Top+tips+for+implementation

= = = = What are your top 5 tips for implementing Quest Atlantis in the classroom?Tell us your QA Username, school context, area of teaching and when you started QA. The share your top five tips you would offer new teachers when implementing QA.


 * A panel of expert teachers shared their tips live Thursday June 3rd **
 * ** Asia-Pacific 7pm Sydney AEST audio recording **
 * ** USA -Canada 5pm PDT/8pm EDT on skype audio recording (first 28 mins only) ** USA-Canada Connection (recording only contains the first 28 minutes :-) )

=EXPERT TEACHER TIPS **(please add yours)**=

**GORD HOLDEN, Canada**

 Hello, gholden here. I work in a distance education school on the west coast of Canada. I’ve been using QA extensively across grade 5-7 curriculum areas for just over a year. The experience has been very worthwhile, but here are some of the things that I have learned.

 1. While the use of virtual worlds can be very powerful for a majority of students, there are some for whom the computer screen holds little or no attraction. Some students become dizzy, others may come from homes where computer usage is discouraged. Those who are already very active with commercial products (such as World of Warcraft, Halo, etc.) may also find it hard to spend time in a virtual world that doesn’t have an equally high level of action and interaction. My suggestion? If at all possible, run a brief pilot with the students who are eligible to enter into your class the following year. Introduce the backstory, and use current QA students as guides to encourage and/or assist “newbies” through any discouraging spots. Have a parent-teacher meeting where the role of QA in your class/curriculum can be discussed. This could help to ensure that you have a class the following year that is all “on board.”

2. Do not underestimate the power of the narrative to enlist a high degree of student participation. How you utilize the backstory may vary with your grades, but my students have become very motivated to learn how to save their own world by learning how to save Atlantis. Embellishments can also be helpful. Given the large number of submissions coming in, I have an Atlantian linguist (who I have simply named The Previewer) who acts as a “gatekeeper” regarding the quality of the quest submissions. This single mom, widowed by a spiking incident in the forest, has a son and daughter. When I cannot have quests back to students within 48 hours, the Previewer usually has a valid reason for it, such as her children having “the Purple Pox” or a training session in yet another Earth language. Atlantian holidays are also helpful sometimes, and could be used to further classroom exploration of a particular issue.

3. Do not underestimate the students’ enthusiasm. Be prepared to have students pestering you to assign more quests. As their questmaster, you may need to be prepared to assign (and evaluate) a good number of “enrichment” quests as well. The extra marking can be tempered somewhat by having these quests evaluated as community quests, assessed by other questers. I would also encourage new teachers to become aware of Community Missions such as the building (Tetrina in OTAK village), reviewing (the fountains), tavcats (Healthy World), zorbies (Ecology World), and the growing variety of interactive avatars that offer further opportunities. For some students, the opportunity to explore may hold more attraction than their assignments. In these cases, remember to remind them that Community Quests/Missions are a privilege, and access to them can be controlled through the teacher’s toolkit. Turning on access for students who are caught up can be a great way of keeping the class together and facilitates both progress through the curriculum and the opportunities for informed debates and discussions.

4. Don’t neglect to go through the quests/missions/units yourself before assigning them. You will need to be ready to address the inevitable bumps in the road and to be knowledgeable regarding the excellent materials/directions available. This can be especially helpful for distance education students, but very convenient and useful for all.

5. Remember that you are not alone. Besides having students who may very quickly surpass you in their familiarity with QA, there are always QA staff members and other teachers inworld who will always be keen to assist. QA is also great about sponsoring opportunities to interact as groups of teachers, both about QA and about progressive teaching techniques and philosophy in other forums as well. Encourage the collaborative approach you’d like to see in your students by modeling it in your own QA practice.

6. Perhaps most importantly, **have fun** with teaching and learning through QA!


 * MARIANNE MALMSTROM, NJ, USA**

**Knowclue** here, reporting from the Garden State, New Jersey! Contrary to popular belief, we're not //**all**// turnpike! =D Working with 5th - 7th graders at a private PreK-8. Plan on introducing 4th graders next year.

