British children are spending more than 20 hours a week online, most of it at social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Bebo, and are in effect being “raised online”, according to research from the Institute for Public Policy Research.

Read the Guardian’s Warning to parents over children ‘being raised online’ for more information about the report and the recommendations for government intervention.

I stopped to think. What are global educators doing then? Uhmmm ….. spending rather a lot of time online as well. We have a lot of commentary about various online tools, and the pros and cons for teachers. The blogosphere is full of it.

In my case I can confess to spending a huge amount of time in Second Life this last Easter break catching up with Australian and international colleagues, talking about professional learning issues that are central to our daily work.

St Joseph’s College has a professional base on the island of Jokaydia, and our Convention centre is something of a conversation hub for newbies and experienced Second Life educators alike. This spills over to Heyjude Hall – a space created for the same purpose when I was working with the Catholic Education Office last year.

The collaboration takes the cake for ingenuity and flexibility in Second Life. The boundaries are unlimited, and don’t require special skype conferences, ustreamTV events or flashmeeting setups. Just drop in, and see who’s around! We’re very lucky to have such a creative space as Jokaydia to gather – not affiliated with any particular insitution, and therefore a gathering place for many organisations and individuals alike. You are welcome to visit the Island of jokaydia where you can engage in videos and podcasts, slideshows, virtual books, drums and balloon rides. Visit http://slurl.com/secondlife/jokaydia/113/150/23

During the weekend some of us gathered on Jokaydia I near Heyjude Hall (SLURL) and talked with Al Upton about the Mini Legends. Australians and international educators made up the group.Reports and blog posts have been running hot over the Department of Education Order for Closure of Al’s mini-Legends blogs – one of the best global grass-roots initiatives around. It is embarrassing to have such things happening in Australia. We must all lend our support to Al who is as dedicated and as energetic as any teacher I know.

Join us at TALO’s sypmposium online “Learning in the 21st century” on May 2nd, either physically or virtually, and listen to Al Upton, and discuss these issues in more depth.

Last evening saw me again talking with some colleagues at St Joseph’s Convention Centre on Jokaydia II (SLURL). We soon teleported to talk ‘conferences’ and content for presentations.

Here are the three muskateers – from the left, Tempest Nitely (Melanie Hughes, AIS); Slammed Aaybe (ICT co-ordinator, Marist High School) and Heyjude Jenns (me!) talking with Lernys Reino (Fernando Santamaria) Universidad de León, Spain, as Lernys prepared for his conference presentation on “Introduction to Second Life and possibilities for education”. Learnys asked us to line up for a photo shoot. Nice one.

I first met Learnys at the Edublog awards last year – on Jokaydia of course!