National Educational Technology Plan (NETP) 2009 Second Life Public Forum, Final Report

Report from the National Educational Technology Plan
Public Forum in Second Life

Edited by Perplexity Peccable (Patricia F. Anderson)

Table of Contents

Overview............................................................................................................... 2 

Unifying Themes................................................................................................... 2 

Background Discussion........................................................................................ 3 

Learning................................................................................................................ 5 

Assessment .......................................................................................................... 7 

Teaching ............................................................................................................. 10 

Productivity ........................................................................................................ 12 

Acknowledgements............................................................................................ 12 

Appendices ......................................................................................................... 13 

Appendix 1: Notes from Presenters................................................................... 14 

Appendix 2: Resources: EdTech Exemplars from Discussions ........................ 20 

Appendix 3: Event Co-Sponsors ......................................................................... 21 

Appendix 4: Event Resources ............................................................................ 22

Overview

A national Public Forum was held in Second Life (an open-source 3d virtual world platform) to
solicit input from the educational technology community and stakeholders on November 5, 2009,
from 6-8pm PST. The event attracted almost 200 virtual participants over the span of the event,
including a peak of 160 participants at the main location on ISTE Islands, as well as those who
attended via overflow locations and the web. While the participants were largely located from
coast to coast in the United States, the event also included an international audience with
Americans and educators in other countries.

Unifying Themes

“I can't create my future with the tools from your past.”
"School should be more like a game; when you get it wrong, just try again."
Quotes from Peggy Sheehy’s students at Suffern Middle School,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kra_z9vMnHo

In the over 50 pages of discussion from the online forum certain themes appeared repeatedly,
across all four main categories of learning, assessment, teaching and productivity/infrastructure.
These common themes included the following.

Rapid technological change requires flexibility; a comprehensive and pervasive technology
infrastructure affordable and accessible to all 24/7/365 (digital equity); and a supportive
environment to encourage equally rapid discovery and adoption of new technologies suitable for
education.

The role of students in education is changing. Students are prosumers, those who are both
producers and consumers of content. Students also can be leaders in the early adoption of
technologies that may be adapted to education. Consider encouraging teachers to partner with
students in the roles of peer educators, technology innovators, and sources of technology literacy
training. In these creative roles, students need to be allowed to function as partners in shaping
the educational process and environment. To accomplish this will require engaging students
collaboratively, trusting students, and empowering students in their flexible roles through easy
access to appropriate infrastructure and resources both in their homes and external environments
as well as in the schools.

The global online environment creates new opportunities and obligations, ranging from the
context of superior network power available in countries like Japan, to initiatives such as One
Laptop Per Child (OLPC) (http://laptop.org/) and Jhai (http://www.jhai.org/) for providing
rd
assistance to teachers and students in 3 world countries, to teaching and learning collaborations
between organizations and individuals in different countries both for core learning and to provide
global citizenship enrichment experiences.

The origins of learning lie in such social imperatives as play, conversation and community.
Education grew from these roots. Various educational and technological trends such as virtual
worlds, social networking and media, and serious games seem to indicate it may be time to return
to them.

Core to all four of the above will be rewards for innovation and collaboration, and personal
learning networks for all educational stakeholders, from teachers and students through their
broader community, including but not limited to administration, staff, parents, home schooling
leaders, and local communities. These incentives and communication venues will promote
adoption and acceptance of change, social supports for the challenge of change, as well as
disseminating creative ideas and strategies for success.

Report from the National Educational Technology Plan Public Forum in Second Life 2 of 22

Background Discussion

<http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/1340061/NETP09_Chatlog_Wordle>

Suggested Resources:
• CloudWorks (UK): http://cloudworks.ac.uk/
• Did You Know 4.0: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8
• EdTech Action Network (ETAN): www.edtechactionnetwork.org
• Edutopia: Reshaping Learning from the Ground Up: www.edutopia.org/future-school
• ISTE Advocacy: www.iste.org/advocacy
• NMC Horizon Report: http://www.nmc.org/horizon
• PBS: FRONTLINE: Digital Nation, Life on the Virtual Frontier:
www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline.digitalnation/

Discussants
AJ Brooks (AJ Kelton) [See Appendix 1], Barry Fredericks (Barry Fishman), Hela Sohn (Hilary
Goldmann), Perplexity Peccable (Patricia F. Anderson)

*
Audience Discussion Highlights
• BJ Gearbox: We must create a "lifeline level" of bandwidth/access so everyone can work
beyond the confines of the school. Look at teaching students to use technology appropriately
rather than ban/filter everything.
• Valiant Westland: Perhaps we need to allow people to learn as fast as the technology is
moving.
• Scottmerrick Oh: [School] needs to be reinvented, not "fixed" from the current agrarian model.
• Roxie Niero: How is the tech plan going to address how we can help students learn in school
with technology in the same way they learn at home with technology?

*
Audience quotations may have received light copy-editing for clarity and consistency. All
quotations excerpted from full chatlog, may not appear in context.


• Scottmerrick Oh: My colleagues are completely overburdened to the point of exhaustion. We
can't train people to get through antiquated systems and hope that will suffice for the future.

