Cow Tipping Comes of Age!
My post here builds on Donna’s recent comments about the fun quotient in teacher learning in Quest Atlantis. Teacher involvement in Quest Atlantis is not only a chance to get back in touch with your sense of play but a chance to be part of a burgeoning professional learning community. Let me describe some of the ways…
Recently I was leaving Indiana after a very fruitful time working in the Quest Atlantis team and I spied this t-shirt at the airport and just could not resist.
Tshirt bought at Indianapolis Airport
Those teachers who have trained online with me as will surely raise a giggle because some of our most fun professional development classes explore building in the 3D world where we partake of the joys of inworld cow tipping.
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Part of what excites teachers, as they begin to learn all the facets of QA, is the opportunity they and their students have to construct, collaborate and develop. While our cow tipping session is a bit of playful craziness it is emblematic of what QA offers and in more than just building in the virtual world. Teachers like their students are taking ownership and constructing more than simple 3D homes. Teacher teams have been forming to build in Free4All and this is proving to be a new and integral part of our teacher community development.
We also currently have teacher groups working around the world on a Google Site for Quest Writing to develop new quests to add to the worlds of QA. Quest are already being written in topics such as the social commitments, robotics, indigenous heritage and Modern languages – French and hopefully Spanish.
We are about to put together a proposal with a small group of teachers to take a disused world and re-purpose it as a student congress with several dedicated areas for such as Quester presentations, inworld machinima development, and Quester showcases.
Our successful monthly Teacher Connection meetings will restart on the first Thursday of each month and that makes September 3rd our very next meeting. More notice of meeting times in your timezones will be coming to QA teachers through our email listserv, tweets and Quest Atlantis Teachers Facebook Group.
We have started building a wiki for teachers to develop a to map quests and missions to local outcomes and standards and to share out ideas for implementation.
If you are already a QA teacher, or keen to come join us soon in one of our online or face-to-face training programs, you are invited to join any and all of our teacher community activities and events. Many of these activities are just getting of the ground and they will become valuable and successful resources with the support of a critical mass of professionals like you!
~ Bron Stuckey
PS no cows were harmed in the training of Quest Atlantis teachers 
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I found myself sporting a big grin looking at the images and reading Bron’s description of the PD shenannigans. It is so great to see teachers having a go, becoming learners again themselves, and then with Bron’s direction and support discovering the fun that can be had while learning.
With so many groups that I have lurked near, the “aha” moments when the penny drops that yes they ARE learning, and yes they ARE having fun and the two are not mutually exclusive must provide Bron with a sense of achievement.
Looking at this post, it highlighted the constant development of QA. I have been accessing and working in QA for two years now, and I have barely scratched the surface of the curriculum and activities available!
Thanks AngelaC. Actually AngelaC is very modest she joins in MANY of the activities described and is an extraordinarily professional role model and mentor to so many colleagues about the globe. She’s on my list for cloning
“Cow tipping”…I’m sure every Quest Atlantis teacher will hear these words and picture the QA Teacherville building area with all of our cows! This illustrates how we, as teachers, are going through exactly the same process as the students by being part of QA – “learning, playing and helping”. We have lots of laughs along the way but we are learning such wonderful things, helping other teachers and our wonderful students.
To see the way QA is continuing to evolve is such an exciting process. We are very privileged to be involved.
Lucy
PS: I think we need a QA merchandise shop – first item to stock will be the cow tipping t-shirts!
Hi Bron – can you invite me to the Google doc of Quest writers? smithterryk@gmail.com
Thanks – Terry
I so enjoyed the training sessions that I undertook in Quest Atlantis and am absolutely blown away by the depth of support materials, planning and research that underpins this project.
For me, QA is a shining example of how technology is used not for its own sake, but to provide a learning experience that couldn’t otherwise be achieved. In researching the use of virtual worlds and immersive learning environments for Education.au’s Immersive Learning Unit it has surprised me how many of them still comprise desks in rows facing a screen.
QA breaks that mold by offering students a way of putting knowledge to use in a way that is immediate and contextual.
For educators, I was blown away by the degree to which the program can be localised and can fit into such a variety of lesson plans.
Thanks again for allowing me to participate in Quest Atlantis training. It’s a truly amazing tool.
Cheers!
KerryJ
Education.au
Fantastic blog people! The professional development of teachers works best when they ‘want’ to learn, not have to learn. Everyone in the session I attended at Macquarie University not only wanted to learn, but learned a lot more they expected. Exceeding expectations is not easily achieved when engaging teachers in technology. I learned a lot more than just QA, and can’t encourage both teachers and leaders to engage in playful learning!
Dean Groom
Head of Educational Technology
Learning and Teaching Centre
Macquarie Univesity
I remember introducing a teacher friend to Quest Atlantis and the most memorable part of the teacher training for her, was when Enkar began playing music in Teacherville and everyone started dancing like there were no tomorrow. It is difficult to not have fun in such an incredibly immersive environment. Learning and playing go together and my experience at the teacher trainings you have led only reinforce that fact for me.
Many teachers seem hesitant to implement emerging technologies like QA in their classrooms. It is so nice to go to those monthly teacher connections and spend time visiting with teachers who have similar ideals regarding new technologies in education. So thanks, Bron, for organizing those teacher connections and also for all the hard work you do to help QA continue to grow.
Jeff Agamenoni
Middle School GAT Coordinator
Great Falls Public Schools
I love this post, and love that Bron (not surprisingly) has the chutzpah to ignore the element of politically incorrectitude (I just made that word up–nice, eh?) and share her joyful musings about cow tipping, along with her tee-shirt. I also love that teachers are moving beyond simple building and that they are collaborating on Quest writing, one of my goals, in order to continue the experience I started with my 72 4th graders last year on into the new students in that grade level this coming year. I learned from some mistakes I made last year, and came out of it determined to manage better, play more, and collaborate more with my fellow QA teachers this coming year. I’d like that google invite as well, please, to smerrick@email.usn.org. That’d be the cat’s pajamas, or the cow’s.