Great tips, Gholden! Took some notes to improve our game next year.

1. After introducing them to the backstory (well ahead of time), I always give my students time just to get inworld and explore. I'm sorry I can't remember the teacher's name who that taught me this technique, but it has been an invaluable tool when introducing new technology. I ask students if they ever played in a sandbox when they were little. After they all yell, "YES", I ask them if anyone ever taught them how to play in the sandbox. Of course, they always think of that has being a rediculous idea. They are then instructed that they will have 10 minutes of sandbox time. They are not permitted to ask a single question during that time, they can only explore and play. This allows the kids to explore, and get a little familiar with the interface so that they can actually come back and listen to some instructions.

2. Even after "sandbox" mode, you need to give kids adequate time to explore all the buttons (especially the animations). After sandbox mode, and sometimes at the beginning of a class, I like to ask kids what they discovered and take turns taking the "teacher's" seat at the projector to teach one thing they discovered.

3. In the first few weeks, when kids come in I take a quick inventory to see who "sees" other avatars, who has completed specific quests or who has a certain number of lumins (or higher). Kids identified as completing these tasks are then asked to stand-up and are "deemed" student teachers for the day. If kids need help, they can call on one of the student teachers to help them. I sometimes allow one of the kids to actually be the teacher of the day (entirely by choice). They can sit in the teacher's seat at the projector, do their questing and be the head guru if there are questions. It allows me to hang back and observe. It gives the "teacher of the day" a nice ego boost.

4. Now I //know// this a no brainer, but seeing as I failed to do it this year, I will put it on this list. I did not take the time to properly "model" submitting quests at the beginning of the year because I was feeling crunched for time. It turned out that students ended up submitting weak, incomplete and sometimes empty quests. YIKES! I spent an inordinate amount of time doing damage control and following-up with individual students. Next year, I will be building in plenty of time upfront to make sure that all students are really comfortable with the process of submitting quests before opening up any extra quests.

5. Instead of introducing //everything// the first few classes, I do "mini" lessons along the way on topics such as how to telegram, manage friends or fill in one's profile. It seems to be more manageable and allows for the continued growth of the students' skill base. Again, I include students as teachers whenever possible.


 * JEANETTE SMALLEY, FL USA**

jsmalley saying hello from the DisneyWorld area. I am a fourth grade teacher in Lake Mary,Florida. I have 20 students in my class. This is my first year using QA in my classroom.I have enjoyed every minute. Watching students get so excited about new discoveries has been so much fun to see. Watching the skills my students acquired while they only thought they were playing were amazing.

1. The most important part of QA is to set the scenerio or buy in to Quest Atlantis. Not only did I use the QA backstory but at the same time we read the story "House of Tailors" by Patricia Reilly Giff. The main character is an immigrant who comes to America and she spends time discovering her new environment. So When my students went into the Otak Hub the first time and saw the Immigrant officer welcoming them to the Otak Hub they realized they were like the character and had to discover everything they could about their new environment. Yes, like Knowclue said, the students have to take time to explore. This is not wasted time at all. They can learn so much during this time.

2. We did not use a lab setting but shared 15 laptops and 3 stand alone computers in my room. I allowed movement in my room so students could help one another. We came up with our motto,' No quester left behind.' Students began to teach and share with each other what they found. Another class added later in our school only used the lab and we did not see the genuine sharing the mobility of laptops offered. Students began to form groups in corners of the room to work on common tasks and would share thoughts but each would write and present their quests with their own twist. They were working just as adults work, today. This is constructive play.

3. I also feel that in the beginning having my students do every emissary mission also gave them a better understanding of this new environment. To add to the excitement and buy in we had celebrations when students luminated (the whole class would go over to watch and congratulate their classmates.) or new discoveries were shared with the whole class. You must use the QA language as well as your students so they feel the importance. It is also important to stress how to use the chat box and stress any one can see but they do not always understand your intentions. So think before you type. That is a lesson many adults need to learn today. Life long skills.

