Your Name and Title: Cypris Chat - Virtual World English Learning Community in Second Life
School or Organization Name: Mukogawa Women's University
Co-Presenter Name(s): none
Area of the World from Which You Will Present: Japan
Language in Which You Will Present: English
Target Audience(s): Educators, Educational Technologists, Teachers, Parents, Secondary+ Students, Language Learners
Short Session Description (one line):
500 members from over 40 countries learning English together LIVE…and for free.
Full Session Description (as long as you would like):
Cypris Chat is a not-for-profit English learning community based in the virtual world of Second Life (http://secondlife.com). Visit my YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/SLmerryman) to see videos which describe the community in detail. We have over 500 active members from more than 40 countries. The purpose of our community is to show how virtual worlds can make language learning immersive and real. We provide an environment which is friendly, safe, anonymous and interactive making it the perfect environment for experimenting with the language. Friendships and relationships have developed that will last a lifetime which shows that such a concept changes lives. This community certainly proves that global communication can be helped through the use of technology. Come learn more about what we do and why we do it.
Mike McKay (aka Professor Merryman) is an adjunct professor of English at Mukogawa Women's university in Nishinomiya, Japan. He is an American expat and holds a Master of Education with an emphasis in Technology. His research is focused on providing his students with more realistic opportunities for learning and practicing English. Technology has proven to be the best medium for him based on the fact that living in another English speaking country is simply not feasible. He hopes to bring the world to Japan and provide learners of all ages, young and old, with a place to learn, explore, live and enjoy in English. The results of his research could be applied to all languages. His presentation is meant to share his experiences and what one could do to begin learning about this wonderful teaching medium.
Websites / URLs Associated with Your Session:
http://cyprischat.org
http://www.facebook.com/groups/58820483559/
https://www.youtube.com/user/SLmerryman
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyprischat/
http://secondlife.com
Previous presentations from Slideshare.net
http://www.slideshare.net/ProfessorMerryman
Replies
Thank you so much for your session proposal for the 2011 Global Education Conference! We're pleased to let you know that your submission has been accepted! Your proposal is now in the "accepted proposals" list on the website. Here are some important tasks for you.
1. Because we have sessions being presented from all different time zones, as a speaker you actually schedule your own session time at http://globaledcon11.youcanbook.me. This allows you to see the available slots and to pick something that works within your time zone, work schedule, or other constraints. We're quite proud of how this works, as it is one of the benefits of a virtual conference, but if you should fun into any difficulties finding a time that works for We encourage you to do this quickly, as proposals are being reviewed in the order in which they were submitted, so your priority for selecting a session time depends on you scheduling right away. When you do select you time, be sure that the scheduling system has the correct time zone for you!
To schedule your session, you should open http://www.globaleducationconference.com to your presentation proposal (you can do a search on your name to find it, or click on "My Page" in the top menu and then click on the "discussion" link on the left side to find it). Open the session booking link from above in another tab. You will find it easiest to copy the information from one to the other rather than re-type it. Once completed, you will receive an email confirmation of your booking.
2. As a speaker, you need to make sure you are a member of the conference "speakers group" on the network website. Most of our announcements to speakers will be sent to the members of this group, so as not to email all site members. Join the group (or check to make sure you're already a member) at http://globaleducation.ning.com/group/2011-global-education-confere....
3. Speakers are responsible for knowing how to use Blackboard Collaborate (formerly Elluminate). We will have a cadre of volunteers on hand during the conference to help with any issues, but you need to go through the moderator training for Collaborate if you are not a seasoned user. There are a variety of training resources at the Collaborate website, and we are also holding six live one-hour training sessions (don't worry, attending any one will be be enough--we just wanted you to have several time choices for attending. All the relevant information is at http://globaleducation.ning.com/page/training. Please look at this page soon.
Again, we are so delighted to have you participating in the 2011 Global Education Conference. Thank you!
Best,
Anne Mirtschin Organising Committee, The 2011 Global Education Conference
mirtschin@gmail.com
Email me at mirtschin@gmail.com when you have tweaked this submission or if you have any questions.
Thanks and regards
Anne
Organising Committee
Hi Anne. I sent you a rewritten version. I am sure my theme is in line with the conference mission. For the past three years we have been bringing the world together to learn English. Here is a video from 2009 introducing our community.