John from Onlinevents.co.uk has posted all the videos he recorded at our Unconference and you can view them on his site @ http://onlinevents.co.uk/jokaydiaunconfmay2010.

I’ve included a few highlights below!

A huge thanks to all the presenters, facilitators, helpers and participants who made the Unconference so much fun! Seeya in September for our next unconferencey events!

Image included above by Steph Ridgway on Flickr

Further notes, recordings and resources from the session are available in the event discussion forum @ http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/content/exploring-metaverse-virtual-worlds-and-games-learning.

For those interested in Quest Atlantis:

• For information about upcoming teacher training in Quest Atlantis visit: http://atlantis.crlt.indiana.edu/site/pd_list
• For a course code or further information contact Dr Bronwyn Stuckey – email: bestucke@indiana.edu, twitter & skype: Bronst, Facebook:Bronwyn Stuckey

Special thanks to Jane McGonigal for her inspirational session at TEDTalks which inspired some of ideas for this presentation!

Well, Friday is upon us… and its getting exciting! I’m on my way up to Macquarie Uni on the train at the moment, logged into SL via wireless doing those last minute jobs.. so I thought a blog post/ program for the day was in order!

There are some great sessions planned, and I’m really looking forward to learning from everyone!

Part 1 – Face to Face at Macquarie University / Online @ the Islands of jokaydia

To kick off the day, we’re starting with our face to face event, which has been convened by slammed Aabye aka Dean Groom at the Team at the Learning and Teaching Centre at MQ. (Yay team!)

Check out the MQUncon09 Schedule for more details on how to connect. We’ll be endeavouring to share various parts of the day inworld, including lots of informal learning and networking at the jokaydia Unconference Headquarters (SLurl). However, there are a few feature events that will be broadcast from SL that are just too good to miss:

• 12:30 AEST / Thurs, 7:30pm SLT:  “Microblogging” in the classroom” with Jeff Agamemnoni – Great Falls, Montana
  • Join us at the jokaydia Unconference Headquarters if you’d like to participate in this session online
  • Check your local time here.
• 1pm AEST / Thurs 8pm SL: Teachers without Borders Discussion – presented by Dr Konrad Glogowski
  • blog of proximal development
  • Join us at the Teachers without Borders Headquarters on the Islands of jokaydia if you’d like to participate in this session online.
  • Check your local time here.

How to Connect to MQUnconf09

• Twitter hashtag : #mquncon09
• Cover It Live: Backchannel chat [click here] 
• Adobe Connect – guest log-in: http://webconf.ltc.mq.edu.au/demo/ – this is available to anyone during the day who wants to use it to present. (Presenters seek out Elaine Huber for presenter access) 
• Second Life: All events are being held on the Islands of Jokaydia – who are supporting and facilitating this event. Join us at jokaydia Unconference Headquarters (SLurl) or IM jokay Wollongong for more details.

Evening Session – jokaydia Unconference in Second Life

After what I’m sure we’ll be a great day at MQuncon09, we’ll be kicking off our weekend of events on the Islands of jokadia with our first evening of sessions:

• jokaydia Unconference Opening
  • Welcome by jokay Wollongong and Unconference Team, followed by games and networking on the beach at jokaydia!
  • AEST TIME: 6:45pm / SL Time: 1:45am
  • Check your local time!
  • Location: jokaydia Unconference Headquarters (SLurl)
• Games in Learning!
  • Simple ways to use games and consoles in primary years.
  • Facilitator: slammed Aabye aka Dean Groom
  • AEST TIME: 7pm / SL Time: 2am
  • Check your local time!
  • Location: jokaydia Beach (SLurl)
• Make a case out of it why don’t you?
  • How and why you should promote your project before, during and after its run.
  • Facilitator: Pandora Kurrajong aka KerryJ
  • AEST TIME: 7pm / SL Time: 2am
  • Check your local time!
  • Location: jokaydia Meeting Hall (SLurl)
• Introduction to Teachers Without Borders
  • Come to this session to learn more about the international nonprofit organization, Teachers Without Borders, which supports teacher leaders, worldwide, with professional development opportunities and tools that connect them with information and each other so that they may play a more vital role in their communities. Session participants will be given an overview of current TWB projects and will be invited to apply for e-mentoring opportunities in the field of teacher professional development.
  • Facilitator: Konrad March
    
  • AEST Time: 8pm  SL Time: 3am
  • Check your local time!
  • Location: Teachers Without Borders (SLurl)
• jokaydia Unconference Open Discussion!
  • Come along and join us for informal discussions and networking with Unconference participants. Share an idea, a landmark or a project!
  • Facilitator: jokay Wollongong
  • Location: jokaydia Beach (SLurl)

For more details on sessions, check the jokaydia Unconference Schedule, follow the jokaydia Unconference Tweets – #jokaydiaunconf09 /#jokaydiaunconf or simply join us for the first session at the jokaydia Unconference Headquarters (SLurl).