Paradigm Shift
• Scottmerrick Oh: The other issue that has bothered me recently is that there are so many
teachers who don't think anything is broken. There needs to be a "Radical Paradigm Shift"
Maybe we should supplant the concept of "Technology" with that of "Information"?
• Olivia Hotshot: Don't force course redesign to include tech - get paradigm shifts instead.
• Scottmerrick Oh: Alvin Toffler: Shut down the public education system.
• Valiant Westland: No unions, no tenure, small schools, teachers paid directly and contracting
for facility and tool use, vouchers!

Suggested Practices:
• E.U. Blue Ribbon Certified VR teachers
• Teach transferable skills and practices, not specific applications
o Fleep Tuque: Digital literacy skills can be non-tech-specific. Learning how to use search,
or tag things, these skills cross platforms.
o Parkes Lykin: Teach with generalities; don't teach Powerpoint, teach presentation skills
using some online sites, too.
• Inclusive planning
o Shamblesguru Voom: Should this not be a team working together — students, teachers,
support staff, gov/edu authorities, PARENTS, support staff, teacher assistants,
librarians, managers (who have I missed?)
o Maggie Marat: The tech will change we need an attitude adjustment top down and bottom
up and INCLUDE the community, industry.
• Learner centeredness
o Zotarah Shepherd: Teach students living skills & critical thinking, based on their interests.
o CathyWyo1 Haystack: It's the right questions as long as they are the right outcomes to
teach students for their world not for ours.
o Maggie Marat: Stop talking about the technology and start talking about the learning.
• Virtual worlds, emerging technologies & innovation
o JHrunner Herbit: A dynamic plan that incorporates emerging technologies.
o Gwenette Writer: Focus on the education of teachers to mandate tech skills that include
understanding of 3d Virtual Worlds.
o Zotarah Shepherd: Technology and especially virtual worlds must become more
mainstream and accepted as way of teaching and learning. Many teachers are resistant
to using technology. How do we encourage them to change and learn? Can a course in
technology be required or rewarded for credentialing?, etc.
• Consultative implementation of technology
o Don’t let the managers manage technology. Don’t let the techies control the technology.
• Rethinking Learning and Play
o Alexjo Magic: Teaching should be fun, so students enjoy the process.
o Maggie Marat: Brain science supports pleasure =concrete learning.
o Knowclue Kidd: Play is NOT a 4-letter word!
o Dewey Jung: Teachers need to play, too.
• Address 21st Century Needs
o SIGjunkie Bing: LEA and SEA policies that impede the free flow of best practices,
content, and ingenuity need to be examined and minimized or removed.
o Valiant Westland: Teach students about the copyright and netiquette!
• Don’t Forget the Local or Community
o Southern Georgia: Teachers may be reluctant to use valuable teaching time to implement
technology when the technology does not align with state standards. I suggest we
consider setting a goal to align the use of technology appropriately.
o Anonymous: Partner with private enterprise to support educational technology
innovation and integration in local classrooms.


Learning

Resources
st
• Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21 Century:
http://www.newmedialiteracies.org/files/working/NMLWhitePaper.pdf
• No Future Left Behind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kra_z9vMnHo
• Project New Media Literacies: Create, Circulate, Connect, Collaborate:
http://newmedialiteracies.org/
• Ramapo Island: http://ramapoislands.edublogs.org/
• Teach, Learn, Collaborate: http://www.teachlearncollaborate.com
• Young, Jeffrey R. Management Professor Uses 'Crowdsourcing' to Write Textbook. The
Chronicle of Higher Education, August 15, 2008.
http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Management-Professor-Uses/4173 About Management through
Collaboration: Teaming in a Networked World: http://globally-collaborating.com/

Discussant
Maggie Marat (Peggy Sheehy) [See Appendix 1]

Top Discussion Points from Students
"I can't create my future with the tools from your past."
Unblock tech in schools. Trust us.
"We are not afraid. We're excited! We are not cheating, we are collaborating. We are not
irresponsible, we are courageous. We're not reckless, we're pioneers. We are not lazy,
we are BORED. We are not angry, we are frustrated. We are not stupid, we are all
different."
"Step out of the comfort zone, out of the box, out of the textbook, out of the TESTING. Let me
show you what I can really do."

Audience Discussion Highlights:
• Digital Divide
o Mimi Muircastle: The digital divide is widening in this difficult economy.
o BJ Gearbox: Lack of access outside school is creating a deeper digital divide.
• EdTech Opportunities
o Jackie Rexen: Our kids are going to create a revolution - they are going to say
enough and create their own learning environments - they are developing the skills to
be producers. Education can join them or education will loose them.
o Jack Buxbaum: More superintendents need to make VR Ed a policy. We need a VR


