On March 27th -29th March The Virtual World Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) was held in Second Life. Jokaydia the learning community I am involved in presented a session which I was lucky to  be part of the panel.  “The islands of Jokaydia : Creating Communities of Practice in Second Life”. In this session panelist talk about the various learning communities which they were creating as well as describing their involvement in Jokaydia. The second part of the session was a tour of various locations  of Jokaydia (not dissimilar to the road trips that Jo Kay aka Jokay Wollongong runs on a monthly basis in Jokaydia) and a practical lesson on building. I found this experience invaluable not only because I got to be on a panel for the first time but also made many contacts in particular a Lecturer from Scotland who teaches graduate students about virtual worlds she is not only a great sounding board for ideas but has provided me with a different perspective on how virtual worlds could be used for educational purposes.

References:

 Virtual Worlds in Best Practice Conference in Education Wiki

http://wiki.vwbpe.org/index.php?title=Main_Page#Presentations  Accessed  March 2009, May 2009

 Virtual Worlds in Best Practice Conference in Education Blog http://www.vwbpe.org/ Accessed  March 2009, May 2009

Jokaydia Blog

http://jokaydia.com/2009/03/25/jokaydia-at-the-virtual-worlds-best-practices-in-education-conference/   Accessed  March 2009-May 2009