As many of our residents and readers probably already know, two of our wonderful jokaydians – HeyJude Jenns aka Judy O’Connell and slammed Aabye aka Dean Groom have been working on establishing the Second Classroom Project for a few months now, and have gathered an exciting group of members on the Second Classroom Ning.

The aim of the Second Classroom project is to “… explore ways in which educators can create projects for students using immersive media such as Second Life, MMORPG and social networks to create authentic learning.

They have also established a parallel project working with students – the Teen Second Classroom Project, which is described as “Teens working with teachers in the Second Classroom exploring immersive media such as Second Life, MMORPG and social networks for creativity, knowledge creation, and ‘future learning’ .”

What excites me most is the way that Dean and Jude are including both educators and students in the discussions they are having around technology, virtual worlds, social networking and learning. This is really exciting stuff! ;)

Jude and Dean have provided a great overview of their project and aims on the Second Classroom Ning as follows:

We know that the academic and social well being of our students is enhanced when the learning environment provides spaces where students can learn in different ways, at different speeds, and where they feel safe and valued. We also know that the changes that 21st century learning has brought to the ways our teachers teach and students learn are momentous.

So we are building the Second Classroom program because we wish to take learning and teaching to the new frontiers of virtual learning by providing our students and teachers with opportunities to strive for creativity, knowledge, citizenship, global awareness and personal success in virtual learning environments.

I urge everyone to go and join in. It will be really exciting to see where this networked discussion leads!

Supporting the Second Classroom Project on jokaydia!

In our ongoing effort to support the educational community that is growing on jokaydia and encourage networked learning and sharing, I have decided to donate a small space to the Second Classroom project. You can see Henny, Sapphire, HeyJude, slammed and myself standing on it above. Click here to visit it in Second Life (SLurl).

We will shortly start building a meeting space and resources which will provide a virtual home for the project and a space for participants to share and network on a regular basis. I invite everyone to join us there to share their thoughts. We will post updates on upcoming Second Classroom inworld events soon.

Congratulations Jude and Dean! This is a really fantastic initiative, and I am proud to host and support it on the Islands of jokaydia!