4. To my class QA was so exciting it became just another part of their day. It was important for them to check in everyday in class and it became an eager homework assignment at night. If a student was sick we found many of them on QA. We check on them pass along well wishes and assignments so their coming back to class is not so overwhelming. The class looked at QA as both an individual and class adventure. They would encourage each other even if the mission was difficult. Yes, even my SLD students worked hard on QA. One said I need to luminate because I know it is also helping my reading. Any student spotting another struggling will stop their work to help especially if the same problem already happened to them.

5. As a teacher if you set up what you expect for a quest they will produce the quality answers you really want to see. Take the time to model a quest or two with them. Take the time to build how you expect your student to respond to a quest. It was time well spent. Yes in the beginning I rejected many a response but once they realize time well spent on quality had better results.I had an easier time reviewing. My students now ask my advice before submitting a quest for review because they would prefer to present a well done quest. I did spend a great deal of time in the beginning reviewing so be prepared to read and review quite a bit. In the end I found my students had better communication skills and I did not have to always use paper pencil. I used some of these missions and quests as grades because they matched standards I had to assess. Yes, I multi-tasked. Listen to your students as they work in QA it is amazing what you will learn.A great place to start is the "Who am I" mission? and you will get to know your students too!

JESUS DE LEON, FL USA
Located just a few miles south of jsmalley’s location in Central Florida, you will find my elementary school. I am Mrd and I have been implementing Quest Atlantis at different levels for just about two years. My situation is a little different since I work in a Title I school, which have different requirements under the federal law. Some of my tips will reflect the fact that I had to take a different approach to get QA implemented in my school. 1- Knowing quite well that QA can create an impact with all learner types, I decided to start with my small class of gifted students last year. The main reason was to get the program started at some level and once it did, the students became the best marketing tool ever.

 2- The students need to be part of the story- that small gifted class became an important key to the implementation of QA this year. The students learned about the narrative and I told them “next year the story continues”. Just like a movie, my students looked forward to “be in the story” this school year.

 3- The curriculum connection becomes a very important aspect of QA, therefore I have been involved with a group of teachers to try to match the QA curriculum to the Florida Standards. One one can show that correlation to the administration, the implementation of QA becomes much easier- specially on a Title I school environment.

 4- This year I waited until the end of my Standard Assessment period to go full speed with QA in my current class, while making sure to add a colleague to start her class as well. I knew that in my type of school, this approach would prove to be much easier to accomplish. So now we have two 5th grade teachers...with more being trained during the summer. I decided to keep things simple, limiting the number of quests and missions to ones that were based on academic areas covered during the school year.

 5- Since so many of my students do not have access to a computer at home, I had to make sure to provide with as many opportunities as possible. The class used the computer lab sometimes. which provided a more private experience. The lab also allows me to model lessons and show tips to assist the whole class as a group. Laptop carts are used in my classroom if I want a more collaborative experience, or if the quest is directly connected to a particular lesson which we might be learning about.

 6- This year we will be ending the school year with our own Quest Atlantis Summer Camp to bring the interested students to a much higher level of academic thinking. Since we started so late this year, I am glad to provide this opportunity to incorporate real life problem solving skills within the QA environment. Our Summer Camp students will study the Gulf Oil Disaster and its impact on a number of animal species within the Florida Gulf Coast. They will brainstorm, design and build a “rescue and recovery center” within QA and finally they will celebrate with creating a “Public Announcement Machinima” to promote their mission.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> 7- I believe that it is very important for students to see that the commitments that they learn about in QA are not just a part of a virtual world...but an essential part of our world in which we live. If the students can see that, the academic as well as social connection has been fulfilled. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> Now that QA has shown to be beneficial and popular within my Title I school, I expect next year to grow even more as well as to be able to implemented all year. Small steps are creating big changes!