I can hardly wait, and am really looking forward to seeing you all inworld!

Help us promote the jokaydia Unconference 09 by sharing it with your network!

Below are 4 images/logos which you are welcome to add to your own website or blog, SL location or social networking site. Dont forget to include a link back to the jokaydia Unconference  Wiki page so that others can particpate in the event! (eg. http://jokaydia.wikispaces.com/unconference09)

For those with virtual spaces in Second Life, you might like to drop in to the jokaydia Unconference Headquarters, where you can grab a sign and landmark giver to place on your land.

To grab a copy simply click on the box I’ve setup inside the Unconference Headquarters! (SLurl)

And dont forget!….. our second unconference planning session is on tonight! Seeya there!

Yesterday we gave a session on the Islands of jokaydia as part of the Webheads in Action Online Convergence, a fantastic event which draws educators from all over the world together to share, reflect and collaborate on their work as online educators. There were some fantastic sessions – many of which you can catch up on via the WIAOC wiki. Congrats to Vance and all the Webheads for creating such a fabulous event!

Below is a summary of the session we presented, along with some notes on the thinking behind it. Im planning on developing these ideas further – perhaps into an SL Comic we can publish inworld and online.

Immersing in Virtual Worlds – jokaydia Style!

As those who have attended jokaydia events will know, we tend to try to be creative around how we structure events on jokaydia, often using a tour of the Island’s spaces as our presentation tool rather than slides and notecards.

For our WIAOC session I decided to employ the same technique, with a focus on illustrating the architecture of the jokaydia Community of Practice and some of the tools, environments and communication strategies we have used to support community building on the Islands. By that I mean not only the digital ‘bricks and mortar’ that we have built, but also some of the projects and strategies associated with the community that help to engage and support our members.

My aim was to illustrate how a range of elements come together to support learning and social networking on our Islands. They are:

• Community Entry Points: Inworld and web-based spaces that provide a pathway into our community for existing and new residents.
• Resident’s Locations and Participation: Our community members are our most important asset and bring their projects, ideas and willingness to share to the community.
• Demonstration Tools: Resources and spaces which demonstrate the potentials and can be used by both jokaydia facilitators and residents to share and explore strategies for teaching and learning in virtual worlds.
• Community Resources: 3D and web-based resources that provide visitors and community spaces with leads to projects, tools and teaching and learning resources; and most importantly to the broader SLeducation community.
• Community Learning Spaces: Space for practice sessions, experiments, sharing, just in time learning and project based learning – enabling mentoring and collaboration.
• Social Spaces: Social and informal spaces are an important part of making the Islands a welcoming and comfortable place. They encourage visitors to share, play and communicate with each others.

These elements form some of the key spaces and strategies that I have used to create a virtual place for the jokaydia Community of Practice, and also use to engage with and support our residents and visitors. Obviously the events and classes we run and the social and informal networking that happens on the Islands are also key factors in the community building process, but that’s for a later post/presentation! ;)

Tour Details

Each of the spaces I selected for the tour illustrate the elements detailed above and hopefully provided a good backdrop for the presentation. During the event we used a notecard with embedded links to move participants from location to location as well as landmark givers in each location as an addded navigation aid.

Tour Stop 1 – Community Entry Points: The  jokaydia Landing Point

To start the tour, we met at the jokaydia Landing Point (SLurl) to discuss Community Entry Points.

The Landing Point which is our ‘virtual front door’, but also the other tools we use to provide visitors and residents a pathway into our community and activities.

At the Landing Point, I have created a collection of tools which link to our 3D spaces, including our shared community resources and our resident’s spaces. Additionally the Landing Point houses links to jokaydia’s various web-based spaces which form an important part of our community’s presence online and provide a pathway into the community for those who can’t be inworld.

