Over the last two days, I've discovered new educational venues and/or avatars. Last night I attended a discussion about education in SL - it was a great way to remind us by IMing the group. I was at ISTE and was talking to 6 or 7 people that ended up coming with me. The only confusion was that we beat the organizer there to get us to the right part of the building. They even had avatar security - which is good considering that I now know what griefers are.
Earlier today I met a professor from Olympic College in Washington State who recently graduated from Pepperdine with a doctorate in Ed Tech. We're getting together to chat online later - he's one of the most polite avatars I've met so far. And he has already invited me to a meeting on Friday with some grad students from Pepperdine - it's a way of bonding cohorts. He's already shared some interesting insights -including how to lol (laugh out loud) in virtual space.
I'm still trying to spend more time with KJ and Ex but eventually we'll get there.
I had set up a group for Pitt State Gorillas and I have my first "member" - a student from a nearby junior college who is coming to PSU next year. I had been by Greenbush earlier today and they mentioned setting up a meeting with Labette County. The student has been in SL for several months. Once his instructor came online, his instructor teleported him away - but hopefully we will talk more later. He wants to major in criminal justice - which will mean he is in the same hallway as I am for some of his classes when I am back in August.
So the Pitt State Gorillas group is already working. . . It will be interesting to see how fast it grows.
I think I'm beginning to make some of the types of connections I want to make with other professionals in SL. It's great to be among those that are enthusiastic but, more importantly for me, to be among those that have faced the same obstacles at the post-secondary levels. I have a great deal to learn from the ISTE group but, in general, I have to work within different parameters. At least in virtual space, however, our worlds can overlap much more easily. I'm also interested in the great research potential made possible by SL.
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