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> **KRISTIN BEDELL, NC USA**

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> kdbedell (student name: ECECaniac) saying "Hey!" from Efland, NC. Efland (no elves, sorry) is a rural area of NC about 30 minutes west of two well-known basketball/research universities who prefer different shades of blue. Like Mrd, I teach in a Title I setting, although unlike him, this is my first year using QA. I work as a gifted ed resource teacher, K-5, so I have a slightly different set of issues as far as class implementation: during the year, I teach several groups with varying skillsets and time allotments. I've found the quests, especially Plague, to be good frameworks for enrichment units, but I didn't have the luxury of using QA consistently with a group of students over the course of the entire year.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> 1. Think carefully about your "class" needs. Since I had kids moving in and out of flexible groups during the year, I quickly realized that one class was not enough to adequately meet my kids' needs. Thanks to the kind folks at QA, I ended up with two classes: a "main" class for the bulk of my gifted students and a separate class for my at-risk/intervention/nurturing/potential group. This allowed me to better tailor the quests to the students' interests and abilities.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> 2. Give the kids time to play and explore when they first encounter the QA world. This has been said before, but it is //so// important (and it so tempting, with all of the time pressures, to leave it out).

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> 2b. I had a few kids who had difficulty ever leaving the "play" time and switching back into purposeful work time. Next year, I will be using a self-assessment tool in order to help keep kids focused on their quests. Students keep track of their progress each day using a 5x3 table. Columns are headed with the days of the week. Rows are labeled "Strength" "Challenge" and "Goal." "Strength": something the student feels that they did well during working time that day. "Challenge": something that was harder for the student to complete successfully. "Goal": what the student plans to accomplish during the next work session. Under the table, student has space to reflect on the week as a whole and the teacher has a space to leave comments.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> 3. Take advantage of the embedded PD in QA. Many of the units come with excellent resources that can help you navigate the implementation, and signing in as a kid helps you "feel" the experience that your students will soon encounter. In addition, the teacher connections are invaluable, as are the research group opportunities. I participated in the Plague focus group in December as a new teacher and the support I received from other Plague teachers gave me the confidence I needed to try it out with my kids. The Plague experience turned out to be one of the most important things I did with the students all year: it became a touchstone that students returned to again and again in multiple contexts.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> 4. If you can manage it at all, consider running a Family Quest project. I ran a small pilot program on Saturday mornings in Jan/Feb, and, although it was a huge amount of extra work, it helped families understand more about the program that their children kept talking about. More importantly, the families who participated truly felt like it had been worth their time to come to school on Saturday mornings. Not only did the parents feel more comfortable with the technology, they all felt like they had learned something new about their children as human beings. As a teacher, I felt like I learned more about my students as well since I had the opportunity to observe them for an extended time interacting with their parents.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> 5. Have fun. It sounds trite, but I'm quite serious. QA is fun, and that's a good thing. My kids loved to talk with me about the QA world and the things they had discovered, and they thought it was hilarious that I had a "student" account. They liked the fact that I was/am learning about QA alongside of them and that I was truly enjoying myself, just as they were enjoying themselves.

CHRISTINE HAYNES, Adelaide, Australia
Hi fellow QA teachers! I am IPSICT in QA and ICT Coordinator for an International Baccalaureate primary school in Adelaide running the Primary Years Program. I introduced QA to our school late 2009 after nearly a year of preparation. A small group of Year 6 Computer Technicians trial new quests with me. Our Year 5 teachers use QA for specific on units of inquiry. My role is to support them in planning and co-delivery. As we are an all Mac school we have had some technical challenges implementing QA. There are so many great tips about learning and QA - so I've focussed my tips around some of the organisational issues:

1. Be patient and PERSISTENT through technical issues. We needed a manageable workaround to technical issues as we centrally manage all our computers and student accounts to ensure consistency and availabiltity of resoruces. We ended up with local accounts to access QA - but this has proved tricky with no access to printers or internet when in QA. Many of these issues are related to Proxy servers and managed environments which seem to be handled quite differently in American contexts.

2. Think through your usernames and passwords so kids can remember and you know who is who. We use First Name School Colour, colour represents a class. Eg. ChristineIPSBlue. Accounts are only set-up once (and can't be changed), so it merits a school-wide approach.

