How can I resist sharing Dean Groom’s reflection on his Classroom 2.0 experiences in his Term 3 Reflection Time. It’s a ripper read.

He talks about the changes his students have experienced, and changes in his own style of professional learning.

The way to look for these is from your peers outward. I kind of see each of the people I’ve connected with (or aligned myself with) as a a little whirlpool, each sucking in information and experience. I now look at the whirlpools first. Before I looked at Google.

I’m happy to be part of his whirlpool!

Dean is a member of the Parramatta Learnscope Team – who are engaged in a project with NSW Learnscope.

At a workshop today he shared his experiences with us – he’s ‘upgraded’ his classroom, developed a Web 2.0 toolkit, and learned to move more effectively into the student’s learning mindset.

Guest of the afternoon was Sean FitzGerald, who talked to the group about Second Life. Jo Kay and Sean do a lot of fabulous work with Second Life in Education.

Sean went so far as to mention machinima and it’s place in this brave new world.

Machinima is perhaps the extension of this newer wave in education. Digital movies made in online virtual worlds seem to be ‘the next big thing’ in youth created content these days.

For the uninitiated, machinima (muh-sheen-eh-mah) is filmmaking within a real-time, 3D virtual environment, often using 3D video-game technologies.

Machinima extends far beyond media creatives and youth though…With ‘Machinima for Dummies’ hot off the press, the first European Machinima Festival kicking off in October, and YouTube screening of the Global Kids’ year-long machinima project A Child’s War.

The video is based on research done by the youth about the situation of child soldiers in Uganda and the upcoming trial at the International Criminal Court.

You can watch their earlier piece about digital media and youth here and read the youth leaders blogs here.

3-D platforms like Teen Second Life (13-17 year olds) open up new ways of learning, identity exploration, behavioral experimentation and self-expression without stumbling into dicey terrain ‘outside the grid’ in SL’s larger virtual world.  This makes initiatives  such as Skoolaborate possible.