Teacher's Union. Students are self-regulated learners in VR, they show up on their
own.
o Alexjo Magic: This learning environment can make a huge difference to kids from
conflict zones such as Israel, Palestine …
o Mimi Muircastle: … and conflict zones in our own cities and in families here in USA.
o Mimi Muircastle: Home schooling can be enriched with access to virtual worlds
o LoriVonne Lustre: Crowd sourcing? Pull in the stakeholders into the discussion to
creatively reach and achieve the goals.
o Simone Dasmijn: How about looking at the model of teaching from transmitter to
mentor to learning - if the student is able to access, mine, engage in practicums in a
collaborative setting online, the does the role of the teacher shift somewhat to super-
mentor.
o Jackie Rexen: A good teacher can rock with technology
• Open Source & Open Education
o Parkes Lykin: need to leverage open source tools rather than wait for commercial
provider
o Simone Dasmijn: OER is about the open courseware use of education content, with
other educators being able to repurpose and elaborate on content in a way that is
relevant to their locality. MIT has made their courseware available as OCW, and
there is an entrepreneur in China who is translating it all in Mandarin.
o Simone Dasmijn: So why don't we have the best educational/curriculum/resources
available in the OER model to leverage the best
• Reward Innovation and Collaboration
o Gwenette Writer: Early adopters are often slaughtered: kill the messenger syndrome
- the message being you have to learn something new
o BJ Gearbox: It is about allowing teachers to be creative. There must be support for
something new.
o Fleep Tuque: Exactly. Tenure system does not reward innovation.
o Alexjo Magic: Create an environment with kids ahead of the curve teaching others.
o Jackie Rexen: User-generated education - curriculum developed for and by the
students - still too much curriculum developed for the students, not with the students.
o Petlove Petshop: If the joy of learning is to spread and grow we need to take
chances, and we need our administration to take chances too.
• Technology in Context (Attitudes)
o Olivia Hotshot: Just because SL & WoW & Facebook & Twitter etc. look fun, doesn't
mean we cannot use it to teach.
o Gwenette Writer: All walls are fear based and fear of technology = fear of information.
[This is] a VERY old fear.
o Artemis Sapphire: [We] need to work on convincing people - students and parents -
that technology doesn't have to either fun OR educational - it can be both.
o Gwenette Writer: Equate technology to books - some are fun, some are fact filled,
and some are even boring. Ahah!


Assessment

“For students today computing devices are what paper and pencil were for past generations.”
Petlove Petshop.

Resources
Kids Consortium: http://www.kidsconsortium.org/
Mediated Cultures: Digital Ethnography: http://www.netvibes.com/wesch
The World is Open: How Web Technology is Revolutionizing Education: http://worldisopen.com/

Program & Tool Examples
Differentiated Learning Tools
• Achieve3000: http://www.achieve3000.com/
• MyAccess: http://www.myaccess.com/
• Read180: http://www.scholastic.com/read180/
• ReadAbout: http://www.scholastic.com/ReadAbout/
• TeenBiz: http://www.teenbiz3000.com/
Devices & Specific Technologies:
• Active response systems
• Cellphones
• iPods
• Livescribe: http://www.livescribe.com/
• One-to-one computing
• Slate & Tablet PCs
Authentic Assessment Examples
• digital story telling
• mind mapping
• making sketchups
• podcasts
• vodcast
• blogging
• mashups
• wikis

Discussants
JeniAnn Ametza (Jenny McAvoy-Anteau) and Petlove Petshop (Lyn Thompson) [See Appendix 1]


Top Discussion Points
• Technology as a leveler.
o Difficulty with written expression does not mean that student do not have just as
much of value to express as their peers.
o The most brilliant, creative and resourceful people I've met are my students with
learning disabilities.
o Integration of Web 2.0 tools provides opportunities for students to develop
reading writing and math skills as well as collaboration and communication skills,
in addition to developing a personal set of skills and strategies that can be used
both in and out of school as well as into the future.
o Technology offers a way for special education students to assess what they
know independently of the very methods with which they struggle.
o Mainstreaming is also accomplished more easily when special ed and regular ed
students are in front of individually prepared programming, which returns data to
educators allowing programs to be further tailored as skill sets are learned and
improved upon.
o The wealth of available technology tailored to the specific needs of special
education students is growing every day. Special education students experience
success and receive the extra, intensive practice in an engaging manner that
cannot be matched in your average classroom.
• Assessment as a driver
o It really is about a change from the factory system of education we have to a new
model that is strength based and student driven.
o "What matters" are the content and performance standards we expect students
to meet. It is about knowing what is important to teach and be learned; knowing
how to provide opportunities for content standards to be learned and
performance standards to be met. That "how" is changing to teaching reading,
writing and math through providing creative, collaborative and authentic learning
opportunities.
o These various technologies and tools make for development of deeper
understanding and allow individuals with diverse learning needs alternatives to
the paper and pencil methods.
• Access
o Right now, for so very many, there is such limited access that, for teachers who
want to shift their paradigm of instruction they can't. They are unable to fully
embrace the opportunities afforded by the technological developments due to
time constraints and difficulties related to access.
o
• Alternate forms of assessment
o Roxie Neiro: Northwest Evaluation Association has assessments that are done
on the computer which give students immediate scores, a personalized growth
model, and teachers have reports without getting bogged down in scoring and
generating graphs and reports. The work is done for them so they can use the
data to plan instruction.
o Roshana Rives: Understand that gaming and how students learn through games
is like formative assessment - it is assessment FOR learning. Mimi Muircastle:
yes, learning through games is great assessment.
o Fleep Tuque: I agree that digital story telling and creative works can be excellent
ways to demonstrate competency, and that's the point of assessment, no?
o Memetic Projects: Using live media feedback, like twitter feed right in the
classroom.
o Stargazer Blazer: Check out Michael Wesch's site; it's a netvibes site where over
200 students do a full literature review in 3 weeks.
o Jackie Rexen: If we believe want to practice student-centric education - then we
need to create student-centric assessment. Teaching students the skills for self-
assessing - assessment for life-long learning.


o Fleep Tuque: Creating a digital mind map is a good specific example, showing
how abstract ideas relate to each other conceptually in a format that others can
build upon.
o Haley Swansong: Instead of exams I do "show what you know," — they get to
pick 1 project from a list of 10 and create it during the class period. The best part,
Mimi, is when I group them by their project choice and let them work together.
o Tammy Nowotny: Is "assessment" getting to be one of those words which has
lost its meaning? Maybe we need a new word for it.