3. Find a sustainable approach so your investment in QA lives on year to year even if staff change. Eg. Target curriclulum areas, bring teachers on the learning journey with you.

4. Build Parent Understanding. The consent forms can be daunting - especially when working outside of the US. We include a cover letter to parents explaining our reasons for using QA and how to contact the class teacher or me with any questions. We have considered a Parent Information Evening on QA to bring along questions. There are some parent concerns regarding protecting students identity and misconceptions about what goes on in a virtual world.

5. When starting - students need paper and pencil to write down coordinates or jot notes. Consider a special notebook for this purpose.

6. Modify Quests/Missions to use the language and expectations of your class. You may want to edit quests to differentiate for learners of varying abilities.

7. Create your own Student Account so you can guide students as they go along.

8. There are some excellent Teacher Resources available (eg. Mesa Verde even has a teacher training mission). We have found these very valuable with specific tips for leading the unit.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> **JANINE MCGRATH, SANFORD, FLORIDA**

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">McGrath4th saying hi from the sunny, yet humid, Orlando area. I work at the district office and training teachers to use Quest Atlantis is one of the many hats I wear. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> Advice that I give to teachers during training is: > > > > > >
 * 1) **Avoid the Quest Happy Syndrome:** Introducing students to QA is an exciting time all around and it is a time that sets the tone for your entire QA experience. Avoid assigning too many quests at the beginning as students will flitter from one quest to another and never really complete quests properly. Begin by completing one quest as a class, discussing what the quest is asking of us, how to find information that we might need, and how to write a good response.
 * 1) **Use QA as part of your normal curriculum:** Students get the most out of technology when it is seamlessly integrated into the curriculum. Don't add QA to your curriculum plate, instead look at your units of study and your standards, determine which experiences in your plan do not really help students develop sound understanding of content and let them go. Replace those less affective experiences with a Quest Atlantis experience.
 * 1) **Use QA as part of your blended learning environment:** Don't forget to blend your online and offline experiences. Give opportunities for students to discuss what they are finding and debrief them as much as possible. You may want to set up a blog as a journal to allow students to comment on their learning experiences along the way.
 * 1) **Make sure it is not a loner event:** Allow the students to get up and move around and collaborate with each other. If you are a teacher who uses cooperative learning, collaborative learning, evidence based learning, integrate QA into your learning environment and allow these things to continue to occur. I have observed students working together and working alone, the latter is less satisfying. Also, avoid QA being a once a week "event", this does not enable the students to see it as part of an overall learning experience and they are less likely to buy into it if they see it as an "activity" they have to do rather than one they want to do.
 * 1) **Be kind to yourself:** The notion - if you give an adult and a 10 year-old a cellphone, the 10 year-old will find 10 things that the cellphone can do and 10 things it can't do before the adult has read the first page of the manual - is also true for Quest Atlantis. Allow the students to explore and make mistakes. I suggest that teachers do the quests prior to assigning the quests, however I will warn you that the students will complete the quests faster than you, so make sure you assign some quests out to the community to give yourself time to catch up and breathe.
 * 1) **Be a coach or HIP (Hands In Pockets) teacher:** //Don't give them the answers, guide them through the process.// Have high expectations of the work they submit. Guide them through the process as they will always tell you the program doesn't work when they have generally made a simple mistake or haven't read something properly. This goes back to doing the quests yourself. Once you have done a quest you know the hurdles the students will face and you can gladly say "I think you have missed something as I did that quest and know you can move on."
 * 1) **Have fun!** While this is serious curriculum stuff, have some fun with it. Celebrate successes and discuss mistakes, most importantly share your successes and failures with the students. Enjoy being part of the story, it is like playing Santa all over again.


 * David W. Deeds, Changchun American International School, China**

I think some of my tips apply to all schools...and some only to international schools...although the language barrier can be present in other environments. Here are my Top 5, not necessarily in order of importance. ;)

1. Ensure that students understand what's going on in general. It is really a classroom assignment, during which they must behave properly and complete objectives. They're NOT playing Starcraft and they're NOT at home! ;)

2. Get all the technical and navigation issues out of the way first with some dry runs. Don't wait until Quest #1 to discover that kids can't figure out the controls.

