sl12:Energy

Went to THREE islands which focus on ENERGY

Welcome to the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Island on Second Life! Your outlet for DOE related information, media, and interactivity.  Feel free to explore and become a subatomic particle!

Click on this link to TP to the location:

http://world.secondlife.com/place/54fe7830-73ec-e496-9a1c-72b4a1d50b34

This is the lobby. Here, we have links to their YouTube Vid, Job applications for DOE, main website, info about energy stuff by DOE.

This is a snapshot of DOE overall. Cool layout! You can see the TWO of the five energy:water, wind, solar, earth, fire

That is a thing which brings you around the island. Along the way, there are explanation of the items and their significance towards environment.

Final stop. Back to the building.

Verdict:Not bad. Quite informative. It will be good to have someone there on duty to explain a little bit more cause the info provided may not be sufficient. Very organised! Hope to see more items used for energy conservation.

Another energy area: Energy Green Island

Learn about new green energy technologies at Energy Green Island. There are fun activities and lessons for each of the five alternative energy sources — water, solar, geothermal, biomass, and wind.

Click on the link given to TP:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Energy/116/131/46/

Looks like it is in Japanese language.

This is the website. Click here to go to the website

The layout

An explanation on GREEN ELECTRICITY

And there are some cows.

Now I know what is the purpose.

Geothermal energy?

yes. Geo thermal

Next:Wind energy, my next destination.

Apparently there is an activity I am not aware of

Verdict: Awesome place. Two Thumbs UP!!

Next, to ECOCommons

The offices of several environmental organizations in Second Life, including the Sierra Club, OneWorld.net, American Wildlife Rescue, and TechSoup’s GreenTech Initiative. EcoCommons provides a network for environmentally-focused nonprofits to promote awareness, community-building and environmental education efforts.

Click on any of the organisation, you will be TP to the location. The eagle (on my right) will rb

Flying. Do not worry. There will be another eagle on stand-by

Places which eagle brought me. Yes, it is a guided tour with explanation on which organisation is it, for what and by whom.

Verdict: Cool though the the flying can be very very slow.

sl11:Dinosaur park

Come across this location and thought of checking it out cause it sounds awesome.

Details of the location:-

Category: Parks & Nature

Region: Dinosaurs Park

Owned by:Dinosaurs Council (group)

Nargus dino avatar shop and dinosaur park. Electric fence, reinforced dome, and laboratory — raptor, ptera, t-rex, compsognathus

Click on region (above) to teleport to the location.

Entrance was quite impressive. Reminds me a little bit of Jurassic Park.

 

This is the info centre

 

Eating area

 

Dino Avatar which you can purchase

 

Went to check out the Observation 1. Nope. No dino is sight. Maybe because it is 6pm? Was disappointed for a while.

 

Going down.

 

Went to Observation Tower 2 to try my luck

 

The observation area with telescopes

 

Okay. Saw one dino. Can you find the orange tail? So far it is one dino after looking at all the scopes.

 

Verdict: Maybe the developer in the midst of designing more dinos. The more dinos the better…flying ones, sea ones and land ones.

sl10:easter

It is Easter celebration in ISTE. Event was managed by Maggie and also Blu Heron.

We have collecting easter eggs (there are some prizes attached to the egg hunt). Managed to collect all TEN.

Then we have the design your own Easter Eggs. Cool. Add textures, change colours. I even add a price TAG on the eggs for FUN.

 

These are the people attending the event, trying to design the egg

sl09:Rock your SL wardrobe with basic clothing creation

Today @ ISTE is a session on “re” designing your clothes meaning change colours and texture. Awesome session. Facilitator:Eliza Vanelten (SL)

We are given undershirt and underpants to start off with.

This is me changing the undershirt colour and also the underpants.

 

This is me changing the texture. A tip I learn, the higher the dimensions of the texture, the more detail the texture / pattern is and also it takes time to rezz.

 

Finally, we are given a project to do this with other clothes in our inventory. and later pose for a group picture. Time taken for the project 10 minutes.

