Please join the ELVEN Institute's NING at http://elveninstitute.ning.com. (A "ning" is a platform for social networking; an excellent tool for facilitating the work of online groups. Check it out!)

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • Every Sunday at 5 pm SLT, the members of the ELVEN Institute meet to plan events and programs of use to the prek-12 educator and librarian community in Second Life.

  • ELVEN is holding a series of workshops for newcomers to SL. Click "workshops" for more information.

  • ELVEN is sponsoring a MENTORS program; click here for more information.

The ELVEN Institute is devoted to helping preK-12 educators and librarians to integrate new technologies into teaching and learning.  The Institute specializes in professional development activities offered through multi-user virtual environments (such as Second Life) and helps preK-12 school personnel to envision and to build virtual learning environments for their students. 

NOTE: ELVEN's regular meeting time is 5 pm SLT (pacific time), on Sunday evenings. Contact Dewey Jung in SL for more information.

The ELVEN Institute is a partnership of National-Louis University (NLU) and Alliance Library System (ALS).  Its director, Craig A. Cunningham, Ph.D. is director of the Technology in Education program at NLU (and Dewey Jung in Second Life), and the chair of its advisory board is Barbara A. Galik, MSLS, director of the library at Bradley University and president of the board of ALS (and Puglet Dancer in Second Life).   The advisory board will consist of 20 individuals with experience and interests in the technical aspects of sl, educational possibilities, librarianship, and multi-user virtual enviornments.

The ELVEN Institute will seek to train preK-12 educators and librarians in building, navigation, online culture, available resources, and pedagogical issues, through workshops, lectures, networking opportunities, conferences, and self-guided educational materials.  The institute will also provide opportunities for involvement by teacher and librarian educators as volunteers and, potentially, to earn income from revenue-generating activities. The institute will also collaborate with various institutions to help them increase their expertise and use of virtual environments, to the benefit of the larger preK-12 and teacher/librarian education community.   Possible local collaborations include the Chicago Public Schools, the University of Chicago, Bradley University, and a school system in the ALS network.  The ELVEN institute also seeks collaborators nationally and internationally.

Contact information:

Craig A. Cunningham, Director (Dewey Jung in SL)
http://craigcunningham.com
craig.cunningham@nl.edu

Barbara Galik (Puglet Dancer in SL)
Chair of Advisory Board and Board of Directors
barbara@bumail.bradley.edu

Our Mission

The ELVEN Institute's mission is to assist preK-12 educators and librarians to envision, construct, and use engaging virtual learning environments in order to demonstrate and document their value in increasing student achievement and growth. Toward this end, the Institute seeks to collaborate with other institutions, to conduct professional development and research, and to collect and disseminate best practices and useful tools related to prek-12 learning environments.