Education Grid?

A recent article published in The Metaverse Journal suggested that Skoolaborate was becoming the elusive 'Education Grid'.  Whilst this is quite flattering it was never our intention to take over the planet.  We did intend to give students and teachers some experience in Virtual worlds as the research suggested that they will be the next iteration of the web. Getting used to the environment has given us a heads up on the understanding we will need as the web progresses into a new 3d Environment.

The recent release from Exit Reality indicates that we are not that far away and I am confident that my students at MLC School and the students of our Skoolaborate partners certainly have a head start.  It seems like we might have been onto something - take a look at this (click the graphic ).

What we recognized early was that the success of these environments depended on community.  And community is what we have been building.  We are not a complete site at this stage and don't have a thousand completed units of work to display but what we are quickly gathering is that community. The richness is in the battle of not knowing what to do and not being as good as we want to be yet.  It is just so inspiring seeing the students taking the lead as partners with teachers in this journey.

Epstein says . 'this partnership should bring together a rich and diverse mix of folks, students and educators, which should create a varied, stimulating environment in which to learn'.

And this is what is happening.  Recently we have had Chile, Portugal, the UK and several new organisations join our ranks, all motivated and ready to go.  My next few blog entries (coming soon) will demonstrate some of the planning that has taken place and the progress we have made. 

For me the interesting point is when I describe who has done the work. 
For example to list who contributed to the Welcome tower (an orientation model) I would say, Mike, Chris F, Francesca, Lucinda, Zac, Karl, Westley and Chris P.  What is more impressive is when I say they are from Japan, Australia, USA, UK and New Zealand and they are 4 students and 4 teachers.  They just meet and do it.

 

Epstein gives us credit as 'now the world’s largest virtual environment project, designed for kids of junior high school age' but then poses the question 'will the Teen Second Life Grid remain active for long enough for any of their goals to come to fruition?'

My answer would be that our goals exist well beyond Teen Second Life.  Whilst I believe the Lindens are out in front at present (and may continue) there are hundreds of Virtual Worlds in development.

Our goals lie within Global Understanding.  Our success relies on our ability to become a community.  If we are successful in that we will live beyond any software.  If it fell over today, we still would have won.

Want a little glimpse?  Check out the Debney Park students latest taster.