• Artemis Sapphire: From New York City - Mercy College and CUNY - We need to improve
the quality of mathematics education by shifting the focus to practical usage as opposed
to a test based model.
• Roxie Neiro: Let's think about how we can teach our students the 21st century skills they
need rather than how to pass a test! Simone Dasmijn: Roxie has a great comment.
• BJ Gearbox: If schools are only evaluated on test scores, how do we justify innovation?
It doesn't count.
• Roxie Neiro: How do we help our students use technology to think, write, collaborate,
and use information rather than simply memorize it and spit it out on a test? What can
we do to change the way we assess students, since what gets measured gets taught?
• Devon Alderton: We have demonized our children and taken away so many of their
opportunities for earned competence.
• Cabarrus Braveheart: In the plan, don't focus on tools at all. I wouldn't mention a single
tool specifically. It should all revolve around skills and outcomes.
• Roxie Neiro: Test scores are not going to get us where we want to go unless we change
what we are assessing and how.
• Mimi Muircastle: When students define what they need to know and whether they have
learned that - often they really are on target.
• Petlove Petshop: Mr. Obama could help us by letting educational experts find new ways
to assess learning, and free us from the yoke of test scores being equivalent to success
• Aquilla Heron: It is important to keep the gifted students engaged, but it is also important
not to leave the others behind.
• Haley Swansong: Here in MI there is so much emphasis on common assessment. They
forget kids aren't clones they all learn at different rates and ways.
• Haley Swansong: Collaboration is so important — name one job where you take notes,
pass weekly tests and pass a pop quiz.


Teaching

Resources
• Social Media Classroom: Wiki: interactive media resources:
http://socialmediaclassroom.com/host/vircom/wiki/interactive-media-resources
• Social Media in Learning Examples: http://c4lpt.co.uk/handbook/examples.html
• The Fourth Paradigm: Data-Intensive Scientific Discovery:
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/collaboration/fourthparadigm/

Discussant
Tab Scott (Terry Beaubois)

Synopsis
Social media and technology are changing the way we engage in teaching and learning. The
potential is there for learners to use Personal Learning Environments (PLE) to expand the
classroom into the world, virtual and physical. When we are clear about the social conventions
and expectations in virtual learning environments, students respond: ‘Right now we are not
playing a video game, we are learning.’

Just because students know how to use a particular technology for one purpose does not mean
they know how to engage with that technology for learning. If we help them, the learning will
happen. As technology becomes the paper and pencil of the future we will be learning more
about how the human brain learns.

Teachers need to have the time and incentive to learn how best to use these tools. Grants that
support the implementation of these new skills will be a key component to success. Technology in
teaching and learning supports collaboration wherever the classroom is. We are all in this
together. There are things we can all do, and things we can all do better together.

• Internet access for all, everywhere
• How are teachers and students to use social network tools in education when these are
blocked within school?
• Two issues for technology and education:
o Teaching how to use technology for world of work


o Integrating technology within education and work
• Teacher Technology Literacy
o Knowclue Kidd: Think of all we don't teach just because WE are uncomfortable
with the technology.
o Fleep Tuque: Often I think pre service teachers aren't really getting access to
good digital literacy skills themselves, how can they teach what they don't know?
o Cyndi Uriza: Students need models and mentors of personal learning networks.
o Knowclue Kidd: We need to start modeling in our professional development the
same kind of learning we want to create in the classroom.
o LoriVonne Lustre: Creating spaces for teachers to mentor each other will be a
great way to move forward
o Buffy Beale: There’s been lots of talk about student learning but teacher training
is key to success.
o Mimi Muircastle: Teacher training in SL is something I dream of being able to do.
When I say training, I mean good mentoring and modeling.
• How can technology assist teachers with classroom management?
• How can technology help students to manage their own learning?
• Creating opportunities for expanding the classroom through co-learning:
o Peer-peer
o Teacher-student
o Real-life and virtual world experts
• Technology provides the opportunity for social inclusion for all and funding is a key factor
• Examples of technology in the teaching and learning process [See Appendix 2]:
o A game with pictures of the teacher as s/he ages that students need to put in
order and explain their decisions.
o Webquests.
o AP physics students using QX3 microscopes and ImageJ (freeware) to study
Brownian motion in nanoparticles.
o AP US History students created Facebook profiles of famous people with all the
correct data, and then had to interact in character.
o Student completed bridge project then discovered a problem with a real bridge.
o Data intensive science can be explored.
o Students create intellectual objects, archive them in a wiki or blog, then review
each others’ work outside of class. This saves class time, and makes learning a
24 hour experience, beyond the physical school.

