The 3rd Tuesday of every month ISTE hosts a speaker at the ISTE Island Auditorium- Second Life. Speakers are educators and researchers from both the K-12 and higher education sector. The one-hour session uses a format of a typical talk-show, Spiff Whitfield interviews a speaker each month while following the chat in the audience to ensure all questions get answered.  The sessions offer more than a talk show since the audience participates in chat and get their questions and comments addressed, there is opportunity for everyone to contribute to the conversation.  The speaker often has presentation visuals, movies and web-based resources to share, as well a SLURL or location on a virtual world grid for participants to visit at a later time.

The 2011-2012 academic year began in July with AJ Kelton/ AJ Brooks Director of Emerging Instructional Technology for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Montclair State University in New Jersey.  The September speaker was Cathy Anderson/Cathywyo1 Haystack, Vice President of a small technical school who presented her experiences with online learning and virtual worlds.  In October Zana Kohime/Marlene Brooks the Project Lead for the Conne River Project from Memorial University in Canada discussed digital storytelling and shared the work of this natural history, cultural project in virtual worlds.

On Novemebr 15 at 8 PM EST the  scheduled SIGVE Speaker is Yamis Jewell/Amy Fox Billig, a high school mathematics and computer science teacher who will be presenting her research in the use of Virtual Worlds and Cyber Safety.  She is also a musician who performs regularly in the virtual world and it is very possible she can be convinced to perform a song.

Learn more about the SIGVE Speaker Series at the website and mark your calendar for the 3rd Tuesday monthly for a free hour of learning, camaraderie, and fun.