I am such a morning person that it is hard for me to figure out what do do first. I like to get up between 6:00 – 7:00 AM, and after going through my morning routine of letting out the cat, making coffee, checking email, and then going outside with the dog, it is always a toss-up as to whether I go for a run or bike ride or get some work done. The problem is that I have found once I start to work on the computer, it is hard for me to break-away. But I also know that if I don’t exercise in the morning, I will rarely get to it in the afternoon. I always worked out in the morning, even when I was working for someone else and needed to be somewhere other than home at a specific time in the morning.

This morning I decided to go out for a run since I had been sluggy all weekend and only walked the dog rather than anything really aerobic. Even though it seemed to take longer this morning to feel a sense of energy while running, it did finally happen.

While wondering about what to post about, I remembered one of the conversations that some of the faculty at the Marlboro College Graduate Center have been having about the viability of Second Life. This had been prompted by the article from the Chronicle’s Wired Campus in which the New Media Consortium detailed a survey they conducted with more than 200 educators who were in SL. The responses were about split between those who felt that 3D virtual worlds have potential and are here to stay and those who felt the mucking around in virtual worlds are a waste of time and will not make it into the mainstream.

Although I rarely venture into SL lately, I have been a resident of SL for a while; in world I go by the name of Isabetta Capellini, reclaiming my Italian heritage. I started out thinking that SL was just the coolest application (which it is), and was keen to become facile with and in it. but I was daunted by the initial learning curve. and the required updates were so frequent that apparently one of my absences had been long enough that I couldn’t even get back in, requiring an extended time commitment to rectify the situation.

Today I don’t think SL has enough practical application for education for the masses. Do I think that 3D virtual worlds are going away-NO. In fact Wired Campus did a follow-up article talking about how SL is being modified such that people with disability who are unable to use a mouse or speak, can use their thoughts to control movement inworld. Check it out. Yuot blows my mind.

jkOnTheRun: Plantronics new Bluetooth headset

There is no shortage of cool and what seems to be worthwhile gear out there, with the supply stream endless. I think that this new Bluetooth wireless headset will be on my list of gear-to-get. I have always felt that wireless headsets would be the way to go, as one can be freed from the always-to-short tether. And the bonus of this headset is that is does double-duty since it had the capability to switch from stereo music listening mode to mobile phone operation with the touch of a button. Plus, since I don’t yet have a Bluetooth phone, I just think that they look cool and spy-like.

Call me a semi gear head.

I had the idea to use a sketchcast as part of my home page on my website in order to add some visuals to the otherwise text-heavy site. I put our a request to my former classmates of the Marlboro College Graduate Center MAT’s class of 2002 to let them know about the tool and ask if someone could draw an image to represent the idea I had.

So I want to thank Lisa Brooks for her creativity on the sketchcast that is now on my homepage. Lisa, you rock!

Tapped In Calendar : Web 2.0 Tools for Schools – Reinventing Project-Based Learning (Part 2)

TappedIn is a community for educators that has been around for quite a while, and one offers a lot of valuable and freely available information. I subscribe to their feed of weekly calendar events, which I regularly check.

The event that I highlighted above is on web 2.0 tools as well as project-based learning, two topics I find of great interest. I am a huge fan and advicate of taking advantage, whenever educationally appropriate, of web2.0 tools. I have found vast number of them to be fun to use, which I think goes a long way towards engagement and using the tool more than once.

And project-based learning has the flexibility to be a teaching strategy most effective in actively engaging students in their own learning. Perhaps I’ll “see” you at the TappedIn session.

I wanted to let folks know about what sounds to be an excellent opportunity for learning about free online conference for those interested in K-12 teaching, learning, and technology. In particular, this upcoming conference focuses on the use of Web 2.0 tools and technologies.

They have some well-know people in the field who are key-noting, notably David Warlick, Alan Levine, and D’arcy Norman. You can check out they keynote presenters on thie wikispaces pages here

I plan to attend, and hope you can also. Spread the word.