• Maggie Marat: There is a real human being behind every avatar and every text
message.
• Scottmerrick Oh: What's coming is hopefully a complete rethinking of how we co-learn
with students and model a passion for understanding.
• Knowclue Kidd: It's not technology that makes me more successful, it's because I'm a
good teacher I use tools that are relevant to my student's world ... the one my students
are creating, because it is theirs.
• Drifter Kingmaker: I have kids create things, archive them in a wiki or blog, and they have
to review each other’s work outside of class. That saves class time, and makes learning a
24-hour experience, separate from the physical school.
• Roxie Neiro: Technology is not the panacea - it is a vehicle. It is what we do with that
vehicle that makes the difference


Productivity

Resources
Sloodle (Simulation Linked Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment):
http://www.sloodle.org/moodle/

Discussant
Jeremy Kabumpo (Jeremy Kemp)

• Global audience, resources, and collaboration opportunities
• How technology helps teachers now
• Second Life, virtual worlds and online environments for boundary spanning & extending the
educational environment
o Simone Dasmijn: Not only co-learning with students, but co-learning with real-life and
virtual world experts as adjuncts to teaching.
o Alexjo Magic: Social inclusion of people with different abilities.
o Jagga Meredith: Lack of exclusion of people seen as different.
• Technology use challenges
o Scottmerrick Oh: We're all working within an antiquated structure as best we can to
suit the future needs of our students, but in a way we're doing a disservice to our kids
to improve the current systems
o Drifter Kingmaker: Some tools, like Facebook, compete against educational uses with
recreational bait. It adds another layer to manage for teachers.


Alexjo Magic: These are all excellent but funding is really crucial in providing social inclusive
education to everyone.
Scottmerrick Oh: So Alexjo it's the mechanics of the funding structure we need to deal with? Or is
it the essential structure of the way we instruct?

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to LoriVonne Lustre, Louise Borgnine, Petlove Petshop, Siri Vita, Talon Falconer,
Teachergirl Razor and the humans represented by those avatars for their assistance in the
development of this report.


Appendices


Appendix 1: Notes from Presenters

AJ Brooks (SL) / AJ Kelton (RL)

Hello, and welcome. I'm excited and honored to have been asked to speak today at what
promises to be an interesting and informative event. My name is AJ Kelton and I'm the Director of
Emerging Instructional Technology for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at
Montclair State University, located in Northern New Jersey.

I am joining you from the premier technology in higher education event, the EDUCAUSE Annual
Conference, taking place this week in Denver Colorado. What an appropriate place to be when
considering this topic, as EDUCAUSE is heavily invested in talking about, and acting on,
improving the use of technology in the learning and teaching process. I'd like to thank all the folks
at EDUCAUSE, especially Victoria Fanning, Lida Larson, and Justin James for assisting me
today.

At this event you are going to hear about assessment, tools, pedagogy, and, I'm sure, a wide
variety of other aspects of the importance of technology in education. As a doctoral student in the
Educational Communication and Technology program at New York University's Steinhardt
School, this topic is of great importance to me. The work being done in the Educational
Communication and Technology program, and other programs like it, is invaluable to our industry.

Funding and support for education needs to be consistent with the incredible importance we
place on education. If funding continues to take a back seat in our priorities, we will fall further
behind regarding a well-educated public and, more importantly, we risk losing the support of the
most important constituency in this process, our students.

It has been said that technology is anything that was not around when you were born. At the rate
we are seeing technological advances, everything we know as technology today will be passé to
most students entering our grade schools in a few years. Things are changing that quickly and
our students are adapting to the change. If we do not adapt with them, we run the risk of
becoming the dinosaurs of the educational process.

This is not to say I believe we have to use technology because the students want it; or that we
should use it just for the sake of using technology. No, we need to invest both time and resources
to an ongoing conversation about pedagogically sound uses of both current and emerging
technology.

We can spend a great deal of time talking about different tools that will engage our students as
we move further into an increasingly digital age. Virtual worlds, like Second Life, are an excellent
vehicle to engage our students in ways that are simply not possible in the actual world. I have
watched students, those I've taught, and those in grade school, become completely immersed in
the learning activities in virtual worlds.

Although not for formal educational purposes, but many children are already immersed in virtual
environments. There will soon, very soon, come a time when these students will expect the same
type of engagement when learning in school. Want proof of this? Watch any small child while they
play away in Webkinz, Club Barbie, Club Penguin, or one of the many other virtual worlds
exclusively for children. These students are engaged.

These students are prosumers, those who are both producers AND a consumers of content.
Think YouTube, Facebook, and Wikipedia. These students will soon be in our grade school, our
high schools, and then our institutions of higher education, making their way into our work force. If
we don't do what is necessary now, we run the risk of creating probably one of the greatest social
injustices in current lifetimes.


But it’s about more than just Second Life, or virtual worlds, or any of the tools that are just
cresting over the horizon. What good are virtual worlds, augmented reality, web-based games,
etc..., if our system does not have the three things it needs to be successful making use of them.

First, everyone needs inexpensive access to the Internet. I have watched my home Internet
access bill go nowhere but up. I am, fortunate enough to be able to afford the $60 for high speed
access. Many people, however, all across this county, like in cities such as Newark, NJ, where I
was born and still live near, cannot. Let’s do whatever is necessary to make Internet access a
utility, like water, electric, and gas, instead of a commodity more concerned with profit margins.
Want to see a kid learn, hook him or her up to the Internet and guide their learning process. This
is not just about hardwired connection, either – it is very much about wireless.

Second, the tools we use to connect to the Internet need to be easy to use, well designed, and
inexpensive. This is not just about laptops and desktops. In fact, it is about much more than that.
It is about mobile technology and what the students can hold in their hands, walk around with, be
connected wirelessly, and explore. The One Laptop Per Child program is a great start, but we
need to take it further. We need to see handheld devices for educational use at a price point most
can afford. We need to see the access to those devices come at a reasonable price, so people
won't have to look at the bill each month to decide if they can afford to continue to learn using it.