3. (International schools) Ideally, have translators assigned, formally or informally, for students who otherwise wouldn't have a clue re: what's going on. I've found, however, that just having me explain things in my usual way helps because they're accustomed to listening to me speak English.

4. Closely related to #3, and I believe it's applicable in all environments, is the need for the teacher to go through the quest first so s/he can explain things.

5. Emphasize the importance of teamwork but don't worry if some kids branch out on their own. Encourage the quick learners to experiment and then teach/inform other students.

Margaret Meijers, Tasmania, Australia
Year 7-10 Government school. Running QA across 7 x year 7 classes, initially as an introducing to cybersafety and online worlds (in Computing), then extending to more mainstream curriculum areas - English, Maths etc.

1. Many parents are initially quite anxious about their kids being involved in QA and would rather they learned traditional curriculum in a traditional way. Introducing QA at first as a means of promoting and teaching cybersafety gets parents on board easily. The safe, protected, monitored environment is a real positive from a cybersafety perspective and parents will be keen to have their kids involved. Write a cover letter explaining what the forms are about, and that they are a requirement for university research studies - In Australia they are quite daunting and strange for many parents.

2. Be prepared to persevere to solve technical problems before you get kids involved. They can get quite demoralised if they are all excited, then technical problems prevent them getting started.

3. Spend time on the backstory before you start. Secondary age kids will all engage with it at varying levels, but it's important to give them all context for it at the start.

4. Encourage the kids to seek help from each other, or other 'in world' kids. Don't let them rely on you for answers.

5. Look at using a screen reader to support kids with reading difficulties. The reading is fundamental to success, but can be overwhelming for struggling kids.


 * Alvean Message, Auckland, New Zealand**


 * Year 8 classroom teacher running QA in class as part of English, intending to extend it into other curriculum areas starting with Social Studies using the Mesa Verde unit.**


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">__Limit number of quests__ **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">1. Make sure that the number of quests available to students is initially limited. I tend to make one or two available in each World to encourage <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> them to explore and familiarise themselves with the different Worlds. You can also use various quests to further introduce students to the social <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> commitments and the earning of lumins.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">__**Buddy Students**__

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">2. Buddying students to provide them with encouragement and motivation is a great way to get the more reluctant readers and writers working <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> through quests. Many students initially struggle with how to respond to the quest. A buddy who has successfully being doing so, can serve as a <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> mentor and help to facilitate and improve the standard of student responses to quests.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">__**Have a buddy teacher**__

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> 3. A buddy teacher is a great help with the reviewing of quests. When you have a number of quests for students to attempt, having gone through <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> the quest yourself is very helpful when you are reviewing student responses. It is not always possible for you to go through each of the quests <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> yourself, so teaming up with another teacher who attempts half of the quests and are thus responsible for reviewing students responses to those <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> quests, makes what could become an overwhelming task manageable.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">__**Integrate it into class curriculum**__

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> 4. Quest Atlantis needs to be integrated into the class curriculum, and not become something added on top of what you already do. At first we <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> found it difficult to incorporate Quest Atlantis into any other curriculum areas save English. It has however, encouraged a teacher at the school <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> to develop quests to give students an opportunity to explore their New Zealand identity, and thus make the Quest Atlantis story more relevant to <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> them.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">__**Too much chatting limits number of quests completed**__

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">5. When I introduce students to Quest Atlantis I mention the IBURST, and we discuss this in terms of netiquette. Use this opportunity to discuss <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> with students that chat can have the detrimental effect of making one forget about one’s purpose for being in Quest Atlantis. Some of the <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> students become so involved and fascinated by the opportunity to chat to students from all over the world that they end up completing very few <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> quests.


