Villa Vesuviana

This was a Virtual Pioneers tour to Villa Vesuviana, a fictional principality of the 18th century, interpreting the Enlightenment and baroque/rococo era;  dedicated to experiments in immersive education; a joint project of  the Missouri Humanities Council and the Laboratory for Virtual Arts and Humanities.

Virtual Pioneers' BigD Talks about PBS's upcoming programming

Many of us came to the new location of Virtual Pioneers Headquarters on Eduisland 9 this Sunday to hear BigD talk about teaching children living in poverty. He teaches in a community in Arizona where many families are struggling in today's economic crisis.

 

BigD dispelled some of the many myths associated with poverty.

 

Unfortuneatly there were some griefers. This was one of them. They used voice to interrupt and say rude things. They rezzed prims and obstructed our view of the slide presentation. Used to dealing with teenagers, BigD was undisturbed.

 

BigD's partner, Kimmer, pasted into chat many links BigD had for us to view. This one was a You Tube clip by Ruby Payne, an expert in the hidden rules of class: generational poverty, middle class, and the wealthy.

 

The griefers had interesting and creative personna. 

 

Because VP has a new location we celebreated with this live musician, and dancing. The musician, Harry Frychester, is from Iowa and has a great voice. He sang mostly classical jazz and country. It was very pleasant. I found myself wishing for a dance partner.

 

Serena has decorated the area around VP headquarters with many interesting elements, like these cute bunnies.

Photos from the Virtual Pioneers Medieval Tour

Virtual Caribbeana

Last Sunday Virtual Pioneers visited Virtual Caribbeana with Oronoque Westland. It's a little build but full of information. We needed her to point it all out. 

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Montclair%20State%20CHSSSouth/48/92/22

Virtual Pioneers gather in a common area while Oronoque organizes us.

Cyrus and others cram into a small hut with only a primitive bed.

Outside the hut was Anancy the spider, ready with a link to his stories online.

OOH! There he is now with Oronoque.

Underwater there is information about how important water, and cleaning the water, is to the Caribbean.

Look out for the local sea life!

The oil industry is alive and well here. What did Oronoque say? It's both a blessing and a curse for this area.

Here we are in a classroom. Cyrus and I grabbed two of the only three computers.

Not that we wouldn't share, but we were just drawn in.

Immediately.

And couldn't tear ourselves away.

Huh? Is someone talking? I'm busy in 3rd Life...

Spiff Whitfield at VSTE

Monday night at our VSTE meeting, Spiff Whitfield spoke to us about Virtual Pioneers.
Spiff showed slides of some of the more meaningful events the Virtual Pioneers have had over the past year. He changed historical costumes during his talk, his trademark. In this photo he is sharing a visit with Fanny Starr, a Holocaust survivor.
Virtual Pioneers is without a doubt the most successful educational group I've been a part of outside of ISTE itself. VSTE and DEN also do a great job, but there is something about VP. I remember at the beginning being annoyed at some of the things that happened routinely but those things were growing pains issues: introducing everyone every week, not starting and stopping on time, meetings about meetings. VSTE has been through those things too. It seems to be a part of establishing a basis for a group. Now, however, VP has a steady following and the meetings are consistently every two weeks and full of information that not only teachers appreciate, but all people who want to know and understand more about the world we live in and the people in it. Hats off to Spiff, a very smart, unpretentious, accommodating man! You've done a great job!