Bottom line, we need to make it easier for students to get the technology and access they must
have in order to be great learners and the future of our world.

Lastly, we need to see more people studying and talking about pedagogically sound uses of the
technology. Our schools need to employ people who have taken the time to learn, and continue
to learn, about theories and practices that will help the teachers plan the educational uses of
existing, and new, technology. One instructional designer for 100 teachers is just not enough.

How can the government help with this, meaning, why did I couch such large issues into a
meeting like this? These issues, although large, are also foundational. Unless we do something
about them, the other issues on top of which these three are build, will continue to flounder. There
need to be incentives created for the private sector to develop and maintain partnerships with
school and students at all levels.

We need to be more concerned about what students learn, and not just what they remember.
Well thought out and pedagogically sound use of technology is a gigantic step in that direction.

Thank you for your time.

Biography

AJ Kelton (Director of Emerging Instructional Technology for the College of Humanities and
Social Sciences at Montclair State University, located in Northern New Jersey. Also, a doctoral
student in the Educational Communication and Technology program at New York University's
Steinhardt School) AJ joined the NETP planning conference in Second Life from the EDUCAUSE
annual conference in Denver, Co.

Maggie Marat on Learning

Maggie said nothing she could write would be better than what her kids have said in the video
they created. In lieu of her comments, please find the following abridged transcription of the script
of that video.


No Future Left Behind. Written and produced by the students of Suffern Middle School, Larry
Bordowitz. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kra_z9vMnHo

Education really needs an upgrade.

The future is coming.
The future is late for school.
I see the future - it makes me think.
I see the future - it isn't sitting in rows and it doesn't have clocks.
I see the future and it lets me create.
It lets me create and it makes me want to share.
I see the future and it won't wait.
Will we be ready?

The future is trying to get in.
You blocked it. (4x)
The future's trying to get in.
The future wants to play with us.
Why don't you let us?
The future wants us.
You can't keep *us* away!

The future is ready for us.
Are we ready for it?
The future is dancing. Can't you hear the music?
The future is ours. You have to give it to us.
The future is scary. Don't get too close.
The future is coming, whether you like it or not.
I can't create my future with the tools from your past.

I know how to memorize. Teach me to think.
I know how to recite. Teach me how to create.
I know what you said. Teach me how to speak for myself.

School should be more like a game. If we get it wrong, just try again.

Today I learned that YOU are the expert, YOU have all the answers.
Today I learned that you don't believe in me, you don't trust me, you don't know me.
Today I learned that you want me to be like you, you want me to do it your way.
(You don't know me. You don't trust me. You don't believe in me.)

Let the future in.
We want to:
talk to the world,
ask questions,
share,
work together,
play together,
explore,
discover,
create,
learn OUR way,
make mistakes and try again.

The future called.


I told them you were busy.

Can you help us?
Can you guide us?
Can you trust us?
Can you unlock it?
Can you unblock it?
Can you just believe?

We know you're trying.
We know you care.
We know you have to follow the rules.
We know you're afraid.

This is our future. Let us have a say in it.
We are not afraid. We're excited!
We are not cheating, we are collaborating.
We are not irresponsible, we are courageous.
We're not reckless, we're pioneeres.
We are not lazy, we are BORED.
We are not angry, we are frustrated.
We are not stupid, we are all different.
We're just different.

You had a chance to embrace your future, give us a chance to embrace ours.
We want you to help us.
We want you to understand us.
We need your help. We need your wisdom. We need your experience. We need your guidance.
But we don't need your permission.

Help me get there. Take a chance.
Step out of the comfort zone, out of the box, out of the textbook, out of the TESTING.

Let me show you what I can really do.
Let me build it.
Let me photograph it.
Let me sing it.
Let me record it.
Let me dance it.
Let me act it out.
Let me show YOU what I can really do!
Let me analyze it.
Let me sing it.
Let me program it.
Let me dance it.
Let me explain it.
Let me paint it.
Let me show you what I can REALLY do.
Let me PLAY it.

Prepare me for my future.
Tear down the walls.
Take a chance.
Help me get there.
The future asked me to come, and said you could come, too.
I said, you can come, too.


You should come, too.
The future is happening, right this very minute.
Outside of school, we're there already.
We want you to be brave and come with us.
Come with us.

The future called.
Will we be ready?

We're going. We're going. We're going. We are GONE.
Thank you.

JeniAnn Ametza (and Petlove Petshop) on Assessment

Assessment - evaluating what matters.

"What matters" are the content and performance standards we expect students to meet. It is
knowing what is important to teach and be learned. It is knowing HOW to provide opportunities
for content standards to be learned and performance standards to be met. That "how" is
changing to teaching reading, writing and math through providing creative, collaborative and
authentic learning opportunities. It really is about a change from the factory system of education
we have to a new model which is strength based and student driven. The change in learning
styles and infact brain structures of today's students necessitates these changes in instruction.
Technology and the shift in teaching methods makes it easy to have students demonstrate
content and performance standard mastery as well as have it assessed. Programs that use
technology exist to provide learning opportunities through individually leveled readings and
differentiated materials. These programs are continually providing data to guide instruction.
Examples of programs that provide programs like Read180 or myAccess and Acheive
3000/Teen Biz among others. The data is then used to make instructional decisions for
individual and target specific instruction. These are Response to Intervention ideas or data driven
instruction if you like.

