Category: education

Sharing Digital Citizenship #iLRN 2020

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This year’s #iLRN 2020 Conference is about to begin! On Sunday June 21, I will lead tours at the Community Virtual Library Digital Citizenship Museum in Kitely. The museum houses room after room of content on elements of digital citizenship in global participatory culture. Included are topics such as artificial intelligence, digital archival, cybersecurity, and even a room about metamodernism and metaliteracy (featuring my new book)!

A project showcase will include an immersive learning project showcase featuring virtual reality spaces. I created a FrameVR room for the Community Virtual Library which can be accessed on the web-page or on a VR headset. These virtual learning spaces are rapidly expanding and the #iLRN Conference 2020 will be a great opportunity to network with educators who are exploring and using them with high quality content.

Ready to try an easy web-based virtual world?

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CYBALOUNGE

Virtual spaces can be confusing! You may not have the necessary system requirements: Mac, PC, graphics card, operating system and so on. But here’s one that is super easy and can be accessed on nearly any device! Cybalounge Metaverse School

Simply click on this url and you are there! Note the small icon on the bottom left of the screen (with the little lock on it). Cybalounge lets you log in as a guest or register as a user.

ACRL Virtual World Interest Group Tour May 17th

The ACRL (Association for College and Research Libraries) Virtual World Interest Group meets in Second Life monthly. This month, we will tour Cybalounge and anyone can easily join us! We will start at the Nonprofit Virtual World and we plan to visit the Community Virtual Library space as well as an art gallery. Selby Evans holds office hours in Cybalounge on weekdays at 10am Pacific Time. If you miss this tour, check it out then.

Virtual Environment Workshops for Educators

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Build a Professional Network for #remotelearning

Not all online learning spaces are equal! In fact, many are applications built by designers without any educational background at all. So how can educators explore and build the best sustainable interactive online learning environments for students? Well- one way is to explore innovative virtual learning spaces together to evaluate them.

With that goal in mind, the Community Virtual Library is sponsoring CVL Educator Workshops in numerous virtual environments, such as Second Life, Kitely, and web-based worlds like Cybalounge and 3Dwebworldz. For those interested in virtual reality headsets, CVL has a VR Explorers team and a Discord Channel. Check out the CVL Educators Workshop schedule here! Workshops are just starting, so check the spreadsheet as dates will be added.

Community Virtual Library in Cybalounge

Community Virtual Library Main Branch

The main branch of the Community Virtual Library is in Second Life and librarians, educators and volunteers hold office hours to help teachers, learners, and anyone interested in virtual environments to better understand and use them. Explore the website and see the Virtual Reference tab to find a mentor.

Is education ready for #virtualreality headsets?

Librarians and colleagues are exploring VR headsets while understanding that virtual immersive environments like Second Life are a form of virtual reality that has been proven to be advantageous for years. A recent workshop in the virtual world of Virbela presented a session on where VR is headed in education.

Metamodernism and Changing Literacy

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Meta what???

My book is about to be published during a time when the world is enduring a “stay at home” mandate due to the Corona Virus pandemic and many people scramble to utilize technology for communication, business and learning in new ways.

The focus of this book is on the need for #metaliteracy in #Metamodernism because literacy has changed. Our philosophical moment intersects with enormous changes in the way we communicate, requiring a change in nomenclature. Everyone from infants through the elderly has been impacted by technology tools and new ways to become literate. We are all challenged to become good digital citizens.

Are YOU metaliterate? What does it mean? Metaliteracy is a model developed by Mackey and Jacobson (2011) that empowers learners to be reflective and informed producers of information both individually and in collaboration with others.

Metaliteracy (Mackey & Jacobson)

Our Metamodern Moment

Metamodernism is one of the proposed names for our current philosophical era which follows postmodernism. In discussions around kitchen tables, in pubs, or in online platforms, we constantly hear about how much the world has changed since the turn of the century. Everywhere we look, we see people on digital devices staring into virtual spaces of global connectivity. It really doesn’t matter what you call it- times have changed and we all know it. While we struggle to sort through information chaos (information overload, millions of apps, “fake news” and more), the future holds hopeful possibilities. One positive example is the ability to learn about concepts like metamodernism by connecting with great thinkers around the globe. It’s a fast pace so choose wisely!

Hill, V. J. (2020). Metamodernism and Changing Literacy: Emerging Research and Opportunities (pp. 1-225). Hershey, PA: IGI Global. doi:10.4018/978-1-7998-3534-9

Mackey, T., & Jacobson, T. (2011). Reframing information literacy as a metaliteracy. C&RL, 72, 62-78.

Van den Akker, R. (2015). What comes after metamodernism? Notes on Metamodernism.

Virtual Learning: the world scrambles to find remote learning spaces

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Due to the Corona Virus, I find myself getting numerous questions about how to learn in virtual spaces! As Director of the Community Virtual Library, I have years of experience in immersive learning in virtual worlds. However, it is important to say that it is not a quick and easy tool to learn! In fact, my dissertation topic was factors contributing to the adoption of virtual worlds and findings showed the biggest obstacle was complexity. People have used the term “steep learning curve” to describe virtual worlds for years. The advantages and benefits, I firmly believe, are well-worth the effort. A few weeks of exploration and navigation of the interface provides most of us with a comfort zone and a “sense of presence” that is much more suitable to learning than a web-based platform, quick apps, or webinars.

Librarians discussing virtual world learning environments

Help! Where do we start?

Learning how to utilize virtual worlds for education requires locating a virtual space (a simulated classroom or “sim”) and importing the curriculum used for specific learning outcomes, just as an educator does in the physical world. Building a professional learning network with other educators is the best starting point. Those educators are ready to help you! The International Society for Education (ISTE Virtual Environments Network) has several communities and individuals who meet regularly. Just FYI, I won the ISTE VEN Pioneer of the Year Award last year in 2019. Scroll down to the bottom!

Now’s your chance at VWBPE 2020

If you are interested in learning about virtual worlds, the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference 2020 takes place this month: March 26th-28th. I have several presentation during the conference which are available on the schedule.

Visit the Community Virtual Library

Anyone can visit the Community Virtual Library in Second Life or in other virtual worlds and tours can be scheduled. Joining educational groups helps educators find others who have paved the way for bringing deep learning and critical thinking into virtual spaces. Currently, VR headsets are NOT ready for mainstream. There is little research on how these headsets impact the human brain. Virtual worlds have been around for years and research documents high quality simulations for all subject areas.

Library tour at CVL

What age level should use virtual worlds?

Currently, virtual worlds are ready for higher education and some educators bring younger students into specific virtual spaces. Educators should explore first and find the best spot for learning. With all the questions coming my way, plans are underway for workshops to help newcomers explore virtual worlds!

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Stories and Art in 3D: Wander the Watercolours

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Artists and writers have new media opportunities to explore with digital tools.  For example, artist CK (Creakay Ballyhoo in the virtual world of Second Life) created watercolour (spelled that way in her part of the world!) paintings in 3D to illustrate a story presented in a virtual world.  Read the story of a little girl on a watercolour wander.

A group of educators, the Virtual Pioneers, take virtual field trips to simulations in Second Life.  A recent trip allowed the pioneers to wander through CK’s story paintings.  This machinima shows the educators inside A Watercolour Wander.