Tour Stop 2 – Resident’s Locations and Participation: Kangan Batman TAFE’s Job Seeking Skills Project

Obviously the residents of jokaydia are our most important asset – they create great tools and spaces and share their work in really generous ways; and of course their rent helps cover the costs for the Islands!

There are many fantastic resident’s spaces on jokaydia, but for this event I chose Kangan Batman TAFE’s Job Seeking Skills Project (SLurl) – which provides resources and information for students on career pathways and job seeking skills, including the ability to roleplay job interviews in immersive environments.

Tour Stop 3 – Demonstration Tools: Virtual Worlds Presentation Platform

The Virtual Worlds Presentation Platform (SLurl) is an immersive space designed to provide an environment for a  mixed reality presentation. This space was originally used for a presentation by Sean FitzGerald in 2007, but has since been used countless times as a demonstration tool to provide educators with an insight into how they can use Second Life to provide dynamic and interesting mixed reality or inworld presentations.

Tour Stop 4 – Community Resources: EduSquare

The Islands of jokaydia houses a wide range of community resources, including spaces to hold meetings and events, inworld tools and information in various spaces including the Newbie Garden and the PD Hut. However, the key community resource is EduSquare (SLurl), which is designed to provide a home for our resources and an informal meeting and networking space.

At Edusquare you can access landmarks to 30 Educational destinations inworld, check out some videos or meet with colleagues, connect to the jokaydia Community webpresence or experiment with simple information tools.

Tour Stop 5 – Community Learning Spaces: jokaydia’s SLoodle Hut

Spaces for experimentation and learning provide a space for residents to learn and collaborate together. Although jokaydia has a number of spaces designed to encourage this, for the WIAOC tour, we visited  the SLoodle Hut (SLurl).

A recent addition to the Islands, the SLoodle Hut seeks to provide a space for jokaydia residents to explore the use of SLoodle and Moodle in their projects. We have also provided a moodle space for experimentation at http://jokaydia.com/moodle which residents are using to develop and pilot web-based resources to support their inworld resources.

Tour Stop 6 – Social Spaces: jokaydia Beach

jokaydia has lots of social spaces, which have been both fun to create and use. The jokaydia Beach (SLurl) is a good example of the types of informal spaces we use. It has been setup with a range of toys and tools and can be used for parties, events or learning activities.

The informal activities that take place on the Islands are a key part of creating a sense of community and a welcoming environment for visitors. I try to update them regularly and include new things to explore.

Asynchronous Tour

If you’d like to take the tour and check out the spaces for yourself, I’ve left the WIAOC Event Resources on the Island. You can pick up the notecard for the first location at the jokaydia Landing Point (SLurl).

Simply use the WIAOC Signs (as pictured above) to grab  a notecard and Landmarks for each location.

Event Recording

Special Thanks!

marlonj – one our wonderful jokaydia residents came along to support the event, and managed to capture a great recording which you can view above. Thanks so much marlonj!!

Thanks also to slammed Aabye and Sapphire Ceawlin who came along to help me with the event!

Thanks again to the fabulous Stephan Bethune aka Steph Ridgway who has made great recordings of our April Unconference! You can access them via Talking VTE.

Click on the links below to access:

• Audio recording of Session 1 Unconference #3 – Introductions and News Updates by jokay Wollongong& update from Emerly Alter
• Audio recording of Session 2 Unconference #3 “The Pulsar Project and MMetaverse Surface” by with marlonj Myers

Planning for our May Unconference is well underway, with futurist Dell Wolfensparger offering an intriguing session which I am sure will spark interesting discussions! It’s titled ‘Eternal Life: Using 3D Virtual Worlds Technology For Life Extension and creating the new “Uploadable You‘.

For more info or to voluteer to facilitate a session check out the jokaydia Wikispace!

One of the things we’ll be launching at our Unconference today is our very first jokaydia Community Survey.

I’ve created this short questionnaire to gain some feedback from everyone, and also gauge interest and availability for various jokaydia Projects.

Please complete the survey and add your comments! Your feedback and suggestions will be used to improve jokaydia activities and provide better inworld experiences for everyone!

Note: Your contact details will be kept confidential, but de-identified results from this survey will be published on the jokaydia Wiki in May 2009.

Thanks in advance for your feedback and contributions!