The access to technology for the teacher -- to look at test scores, for students to drive skill
development and instruction to access materials for innovative instruction as well as tools for
teaching such as interactive white boards, sound systems and projectors are key. Teachers can
not make the changes necessary to bring students into learning opportunities that are paramount
to the future success of our students with out reliable consistent and continual access to the
technology tools that make it possible. One to One computing, slates, active response systems,
iPods -- students should have access to comupting devices as part of class -- they should be a
fluid and ubiquitous tool. For students today computing devices are what paper and pencil were
for my generation.

It is not enough to have labs available for teachers to bring students too 8 times a semester. It is
not enough to be able to say that in the US there is approximately 1 computer for every 4
students. Right now, for so very many, there is such limited access that, for teachers who want to
shift their paradigm of instruction they can't. They are unable to fully embrace the opportunities
afforded by the technological developments due to time constraints and difficulties related to
access.

Again, "technology" should be ubiquitous and an extension of the mind -- like the pencil and
paper. The beauty is that so many other manners of expression and demonstration of
understanding are possible with tech than just pencil and paper with the wealth of Web 2.0 tools
available. Authentic assessment examples include digital story telling, mind mapping, making
sketchups, podcasts, vodcast, blogging, mashups, and on and on. These tools make for
development of deeper understanding and allow individuals with diverse learning needs


alternatives to the paper and pencil methods.

For me this is where much of the issue regarding technology access rests. My students (I am a
special ed teacher in the 9-12 setting) generally do not get the opportunity to develop higher order
thinking skills, just those very skills that will be even more heavily relied on in the 21st century,
because of difficulty accessing print materials. Inability to read at same level as peers does not
automatically mean there is an inability to think at the same level as their peers. Difficulty with
written expression does not mean that student do not have just as much of value to express as
their peers. Access to technology, excuse the cliché, levels the playing field and lets those with
diverse leaning needs have the opportunity to participate fully in the educational opportunities
offered in their classes AND a way to assess what they know and are able to do that is
independent of the very methods which they struggle.

Integration of Web 2.0 tools provides opportunities for students develop reading writing and math
skills as well as collaboration and communication skills in addition to developing a personal set of
skills and strategies that can be used both in and out of school as well as into the future.
Teaching reading, writing and math through providing creative, collaborative and authentic
learning opportunities provided through technology provide the situations for students to be active
participants in their world as well as making it so students can develop skills to meet the
challenges of life in the 21st Century, and for teachers to be able to assess their progress toward
that end.

Thanks for the opportunity to share my thoughts on Assessment and Technology with the group
and contribute to the body of knowledge related to the NETP.

Biography

JeniAnn Ametza (RL: Jenny McAvoy-Anteau) is in her 13th year of teaching special education at
the high school level. JeniAnn has a BS in Geography and an MS Ed-Special Education. She is
constantly growing her personal learning network, and she continues to seek out courses and
learning opportunities to further develop her instructional technology knowledge as well as the
theory and reasoning behind the changing face of education. She is exploring the new worlds of
technology in order to provide the best possible learning opportunities for her students. JeniAnn
is dedicated to and passionate about helping her students develop the academic content and
performance skills, higher order thinking skills, and self-advocacy skills that will allow them to be
active participants in their world and successful contributing members of the evolving society of
the 21st Century.


Appendix 2: Resources: EdTech Exemplars from Discussions

General Ed Tech Strategies

• Multiple intelligence interactive builds and conceptual spaces
o Make concepts more understandable
o Give students ownership of concepts)

General EdTech Exemplars

• Alice: http://www.alice.org/
• American Museum of Natural History: Cosmic Collisions:
http://www.amnh.org/rose/spaceshow/cosmic/
• Animoto: http://animoto.com/
• Facebook (create profiles for historical figures, interact in character):
http://staff1.beth.k12.pa.us/~tyenca/docs/facebooklessonplan.pdf
• Gizmos: http://www.explorescience.com/
th
• Google Docs (useful even with 4 graders): http://docs.google.com/
• Google Earth: http://earth.google.com/
• Google Maps: http://www.google.com/educators/geo.html
o Google Lit Trips: http://googlelittrips.org/
• Google Sketchup: http://sketchup.google.com/
• iPhone
• iTunesU
• Mindstorms (Lego, Lego robotics):
http://mindstorms.lego.com/eng/New_York_dest/default.aspx
• NASA Education: http://education.nasa.gov/
• Ning: http://ning.com/
• Picnik: http://www.picnik.com/
• Quest Atlantis: http://www.questatlantis.org/ OR http://atlantis.crlt.indiana.edu/
• Scratch: http://scratch.mit.edu/
• Sloodle: http://www.sloodle.org/
• Technology Enhanced Learning in Science (TELS): http://www.telscenter.org/
• Webquests: http://webquest.sdsu.edu/
• Wii (and Playstation and other hand-held game controllers)
o Boom box
o Guitar Hero

Second Life Educational Strategies

• Counseling
• Gaming
• Interviewing
• Language and cultural exploration
• Medical & disaster training simulations
• Roleplay
• Simulation
• Students building their own spaces