Can you find me?

 

Anyway here are some extra info from the notecard given by facilitator that might help you to try this texture and colour thingy for your clothes.

In SL, there are lots of options for clothing. Clothing comes in 2 types:
1. clothing that you wear as an attachment – could be hats, skirts, puffy sleeves, belts, shoes and boots, hoods, collars, or any number of other options
and
2. clothing that is created through Appearance, often referred to as "system" clothing. These pieces aren’t attached to a body part, rather, they are "painted" on (with the exception of the system skirt, which is a bit unique)
We are going to look at system clothing, and while it’s not the most detailed or sophisticated option considering all of the clothing shops around, it is practical, good in a pinch, and can be fun to play with!

The first thing you will need to do is go into Appearance. To do this, right-click on your avatar, and select Appearance. You will notice you go into a motionless state, ideal for dressing.

You will see the Appearance window open up for you, as well. Here you will see all of the many pieces and parts of your avatar that you can edit as you like. In the main part of the window, toward the right, is the section that is being edited at any given time, depending upon which category you have chosen. At the left, you see categories for "Body Parts" and for "Clothes", each with various sub-categories. The options for each will be displayed upon selection.
For the purposes of tonight’s workshop, we will be looking at the "Clothes" category.
These are all of the "system" pieces you can create and edit for your avatar. Sub-categories include Shirt, Pants, Shoes, Socks, Jacket, Gloves, Undershirt, Underpants, and Skirt. We will be looking at all of these with a fashion designer’s eye

One thing you need to understand before we begin is that system clothing is "painted" on your avatar in layers. On the top half of our avatar, we have undershirt – shirt – jacket, in order from bottommost layer to topmost layer.
On the bottom half of our avatar, we have underwear-pants-skirt, in order from bottommost layer to topmost layer.
On the legs/feet, we have socks-shoes, in order from bottommost layer to topmost layer.
And, on the arms, we have gloves.
This will make more sense once you go through them and experiment!

To get you started, we will edit your undershirt together so you get the feel for editing.
Click on "Undershirt" in the Clothes category on the left.

You will notice that the display section has changed to reflect the various values for undershirts. Each has 2 pictures representing opposite extremes of that value (ie. very short sleeves/very long sleeves). There is a slider beneath each value that you can move from side to side to change the look of the shirt from one extreme to the other. When you move the slider, the clothing item on your avatar will also reflect the change you’re making.

For the Undershirt, you can adjust the sleeve length, shirt bottom, collar front, and collar back.
Go ahead and take a couple of minutes to play with the slider to see the kinds of adjustments you can make. Find something you’re happy with for the purposes of this practice.

All right, I made our basic underwear red so you can easily see it, but that may not be your taste at all! Let’s spice it up a little – let’s add some different color or texture. Here’s how!

Let’s look at color first.
Click in the  box marked "Color-Tint". this will open the Color Picker window. You’ll see this again when you learn to build. SL uses it to apply color to everything you see in SL.
In the Color Picker, you can experiment with colors for your undershirt. Just click anywhere – on one of the color boxes in the 2 rows at the bottom, or anywhere on the color patch. Wherever you click, you will see the variations of that shade in the thin strip on the right of the window, from lightest at the top, to darkest at the bottom. Now click wherever you like in that strip, and you will see that color in the box marked "Current."
If you check the box "Apply Immediately" you will also see your undershirt change on your avi, and on the Appearance window’s pictures.
Play with this for a couple of minutes and see what you can come up with.
When you find a color you like, just click on "Select" to close the Color Picker window.

The second option is to choose a fabric or "TEXTURE".
Click on the box marked "Fabric." You will see the Texture Picker window open. This will show you all of the folders in your inventory that contain TEXTURES.
Scroll down to find the class folder.
To open it, click on the little arrow at the left of the folder name. You will see a folder marked "Torley Textures", and if you open it, you will see multiple folders full of textures. These are in SL courtesy of Torley Linden, who has made them freely available to everyone to use.
Choose any folder and open it. You will see a list of textures. To see what a texture looks like, highlight its name, and it will appear in the little box in the window. Again, if you have "Apply Immediately" clicked, you will also see it on your clothing, too.
**Remember, if you had a color selected, that will tint the texture with that shade. To return the clothing to its original white color so your texture isn’t tinted, go back to the Color-tint box to bring up the Color Picker again. Change the color back to white, and select it.
Sometimes, it’s fun to customize with textures and tints to get the look you want.

