The Story of My “Second Life”

My friend and colleague Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach recently wrote an outstanding article I’d like to share:

The Art of Building Virtual Communities

…which was summarized neatly here:

Virtual Communities as a Canvas of Educational Reform

And it has me thinking and planning and reflecting on the communities I’ve helped build in Second Life as well as those in which I participate … and lurk. Some are taking off, some are stagnating. Some are new, some are old. Some involve people locally and some involve people all over the world. All are in different places. All are focused on changing education for the better.

Second Life (and virtual communities like it) offers a framework for the bold and adventurous to change the system. Will these tools work better than others have so far? It’s not like educational reform (in the USA) is exactly new. What will make it different this time?

The difference I see is the rising chreshendo of commentary for change. But I’m new to teaching; perhaps things have been this heated all along, and I’m only now just tuning in.

Doesn’t matter, I’m in for the duration, doing what I can, where it counts, for me, at my district, and from there … who knows.  I’m just happy to be here and have a chance to make a difference. How about you?

-kj-