VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

VE PLN

The VSTE VE PLN Is On the Move in Second Life!

Logo for Virtual EnvironmentsFor over 10 years, the VSTE Virtual Environments Professional Learning Network has maintained VSTE Island, a full region in Second Life, as part of our professional development program. With a shift in focus to expanding to other virtual environments, we have decided to downsize and move to a parcel on the Second Life Mainland, with significantly lower costs. The new parcel will be revealed on Monday, August 19, 2019 at 8:00 pm EDT (5:00 pm SLT/Pacific time).

The VE PLN will very much still be in Second Life and other virtual worlds, meeting (almost) weekly on Mondays at 8pm Eastern time. Minecraft Monday will continue on the first Monday of the month at VSTE Place, our shared Minecraft server. Our other excursions will include Opensim on Avacon, Unity (including SineSpace and ViWoLe), and other virtual environments new and old. As VSTE Island Facilitator Kim Harrison says, “We need to be good stewards of VSTE's funds." By downsizing in Second Life, we are able to expand into other worlds and online communities.

We would encourage anyone to try Second Life for professional learning and networking. According to Beth S. O’Connell, another VSTE Island Facilitator, “Although Second Life is not ideal for K-12 instruction, it’s essential for networking between educators. Second Life is the crossroads and is used for instruction by colleges and universities worldwide. Familiarity with virtual worlds is an additional kind of literacy needed by tech-savvy educators.” Virtual worlds are already part of the Virginia Computer technology standards CT9-12.15.  For getting started with Second Life and setting up an account, the VE PLN suggests using the Rockcliffe University Consortium’s Gateway at https://urockcliffe.com/reg/second-life/.

Upcoming VSTE VE PLN Events:

Monday, June 3: Minecraft Monday with the VE PLN

Thunder and Jaz will show us how to build a Creeper trap! If you’re not already whitelisted at VSTE Place, our Minecraft server, contact [email protected] for information on attending.

Monday, June 17: Come Sail the 5Cs With Us

Please join us in Second Life at a temporary location as Thunder and Bluebarker help us understand how one assesses creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, citizenship, and communication. We navigate the particulars of identifying different ways to incorporate the 5Cs into lessons with Web 2.0 tools and New Media Technologies.

Monday, June 24: End of the School Year Party

Please join us in Second Life at a temporary location, as we dance the night away with music from a DJ and Greedy table games for those who want a challenge. We’ll have good times as we celebrate the end of another school year past. With some chapters coming to a close and others starting anew, it doesn’t matter how you see it, celebrating with friends makes it all the more exciting.

Learn More About Game Engines, VE PLN, March 11, 2019

Logo for Virtual EnvironmentsThe Virtual Environments Professional Learning Network (VEPLN) will be hosting Dr. William Schmactenberg on Monday, March 11, 2019 on VSTE Island In Second Life discussing Unity 3D. More schools are using modern day game engines to help student create digital projects in programs such as Unity 3D. Unity 3D can be used to create high quality Educational games and Virtual Reality simulations. We can also have a general discussion of what games should be used in schools.

Second Life is free to access. You need an account and software to access the virtual world.

We recommend setting up an account at the Rockcliffe University Consortium's Gateway here: https://urockcliffe.com/reg/second-life/ Download and install the software. While your Second Life viewer (software) is open click this link http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/VSTE%20Island/61/104/22 and voila! Look for an avatar on VSTE Island and say, "Hey, I'm new!" We will take care of the rest.

VSTE PLN Holiday Store

The VSTE VE PLN Holiday Store Front building contest is well under way. 17 of 18 windows have been claimed and a few seem to be finished or nearly finished.

This is a GREAT time for new Second Life users, or those who have been gone for a while, to come in and see what's here on VSTE Island.

We can help you get accustomed to SL. Email [email protected] to set up a time to meet and learn some basic SL skills if you'd like or simply do the tutorials at the Rockcliffe University Consortium's Gateway, or both!

Voting for best Holiday Windows is December 17th at 8 PM EST.

Holiday Store Window
VSTE Holiday Store

VEPLN Summer of Survival

Picture from MinecraftThe Virtual Environments Professional Learning Network (VEPLN) will be sponsoring the second annual Survive the Summer event at VSTE Place in Minecraft.

WHAT

Yes! We are doing this again! Shorter and sweeter, this summer, July 2 through July 31, VSTE Place will hold its second Summer of Survival! Participants will be able to warp to survival mode for a completely different Minecraft experience. We will discover why our students beg for survival mode at school.  It's challenging, but fun, and we will need each other to survive!

There will be specific tasks for participants to complete for a certificate from VSTE. You may be able to use that in your district for professional development points or recertification points, but managing that will be strictly up to each participant. We will be here to certify that you participated and to make sure we are all having fun learning about the gaming aspect of Minecraft. Kim H. and Lisa A. will run the course for VBCPS. Laura B. will be running a course for other teachers. Please contact one of us for details.

WHY

The VSTE VE PLN has enjoyed learning to build together in VSTE Place, our Minecraft server, for a while now. We meet there the first Monday of the month at 8 PM Eastern time for networking. We have had speakers, guest teachers, students as teachers, and fun activities. We do most of these things in creative mode.

Many of us have expanded our classroom practice to include teaching and learning with Minecraft. We have both after school clubs and create learning experiences for the instructional part of our students' day. During these activities, inevitably the students request, or rather plead, for survival mode. Therefore, we have decided to dive into Survival mode this summer to see what all the fuss is about.

JOIN US!

To join us  on VSTE Place, the VSTE Minecraft server and/or participate in VSTE's Summer of Survival! email [email protected] with your PC Mojang Minecraft account name. minecraft.net

K4sons will reply with the server address after she has added you to the whitelist. Warp to SOS2018, /warp sos2018. our survival world, is at spawn. You will see it immediately. Veteran players have been building a safe area for you that looks remarkably like Jamestown!

Website https://sites.google.com/view/vstesofs17/

Building In Second Life: An Introduction to Rokuro

While many people experience Second Life as a consumer, one of the powers of virtual environments is the ability to learn to build in three dimensions. On Monday, May 21, at 8 PM, the VE PLN will host Norma Underwood who will teach participants how to create sculpted prims, or complex shapes that are difficult to produce with the standard building tools in Second Life. Creating these prims is easier than it might seem, even for beginning builders. Norma will introduce participants to the open source program Rokuro. You can download it here:  https://kanae.net/secondlife/rokuro.html
Don't want to download the software? You can still participate in the making of sculpted prims even if you don't download the program. There will be plenty of pre-made sculpt textures for you to use. If you can create a cube, Norma will help with the rest. Did I mention it is very simple? Oh, and fun!

Second Life is free to access. You need an account and software to access the virtual world.

We recommend setting up an account at the Rockcliffe University Consortium's Gateway here: https://urockcliffe.com/reg/second-life/ Download and install the software. While your Second Life viewer (software) is open click this link http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/VSTE%20Island/61/104/22 and voila! Look for an avatar on VSTE Island and say, "Hey, I'm new!" We will take care of the rest.

The VE PLN shares news, events, and resources at their Google Plus Community. Click here to join.