Last March, I wrote the post Levelling Up: two-digit math in kids’ video games, about how I used experience points and coins in kids’ mmos like Runescape and virtual worlds like Club Penguin to teach my Grade 5 students two-digit math. Writer Cora Lee and the editors at the great kids science magazine, YES Mag, took note and have featured my experience in the article “Adding Culture to Math”, appearing in the July/August 2008 issue.
Ok, so here’s how it goes: Writer announces that he’s delving into World of Warcraft, purely for research purposes and doesn’t blog for nearly a month. A classic case of gamer widowhood? Not really (honest!) I have been busy and there is much to report. For instance:
Wild Ride has gone into its second printing AND has been picked up by the Scholastic Book Club for the 2008/09 school year. Very cool. This is first time any of my books have gone into a second printing and it’s completely due to my fantastic publisher, Orca Book Publishers, and their even more fantastic connections in the USA.
Last night, I got my beta invitation to Kingsisle Entertainment’s new mmo for kids: Wizard 101 and although I’m still a mere Novice Conjurer who hasn’t explored much beyond Unicorn Way, I am impressed with the game so far.
With the arrival of ning.com, creating social networks is as easy as creating an email account. I find places like Facebook too broad in their focus for an online network. Same with LinkedIn (although as more people are joining linkedin and find me, a cohesive network is forming for me.)
Already I belong to a few ning groups, like Classroom 2.0, but I’m really excited about the latest group I’ve joined: RezEd, the MacArthur funded network for educators interested in using virtual worlds in education.
I blogged about RezEd a few months ago and have been waiting for their launch ever since. They went into a live beta earlier this week and the place is beginning to fill up nicely now (I think they’re close to 200 members at the moment.)
Being a very new network, there is much territory that needs to be defined, so I took the initiative and created the K-8 Virtual Worlds group, with the aim for it to be:
A place to discuss, challenge and explore virtual worlds for elementary learners from Kindergarten to Grade 8. Join the discussion. Share your thoughts and help shape these powerful spaces for youth.
With educational virtual worlds like Quest Atlantis and others receiving both funding and accolades from the public, I think we are at the beginning of something very important in education. If you agree or are just curious about what these spaces are or what learning they can facilitate for students, then I invite you to explore RezEd and join the discussion.
In the meantime, check out this video of Quest Atlantis in action:
Award-winning children's author and educator specializing in creating curriculum relevant media for young minds.
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and doesn’t blog for nearly a month. A classic case of 
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