Second Classroom Ning also provides an online community of practice for educators who wish to share how they use immersive media with and myself (co-founders of this Ning), are particularly keen to support developments in virtual worlds areas after the conclusion of some research we’ll undertake at the Macquarie University sim at ReactionGrid. The SecondClassroom duo set out to explore ReactionGrid , and have learnt so much more about the potential of Open Simulator to provide the learning experiences we have been looking for. The next year is going to result in some amazing developments for schools – and timely too as demonstrated by Steve Collis in his 5 year plan for virtual worlds in education.See, anything is possible!
My favourite resource for keeping in touch with global virtual worlds developments is Australia's own Metaverse Journalwhich provides news, projects, and events for virtual worlds across industry and other sectors around the world. Here you’ll find a clear indication that education cannot ignore the transition and transformation that is taking place in computer-based and online learning environments. I suggest that you plug this excellent online resource straight into your RSS reader.
Go on – get into virtual worlds today! Explore how a virtual world’s 3D environment might fit within existing learning programs and teaching strategies, and what changes might need to occur?
(Gee & Levine, 2009 p. 50)
When teachers use meaningful digital media for learning their role changes. They become designers of and resources for their students’ learning – such as video games or Web quests – they become mentors and guides, offering feedback and formative assessment that fuel students’ self-initiated learning”
Some key steps in your planning phase might include:
Understanding the basics in order to explore your choices and options
Collecting best practices relevant to your school’s setting, and where possible, observing a class or group of students in action.
Trying out virtual learning environments is to better understand how to boost student engagement, and create a new option for lesson delivery.
Planning curriculum changes, remembering to make it different to the existing curriculum.
Determining the best ways to manage teacher support and development.
Determining the implications for your literacy and information literacy programs.
Working out the role that the teacher librarian and the school library can/will take in this new learning landscape.
Making it fun and make it count.
References
Gee, JamesPaul 2003. What video games have to teach us about learning, New York: Palgrave.
Gee, James Paul, & Levine, Michael H 2009. ‘Welcome to our virtual worlds’, Educational Leadership vol. 66, no. 6, pp. 48-52.
Hutchison, David 2009. ‘Video games: Ideas for teaching and library media links’, School Library Media Activities Monthly25, no. 7, pp. 56-58.
Squire, K. 2003.‘Video games in education’, International Journal of Intelligent Simulations and Gaming, vol. 2, no.1.
OK, I lost the source where I read about this article (sorry), but it is worth passing along: When Social Media Bites at Forbes. The article lists examples of social networking misuse by adults ranged from a man asking his wife for a divorce on Facebook to having the diss of a new employer on Twitter being forwarded to the employer - all the stories giving some weight to the subheading: Kids get lectured about being careful on social networks. Adults should be scolded too.
There are some serious implications in all this silliness. According to "A study from Harris Interactive ... for CareerBuilder.com found that 45% of potential employers screen candidates via social media, up from 22% last year. Thirty-five percent of employers say they found reasons not to hire a person based on information they found on social network profiles." (As we ask all our new and student teachers "Are you sure you've deleted all your naked beer bong pictures from your Facebook page?")
Second Life is a virtual world where users can play out real-life fantasies. Little surprise, real love has resulted from virtual courtships. In the case of Amy Taylor in Newquay, England, it spawned heartbreak too. Taylor told the Western Morning News that she filed for divorce after walking in on her husband having a virtual affair on the service. The two met in a chat room and had held a marriage ceremony in Second Life.
Graduate student Connor Riley was pondering whether to take a high-paying internship at networking giant Cisco and tweeted herself out of a job opportunity: "Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work." A Cisco employee spotted the post and informed Riley that she'd pass it along to her hiring manager. Riley told MSNBC that she had already turned down the opportunity.
and
Cody Redenius' ex-girlfriend saw him posing with a shotgun in a Facebook profile and reported it to local police in Dane County, Wis. Redenius was under a domestic abuse injunction that prohibited him from being in possession of a firearm. The photo was enough to get him arrested.
Oh, it seems like I remember hearing many an embarrassing story about e-mail faux pas in the mid-90s as well. Something sort of reassuring about the consistency of human behavior.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at 06:22AM 
The conversation began, for me anyway, with a strong, thoughtful disputation of the article. Had it not been for Beth's taking us to task a little, this may have simply died a quiet death. The richness of this experiences came as much or more from the great critical comments to Joyce's post, my post and Beth's post as it did from the article itself. (Go back and read the comments if you haven't!)
