Over the last few weeks I’ve been doing lots of work on jokaydia resource collection, with the aim of consolidating and building on all the great things our community created in 2008. One of the first jobs on my list was upgrading and updating EduSquare, and I’m please to say that the EduSquare redevelopment project is well underway!
Since I created EduSquare back in 2007, it has always been designed to provide a meeting and resource space for educators who are new to Second Life. That hasn’t changed. However in 2009, I am interested in developing that idea further, with the aim of creating a 3D Community Learning Environment for jokaydia..kinda like those PLEs we talk about in the edublogosphere… and I’ll be exploring that idea in more detail over the coming months.
To begin the process, I’ve updated the build and created a more comfortable environment at EduSquare, which combines some new and old resources.
In many ways this process is very much like updating and reskinning my blog – just in 3D! As you can see, I need to do a bit more gardening.. but it’s coming along nicely. ;)
The key feature EduSquare is the Educational Landmarks collection. It now includes 32 landmarks to exciting educational spaces in Second Life and has been udpated extensively. Users can visit Edusquare and grab landmarks and a notecard with descriptions of each space.
This resource is particularly useful when doing tours in Second Life with groups of colleagues or students.
As well as the EduSquare Landmarks collection, I have created a wikipage which compliments the inworld resources. It is designed as a web-based resource which can be used in workshops and professional development activities.
It also provides a space for jokaydians and visitors alike to add suggestions for spaces that should be in the collection – which will assist us to keep the collection vibrant and interesting. I invite you to visit the wiki and add your suggestions in the table provided! We will update the Edusquare Landmarks collection on a bi-annual basis.
The use of a wiki here also illustrates how you can integrate the 2D web into a virtual space reasonably effectively. Hopefully one day soon we’ll be able to edit the wiki live from within SL.. but for now this is a workable solution.
As well as the landmarks collection, Edusquare includes a The Edu Hacienda, which is designed to house links to jokaydian and SLeducation resources in general.
At the moment, there are links to our various social networking spaces and websites, a video player with Torley’s fantastic Youtube videos setup for viewing , landmarks to the various edu-related spaces on jokaydia and various other goodies.
I’ve also uploaded more than 70 slides from the Educational Uses Resource which can be viewed as a slideshow – another handy resource for live demos and workshops!
In the future, I hope to create a Sloodle-backed tool here which will archive various tools (both inworld and web-based) created by the jokaydian community. Stay tuned for developments on that and opportunities to get involved!
Upstairs in the EduSquare Hacienda I’ve created a comfy, informal space for small meetings and friendly chats.
It includes the Timezone Wall – which helps new users to clarify what SLT is and how it relates to their local time zone. As this is probably the question I get asked most – I thought people might find it handy!
There is also a Google Calendar tool here which lists our upcoming events. You can also view it online here.
I hope you’ll visit EduSquare and The Edu Hacienda (SLurl) and explore the resources we’ve setup there. I’d really love to hear your feedback!
The EduSquare redevelopment project will continue over the next few months and I’ll report soon on additional resources.
