ISTE Island Then and Now

Spiff Whitfield.... the Early Years at ISTE Island

Last summer at ISTE 2011 in Philadelphia PA, I was bestowed the title of Lowly High Grand Poohbah of SIGVE.  Taking the reigns from Making IT Happen Award Winner and brother by a different mother, Scott Merrick put me in good company, but also gave be me a pair of shoes that were much too big for me.  So my goals were to keep it simple:  Keep the great format that Scott and the Grand Poohbah's before me had laid out and just let the train keep on rolling.  Sounded easy right?

Well... not quite.  My year as Lowly High Grand Poohbah turned out to be quite a challenge.  In October of 2011 Jennifer Ragan-Fore from ISTE, otherwise known as KittyGloom Cassidy approached me about the downsizing of ISTE Island.  The reasoning behind the decision was a) the traffic and participation at events had decreased, and b) the operating costs increased.   Given that ISTE island is a SIGVE extension it was also thought that this cost was far more than other SIG's so it was really an issue of fairness as well.

So, Jennifer asked that I put together a Task Force of ISTE SIGVE members to come up with some options about how we could keep the same quality of events, but for a much lower cost.  (Costs now:  $3500, Costs adjusted:  $500)  Uh boy.... not so easy!

So, with some recommendations,  I contacted the following people:  Kae Novak, Marianne Malmstrom, Rory Nakerud, Rosie and Bob Vojitek (Bob is slated to be LH Grand Poohbah next year), Jane Wilde, and of course the illustrious Scott Merrick.  Nancy Zigrone later joined the task force as well.

Well the Task Force was a fantastic working group of people who were strong willed, opinionated, but always civil.  Each and every one of us loves ISTE Island and has had our careers and professional networks enhance because of it.

Well I won't drag you through the process and twists and turns that we went through.. Rather I will link you to our Task Force working document that we kept our notes and thoughts on.  Click HERE.  Our essential process was to explore all of our options and possibilities weighing the pro's and cons, then get some proposals from outside groups that were willing to be a partner and or willing to rent land to us, (it turned out there were numerous wonderful organizations willing to help)  and in the end send a proposal to ISTE for their approval.  We sent them in the end two proposals, one was to try and save ISTE island as it is with some private funding, and B to have a space on Eduislands and a new space on Open Sim Jokaydiagrid.  ISTE accepted our B proposal and here we are today.  We have set up a space on Eduislands 9 and are looking to start the process of developing that for our purposes of continuing to support ISTE SIGVE goals.  Namely, to continue our monthly SIGVE Speaker series, start rolling out our new Machinima Series, continue member socials, continue SL Tours, and continue to enlighten all that come to the power and amazing possibilities that Virtual Environments can play in K-12 Education, University Ed, and Professional development.

These are, as Charles Dickens so eloquently wrote so long ago, "It was the best of times and the worst of times" especially when it comes to education and tight budgets and tremendous workloads.  Yet, these are times of amazing potential for innovative technology.  We must not lose our faith that why we are here is important, that the friendships and collegial relationships we have formed are real and powerful, and most important of all we must keep forging ahead as pioneers for innovative learning to help the next generation make sense of a beautiful virtual and real world.

Let's reflect upon what has past, refocus on the present, and relish the challenges ahead. 

Spiff- 2012