 * Janette Eade, Sydney, Australia**
 * Janette (in QA)**

I began using Quest Atlantis in 2006 when I was a teacher-librarian at a local public primary school. I worked with three stage 3 (11-12 year olds) classes for two years until my retirement? in 2008. (I was pleased to see that one teacher continued to use Quest Atlantis with her stage 2 (9-10 year olds) class even after I had left). That year I was asked if I would like to work at Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre (MACICT - a collaborative venture between the NSW Dept. of Education and Macquarie University) to promote Quest Atlantis. I am now part of a virtual worlds team at MACICT where I continue to promote the program and train DET teachers in Quest Atlantis and work on our own virtual OpenSim world project.

So many great tips have already been given, so my 5 tips might not all be new, but perhaps further expand some already given.


 * __Specialist Teachers__**

1. If it is possible see if you can interest one of your extra (specialist teachers) such as teacher-librarian, ESL (English as a second language), support teacher etc. in training in QA. As they don't have their own class load, they provide a very useful extra "set of hands" and often bring their own unique skills and insights to the program.

__**Levels of enthusiasm**__

2. Remember, not all students will be totally engaged with the program after the initial "wow" response. Be ready to accommodate the different levels as time goes on, ie. the stragglers, the students who will do just what is asked and the high flyers.

**__Quests__**

** 3. Whilst it is important not to open too many quests at once, it is also important not to discourage the high flyers. I used to ask these students to choose a quest they would like to do. After checking the quests I would then open them for the class. I found that this provided a double benefit as it not only satisfied their needs, but the quests they chose were often very popular with the class. **

**__Marking Quests__**


 * 4. When marking quests it is important not to accept inferior responses or on the other hand to send them back so often that the student became frustrated. One startegy I found very useful with primary students was to stay in character as an Atlantian and point out any areas that needed addressing e.g with a spelling mistake "Quester, we don't understand this word, geen, could you please explain it to us?" **


 * __Students with learning difficulties, behavioural problems etc.__**


 * 5**. Whilst much has been said about the G&A students in QA, don't underestimate students with learning difficulties or behavioural problems. One student I worked with who was a complete isolet in class became totally empowered in QA, not only completing his quests quickly and efficiently, but also then helping other questers with their work. Both of these were things that he wouldn't have done in the real world.

Specialist Technology Teacher Lindfield East Public School, Sydney, Australia
 * Cheryl Hill**

Here are my tips: 1. Ensure that QA is working properly and that your class is set up. Technical difficulties turns kids off very quickly. 2. Model to the students how to navigate in the world, reviewing compass directions if necessary. 3. Allow plenty of time to get the class logged on for the first time. 4. If available have a couple of students who are familiar with QA to act as peer tutors - they love this! 5. Assign a couple of easy quests for fast finishers to do while the slower students complete their introductory mission. 6. Try to assign easy and fun quests at the beginning so students can really enjoy the experience of exploring QA. 7. Only after doing all this try to attempt doing a mission or unit as a class. 8. Keep a bank of quest reponses in a separate word document that you can copy and paste while reviewing. This saves writing responses from scratch for every review.

Have fun and learn with your class!

Educational Technology Director, North Platte Public Schools North Platte, Nebraska USA [] 1. Involve your technology department as much as you can. We did our initial QA training with 2 of our main technicians involved so that they understood the purpose and inner workings of QA. Check that your equipment can handle QA (broadband connection, hardware, etc.). By involving tech you can make sure QA will work in your schools. Utilize QA as an example for upgrading your network, equipment, etc. Showcase QA as a 21st Century application for teaching and learning to move your school technology plans forward. Also, include kids in the initial training so that they can become the champions of the rollout. 2. Make sure you take the time to practice with QA so that you are comfortable with and know your way around the program. Once you are ready to launch, invite parents and guardians to an open house to introduce them to QA, or share during a parent teacher conference. This enables these stakeholders to see the program before you send home permission slips. 3. Set high standards for student work in QA. Utilize its features to enable better thinking skills, comprehension, and writing. 4. Make time for students to adequately utilize QA. Be prompt in reviewing quests so that students can move forward in QA.
 * Neil Hokanson**

5. Establish a support system for QA via PD connections, within your own school system, through a PLN (like this wiki!), and ask for and seek help when needed. Don't get discouraged because you can do it with the right resources!