VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

VE PLN

Report From the Front Lines with VSTE Virtual Environments PLN

On May 17, 2021 (note NEW date), on the Virtual Environment Professional Learning Network (VE PLN) sim on Second LIfe, Dr. William Schmachtenberg (Dae Miami SL) will present data from high school students and how well they did with outside activities, creative projects, and traditional assignments such as watching a video or doing a worksheet.

Please join us at 8 PM ET.  This is part of our series: A report from the front lines, teaching in schools during COVID. Dr. Schmachtenberg teaches Earth Science at Franklin County High School and is an innovator in virtual environments and virtual reality.

Second Life is a virtual environment and requires an avatar to participate. Use the information below to create an account and get your avatar to the VE PLN sim.

Basic directions to join VSTE Space

If you don't have a Second Life account get one, it's free. We recommend setting one up at the Rockcliffe University Consortium's Gateway here: https://urockcliffe.com/reg/second-life/ When you do this your avatar’s “home” is set to be the Rockcliffe University’s sim, bypassing the normal Second Life welcome area.

Download and install Second Life viewer software. You will be directed to download the Second Life viewer but we prefer the Firestorm viewer at https://www.firestormviewer.org/. Either one will work but Firestorm has some advantages.

When you are ready to join us, while your Second Life viewer (software) is open, click this link http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Soulgiver/155/144/58 to teleport yourself to VSTE Space. Look for an avatar and say, "Hey, I'm new!" We will take care of the rest. Someone is there most Saturday mornings from 9 to 11 AM Eastern Time (Same as New York).

Celebrate Fall with VE PLN

Second Life AvatarThe Virtual Environments Professional Learning Network is hosting several fall activities for fun and learning.

Halloween Social
October 26, 2020, 7 - 8 PM ET, the VSTE crowd will dance and network in costume to “DJ Thunder’s” Halloween tunes at VSTE Space in Second Life. Come chat and laugh with us. Let your hair down and leave the stress at home for an hour. 

Costumes are optional but if you want help with one, come visit Jazmemo and Thunder at VSTE Space during office hours any Saturday morning between 9 and 11 AM ET. We are always there ready to help. You still have time on Saturday, October 24 so don't miss out!

 

Report from the Front Lines

The VE PLN is starting a new segment called Report from the Front Lines. This series will be held at VSTE Place in Second Life once a month. The next meeting will be Monday, November 9 at 7 PM ET. This is an opportunity for teachers from across the state of Virginia and beyond to share data from teaching online, hybrid (AABB model), or fully in class. We will discuss strategies for improving grades of students, problems teachers are having, and new tools for teaching online. We had an organizational meeting on Oct. 12 that went well. Please join us as we continue to learn and grow in this new environment. The conversation will be led by Dr. William Schmactenberg, High School Earth Science Teacher at Franklin County High School, AKA Dae Miami (sl).

Minecraft Mondays

The first Monday of every month the VSTE VE PLN meeting is held in Minecraft on VSTE’s own server. 

Banner making in Minecraft

On Monday, November 2, 2020, at 8 PM ET, we will have a basic lesson in building with redstone, Minecraft’s own “electricity.” Experienced redstone builders are invited to create something ahead of time to show off what they can do to inspire the beginners! The server is online all the time.

How to Connect to the VE PLN via Second Life and Minecraft

Join the Facebook Page to keep up with the VE PLN

Minecraft Monday: April 6, 2020, 8 PM

It’s that time again! Join us at VSTE place at 8 PM tonight. Minecraft Monday for April 2020 will be fishing data collection.

This is an idea you can replicate with your students! We will meet in survival on VSTE Place and go fishing. We will record time of day, weather, type of rods, and items caught. Everyone will tally their catches in groups of ten. There will be a google spreadsheet to enter your results. What will we learn? Do you get more fish, treasure, or trash? Do we even agree on which items are treasure or trash? Are enchanted fishing rods really better than others? Let’s find out! When you get into VSTE Place type /warp survival to meet up with us.

If this is your first foray into Minecraft, you'll need to do a little setup including creating an account and downloading the software. Start here.

How to Join

To join our Minecraft server please email [email protected] or [email protected]. If this is your first time, we need your Mojang Minecraft user name and your real name. Thank you for your interest! I will add you to the server in just a moment. The VSTE Place IP address is 69.175.17.26:25565 If you experience any difficulty, please let me know. As a reminder, this server is for educators. If you are using your child's account to participate please do not encourage your child to use our server. We are currently using version 1.15.2.

This Google doc has more info about the server: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rrwGjJDu3lgZuqZ7udrM8-DAMyofF186a78__ciEem8/edit?usp=sharing

 

 

CS Teacher of Year Joins VSTE in Second Life

Picture of Fara FaustVSTE's Virtual Environments PLN is pleased to welcome Fara Faust, the CodeVA Computer Science Teacher of the Year for 2019 at its regular Monday meeting in Second Life on February 10, 2020, at 8PM EST (5 PM SLT). She will share information about CodeVA and their mission to bring computer science to every student in Virginia. She will also discuss some of the education opportunities offered through CodeVA.
Fara is an Instructional Technology Specialist in Virginia Beach.  Fara has over ten years experience in instructional technology and is a strong supporter of “Computer Science is for everyone!”  She is actively involved in bringing computer science to her school and other elementary schools throughout her district.  Fara is a frequent presenter at local and state conferences including VSTE.  She is also a Google CS First facilitator and apprentice for CodeVA.  In this capacity she has worked with teachers throughout the state of Virginia.
This event is held in Second Life, a virtual world that is navigated using an avatar. You will need a free Second Life account as well as the software in order to participate. 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.
Once the software is installed and open, click this link http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Soulgiver/156/169/58 and your avatar will be teleported to VSTE Island. Look for an avatar on VSTE Island and say, "Hey, I'm new!" We will take care of the rest.

Minecraft Monday: Connect & Learn, February 3, 2020, 8 PM

Logo for EventJoin members of the VSTE Virtual Environments PLN on Monday, February 3, at 8 PM EST, when participants in the EVOMOOC (Electronic Village Online Massively Open Online Course) will visit VSTE Place, and Dakotah Redstone will provide them with a tour.

Electronic Village Online sponsors the MOOC, and this week, the participants are exploring the multi-player game Minecraft as a virtual world for learning. Many of participants are teachers, particularly language teachers, but some enjoy online gaming as a way of improving their English as a second language.  This MOOC is run by Vance Stevens, who is a member of the VSTE VE PLN.

Basic directions to join VSTE Place, VSTE’s Minecraft world:

You must have a Minecraft account from https://minecraft.net/en/ to join. There is a one time fee of $26.95 to download and install the software. You will need to be whitelisted to enter the VSTE server. Email Kim Harrison at [email protected] from an educational email address with your real name and Minecraft account name.

Start the software and choose multiplayer and add a server: Name VSTE Place IP 69.175.17.26:25565

We use Discord to share voices in Minecraft. This is a voice and screen sharing application that will run on your computer or mobile device. Download and install it for free. Create an account. Many of us use the same name for our Discord account as our Minecraft account to keep things simple. Our channel is https://discord.gg/nDX4mZv It helps us to be able to play Minecraft in one screen and listen via Discord with earbuds or headphones.