Along with Ms. Guylene Wood-Setzer, Principal at Auburn Middle School, and Ms. Angela Williams, 4th Grade Teacher at Christiansburg Elementary School, I was able to attend the launch of Virginia on iTunes in Richmond on April 7, 2009. This was a major milestone for our project as well as Learning Without Boundaries overall. Video of launch announcement is below.

Thanks to a former student in my games class (and now current explorer and builder), Marshall, I’ve received and invitation to participate in beta testing of Metaplace, described on the home page as follows:

Metaplace gives you the power to create, share, and live in your own unique virtual world. Hang out with friends, build your space, grow your community, and have fun. It’s not just for techies anymore — it’s for everyone who uses the Web today.

I find this a very opportune invitation as we’re getting very comfortable with the potential uses of virtual worlds in class and sense that we’re ready to design both prototypes and research agendas. I’ve only had a couple minutes in world, but am pleased by the style and layout of the site. Although I don’t think I can spare too much time right now building a place in Metaplace, I will certainly put it on my To Do list and hopefully get back to it in early May to give it due attention.

Once it’s out of beta, I’ll share screen capture of my initial foray into Metaplace.

Attempting to demonstrate edubuntu as a viable option on the asus n10jseries…hope it works…

I had to edit from another browser, in fact…

Two weeks ago I made a visit to a local elementary school where we have air dropped 40 ipod touch devices for a mathematics and a language arts teacher to use. Until I get all permissions in place, I can only talk about the experience in general terms. A couple things I can say regarding how overwhelmed I was by the creativity and investment of teachers and students are these.

"Look, the ipods are sprouting!"

First, the photo of the “ipod planter” demonstrates how these two teachers are taking a challenge head on to make sure the devices are easily accessible - in this case to alleviate having to push a rather heavy, cumbersome cart around the teachers have built what I call an ‘ipod planter”. The solution not only makes it easy for kids to access the devices, but gives them a warm, cozy place to rest in between uses.

Second, I was completely unprepared by how natural the children act when using the ipods for an educational exercise. On the day I visited, the language arts teachers asked the kids to check out their ipods from the “planter” and give me a tour of how and what they use them for. Some kids were playing a networked, turn-taking game that included a chat feature, Mancala FS5 (Free).

Some kids were playing chess. Some kids were playing typing and other educational focused games. The highlight of the day was when the kids shared the collaborative podcast they had created under the direction of the teacher. I understand that these activities may not sound particularly innovative to some of those who have more experience along these lines, but I suppose the surprise for me was realizing just how “uneventful” this all was to students and teacher. That is, having the ipods and being fluent in use was part of their normal school day. Though this is merely an anecdote for now, I am still very enthusiastic about the possibilities of using and developing for this rather impressive mobile internet device.

Once I get permissions in place, and our project web site is up and running, I’ll provide more concrete details on where we are now on in the process and where we plan to go in the coming months.

Last night in class I showed the below video - Jim Gee presenting a case for why games and game play demonstrates the type knowledge, skills, and interactions we should value in education. One of the strongest arguments one might extract from the clip is that there are is now a very strong impetus for being creative and innovative in the classroom and out. It is no longer an academic exercise, but an economic imperative to allow kids to be more sophisticated learners. BTW, I’m by no means the first to pass this excerpt along as others have earlier gotten the word out (see: Brainy Gamer).

Another term that came out of last night’s discussion, was design thinking. Although I have yet to find a definitive definition of the term, Fast Company has an article, Design Thinking…What Is That? that dances close enough around the idea to get the gist. From my understanding, it’s the type thinking exhibited by folks in professions such as industrial, interaction, and instructional design - a cognitive ability to deal with ill-structured problems in a disciplined, yet innovate, fashion. It’s an ability to deal with ambiguity and less-than-desired outcomes as well.