EFL Professor in SL

The 5th Virtual Round Table Web Conference ( 20-22 April 2012) is a 3-day free conference offered to teachers who integrate language learning technologies into their classes. This wonderful conference is organised by Heike Philp, Shelly Terrell, Steven Herder and Berni Wall. The conference takes place primarily in a virtual classroom environment (Adobe ConnectPro) with sessions for language learning in virtual worlds being presented using slides and screenshared. Twitter Hashtag #vrtwebcon Closing conference party is on EduNation in Second Life on Sunday 22 April, 8am slt. Pio was invited to participate in this session: A Round Table called: To text or not to text Watson & Baker published 1984 their studies on how we communicate. Their research showed that we humans communicate 55% by listening, 24% speaking, 13% reading and 8% writing. Has this changed? Today we communicate mostly in text chat via Instant Messenger (Skype, AIM, Yahoo), write short messages ...

Blu Heron Well, today Pio had the pleasure to be part of a basic skills building class.. the topic.. Eastern eggs!!! It was fun.. and the best part was to learn from Blu Heron !! She's the best... Did you know she taught Pio a long time ago how to rezz and open boxes... It was a very informal session after an Educator Tools session she conducted. So, this is how we did it... First thing you do when you get to the brewery classes  ( BUILDERS BREWERY Free Building Classes, Textures, Script.) you have to sit on a special area for builders.. each teacher changes the deco every time..it's so cool and creative. After the instructor says hello she gives the first instructions indicating to pick material you will need for the class... Blu Heron shouts: Welcome to Beginners Egg Coloring Activity! this IS for Beginners level 1 - no building experience! If you know your way around the edit window and have some experience building, the Easter baskets class at 1 is bette...

THE PRIMITIVE BUILDING BLOCKS: Primitives or simply prims are the raw materials from which everything in Second Life is constructed. All things are created from these basic building blocks. Every object, clothes, houses, furniture, cars, plants, etc. are created from prims by the people who use Second Life. Linden lab provides prims freely in unlimited quantities so anyone can build. Each land area can support only a certain number of prims. For example, a basic 512 square meter plot of land will hold only 117 prims. This means a small lot will allow for only a small house with limited furnishings. HOW TO BUILD THINGS IN SECOND LIFE:  Building in Second Life is an art. You build by putting together primitive 3D shapes known simply as prims. Primitive shapes include: cube, sphere, cylinder and torus. The shapes can be scaled up or down, larger or smaller, and cut and twisted.  SANDBOX: To begin building, go to an area where you are permitted to build. For mos...

Well, on my wandering in the poster area..I found this beautiful museum...I was enchanted by the simplicity of it, the colors, the textures, poetry and history of this courageous and ancient people. Afganistan Museum in SL on PhotoPeach Don't miss this wonderful place... and make sure to get the wonderful gifts...

Hey, there! we did it again.. went looking for what's going on.... :) A pick into VWBPE 2012 on PhotoPeach    Well, hope to see you all there!!! Keep on shining love and peace! And...... Be EPIC!!!!! Pionia Destiny

Well, it's been a while since I last posted here. Zillions of little things distracting us... evil multitasking...or happy serendipiting.. shrugs her shloulders.. Who knows? What I know it's that those roads have taken me to new lands, people and more knowledge.  With a content heart we are back in town... and with good news... Virtual World Best Practices in Education is here on a new edition and eventhough I am not presenting there, I will be presenting presenters.. a whole new challenge, yeaah!! So, let me tell you about this year Epic edition of VWBPE 2012. Quoting VWBPE's definition of what Epic is.. Epic  is being able to attend a virtual conference with cutting edge participants and brilliant bleeding edge presenters and explore engagement, immersion and NPIRL* education.  http://www.vwbpe.org On its fifth year, this free, grass-roots conference provides opportunities for participants in all virtual worlds and games to share innovative teaching, learnin...