Second Life Examplars

• Etopia Eco Village: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Etopia%20Island/193/57/22
• Genome Island: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Genome/119/144/54
• International Spaceflight Museum Spaceport Alpha:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Spaceport%20Alpha/141/128/451
• Ivory Tower of Primitives: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Natoma/210/164/27
• Loyalist College Border Guard Simulation:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/The%20Tech/197/159/38
o Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCUWcpVPtMM
• MoonWorld: http://slurl.com/secondlife/MoonWorld/172/174/319
• NASA
o NASA CoLab: http://slurl.com/secondlife/NASA%20CoLab/160/126/23
• NASA eEducation: http://slurl.com/secondlife/SciLands/196/17/23
• NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL): Explorer Island:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Explorer%20Island/183/152/23
• NOAA (Meteora): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Meteora/177/161/27
• Play2Train: (secured location) http://www.socialtext.net/play2train/index.cgi OR
http://www.isu.edu/irh/IBAPP/play2trainnews.shtml
• Ramapo Island: (secured location) http://ramapoislands.edublogs.org/
• Roma, The Original Ancient: http://slurl.com/secondlife/ROMA/215/25/22
• SciLands: over 30 locations. Orientation: http://slurl.com/secondlife/SciLands/196/17/23
• Sistine Chapel Recreation (Vassar): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Vassar/200/90/2
• Sloodle: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sloodle/130/128/23
• ‘Splo (Exploratorium Museum): http://slurl.com/secondlife/SploLand/185/77/25
• StoryQuest: (secured location) http://www.tvwsp.com/
• The Tech (The Technological Museum of Innovation):
http://slurl.com/secondlife/The%20Tech/197/159/38
• Tour of the Testis: http://slurl.com/secondlife/OSU%20Medicine/128/128/2
• Virtual Hallucinations SIM (UC Davis): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sedig/26/45/22

Appendix 3: Event Co-Sponsors

• Cedar Island: http://cedar-island.ning.com/
o Assistance with event planning, promotion, notes, and report processing.
• International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE): http://www.iste.org/
o Venue, marketing & promotion, planning, docent volunteers, security liaison, &
report processing.
• Justice League Unlimited (JLU): http://secondlife.wikia.com/wiki/Justice_league_unlimited
o Provided security oversight for the event.
• Metanomics: http://www.metanomics.net/
o Overflow venues, planning, marketing & promotion.
• New Media Consortium (NMC): http://www.nmc.org/
o Marketing & promotion
• University of Michigan (UM): http://www.umich.edu/
o Perplexity Peccable’s time, event oversight & coordination, report oversight &
coordination, freebies for audience.
• Virtual Ability Inc. (VAI): http://virtualability.org/default.aspx
o Volunteer greeters, transcription services for voice to text, event planning &
report processing.


Appendix 4: Event Resources

Other Event Outputs

Chatlog:
https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0ATBUwgZWTTZ6ZGM0ZmYyYnFfMTkzY2duZDZxZHA&hl
=en

Flickr Group:
http://flickr.com/groups/netp09/

Livestream video:
http://tinyurl.com/netp09 OR http://www.livestream.com/metaworld6/ondemand/pla_97f4d790-
d8fa-4c7d-a716-66379e8e0edb?initthumburl=http://mogulus-user-
files.s3.amazonaws.com/chmetaworld6/2009/11/05/9c80e08f-8ef4-4b0f-b2f0-
ccba92c403b6_4120.jpg&playeraspectwidth=4&playeraspectheight=3

NETP09 SL Event, Highlights Video (forthcoming). When available, this will be located as part of
the YouTube channel for Draxtor Despres, here: http://www.youtube.com/user/draxtordespres

Blogposts

• Community Meeting on National Educational Technology Plan. ALA Island.
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=190181131207&ref=mf
• National Educational Technology Plan (NETP). Got Social?
http://sorryafk.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/national-educational-technology-plan-meeting/
• Speaking at an event for the National Educational Technology Plan (NETP). Got
Social? http://sorryafk.wordpress.com/2009/11/01/speaking-netp/
• National Educational Technology Plan Meeting in Second Life. Lane’s
List. http://laneslist.blogspot.com/2009/11/national-educational-technology-plan.html
• Community Meeting on National Educational Technology Plan. RezEd.
http://www.rezed.org/events/community-meeting-on-national
• Tell President Obama about EdTech. Kirkwood Community College Second Life
Group. http://kirkwood-slgroup.blogspot.com/2009/10/second-life-event-tell-president-
obama.html
• Merged realities – events and issues for virtual worlds. Metaverse Journal.
http://www.metaversejournal.com/2009/10/28/merged-realities-%E2%80%93-events-and-
issues-for-virtual-worlds-9/
• California State University, CHICO. National Educational Technology Plan. TLP
Blog. http://blogs.csuchico.edu/tlp/?tag=netp-national-educational-technology-plan
• Community Meeting in Second Life on Obama's National Educational Technology Plan
November 5. Betterverse: Nonprofits in the Virtual World.
http://www.betterverse.org/2009/10/community-meeting-in-second-life-on-obamas-national-
educational-technology-plan-november-5.html


National Educational Technology Plan (NETP) 2009 Second Life Public Forum, Final Report

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to National Educational Technology Plan (NETP) 2009 Second Life Public Forum, Final Report

Similar to National Educational Technology Plan (NETP) 2009 Second Life Public Forum, Final Report (20)

More from University of Michigan Taubman Health Sciences Library

More from University of Michigan Taubman Health Sciences Library (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

National Educational Technology Plan (NETP) 2009 Second Life Public Forum, Final Report