Alice Burgess: September 2007 Archives

We are seeking artwork, essays, research papers, lesson plans and other material relating to several works by Charles Dickens for a Second Life exhibit to be held simultaneously at the Whitehorn Library in Caledon (main grid) and on Eye4You Alliance Island (teen grid). 

The exhibit will highlight K-12 student work relating to several Dickens titles commonly studied in school.  Students worldwide share the experience of reading Dickens at some point during their school careers.  The primary goal of this exhibit is to bring together a variety of works representing student impressions of Dickens.  We hope to collect a broad variety of materials representing a range of grade levels, nationalities and type of material.  We are also looking for lesson plans for inclusion in the exhibit.  We hope that this exhibit will provide a unique perspective on a common student experience and serve as a resource for educators (on the main grid) and students (on the teen grid) in Second Life.

Exhibit subject:  We are focusing on five Dickens works commonly studied in schools or otherwise familiar to school-age children.  These are:

• A Tale of Two Cities
• Great Expectations
• David Copperfield
• Oliver Twist
• A Christmas Carol

Student work relating to other titles may be submitted but may not be selected for the exhibit.  (If you want to make the case that we should add another specific title, please do and we may add it to the list!) 

What to submit:  Almost anything goes!  General literary critiques, character studies, essays, research papers, drawings, paintings, or any student work that can be photographed or scanned.  We may consider accepting audio or video.  If you have something compelling that is not text- or image-based, please let us know.  We will select a subset of all works submitted.  The selection process is not an attempt to judge quality.  We will select in an attempt to have a broad range of ages, countries, and materials included in the exhibit.  (Please let your students know that not all materials submitted will be included in the Second Life exhibit!)  We may attempt to do a companion website that could hold all submitted materials, but that decision will be made after we see how many submissions we have.  In addition to student-created work, we are also looking for lesson plans for all grade levels. 

How to submit:   All materials should be selected and submitted by teachers and not sent directly by students.  Send electronic files to kraemer@uky.edu or lydia.bracken@gmail.com.  Text-based submissions can be sent as plain text, common word processor files or other common files.  (If you send something really unusual, we may not be able to use it.)  Images should be sent as jpegs (talk to us if this is a problem for you).  Individual file sizes should be under 4MB.  Please include the following in the body of your email for each attached file:

• File name
• School or school district
• Country
• Student first name
• Student grade
• Teacher name
• Teacher contact information
• Optional:  Context for this submission (e.g., class assignment, something special about the student, etc.)

Submission deadline:  Materials should be submitted by email to kraemer@uky.edu or lydia.bracken@gmail.com by Oct 26, 2007 Nov 10, 2007.   Questions can be sent to those addresses or submitted within Second Life by IM to Alice Burgess or Lydia Bracken (main grid) or to Libby Beam (teen grid).

What is Second Life?  Second Life (http://secondlife.com) is a 3-D virtual world that can be used for social interaction and education.  Users create representations of themselves (“avatars”) to interact with objects and other users.  Unlike other virtual world applications, all content in Second Life is user-created and owned, which makes Second Life particularly well-suited for educational use. 

What is an exhibit in Second Life like?  The exhibit will be similar to a real-life gallery.  Avatars will be able to walk through the displays and inspect those objects that are of interest to them.  Display objects can be “touched” to receive a note card with information or complete text or a web link for more information.  See these brief video tours of a earlier exhibits in the Caledon library

The fine print:  By virtue of submitting materials for this exhibit, authors grant permission for their work to be reproduced within Second Life and (possibly) on a supplemental website.  Attribution for student-created work will include first name, country, school or school district, and grade.  Teacher-created lesson plans will include the above and can include full contact information, if desired.  All material (student- and teacher-created) should be submitted by teachers, who are responsible for securing permission from parents (if required by your school) for inclusion of student work in this exhibit.  We cannot accept work submitted directly by students.