I want to give you saving instructions that you can go back to as you finish your project.

SAVING INSTRUCTIONS:
When you create clothing pieces, you have the choice to save individual items OR to save more than one item as an outfit.
Click on "Save as" to save an item. Name it so it’s not just called New Undershirt! Then Save it. It will be placed in your inventory under Clothing.
To save multiple items as an outfit, you will click on "Make Outfit."
*This part is important. Only select the items you want to keep together as an outfit. I only save the items I am currently creating – not items I might also be wearing at the time, like my hair or eyelashes or shoes or jewelry…
Create a folder name that is descriptive (ie. "Riding Habit"). Don’t forget this, or your outfit’s folder will be called NEW OUTFIT.
Then, if you click on "Rename clothing to folder name," each piece will contain the outfit’s name (ie. "Riding Habit Pants" or "Riding Habit Socks")

-END-

sl08:Second Life Viewer with Fleep Tuque

ISTE Presentation – Second Life Viewer 2.0: Exciting Upgrade for Educators! – Fleep Tuque – March 2010

View more presentations from Fleep Tuque.

Here is an article by Chris a.k.a Fleep on Virtual or Virtually U: Educational Institutions in Second Life

SL07:Land Basics

I have attended a session by Caledon’s Community Gateway–Oxbridge—which offers classes in Second Life basics every week. All classes are free and open to everyone. These classes are all taught at the Caledon Oxbridge Lecture Hall, between the “Cathedral” and the “Hall of Avatar Motion”.

INTRODUCTION:-

Oxbridge Class: Land Basics
Instructor: Eleanor Anderton

Description: You many not have to have land to have fun in Second Life–but it sure helps! Introduction to Land will teach you the basics of how to find, buy, rend, and sell land in Second Life. We will also introduce land controls, and discuss the risks and rewards of land on Private Estates versus the Linden Lab-owned Mainland.

Warning: Long and tedious reading

Eleanor Anderton (SL):

Welcome to Land Basics. This class will teach you the basics of how to find, buy, rend, and sell land in Second Life. We will also introduce land valuation and discuss some of the special features–and risks–involved with owning land on Private Estates. As you may have guessed, land in Second Life can be quite a complex subject. Like Real Life, land prices here are affected by a host of market forces.
However, unlike Real Life, there is one ultimate supplier of land–Linden Lab–and they are constantly making new land–whether by adding new Mainland or by selling new Estate land.  This creates an even more chaotic land market than in the real world.
Of course it is possible to make money in that market if you are lucky, smart, and work hard. …become a land baron yourself If any of you have read the press on SL, you’ve may have heard of some of SL’s largest land dealers (often called “Land Barons” here). SL’s biggest Land Baron, Anshe Chung, even made the cover of Business Week magazine.
But for 99.9% of SL residents Land is not a way of making money; it is a home, a place to build, a place to put a store, a park, a church, a gallery. And that is what this class is all about…Before we go farther, one important point about land ownership–you must be a premium member to own Mainland land in SL. If you are on a Basic (i.e., free membership), you can only rent–or buy land on a private island. I will go over the difference between Mainland and Private Estate land in just a moment. I’ve embedded a note card into the class notes that goes into a lot of detail on Land in SL. I recommend you read over it.

Another good source of information about Land is the SL Wiki at: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Category:Landowners

MAINLAND VERSUS PRIVATE ESTATE LAND
The most important distinction in the Second Life land market is between Mainland and Private Estates. Mainland is property on continents that are owned and managed by Linden Lab.
Private Estate land is property on islands–or groups of islands–that is owned and managed by another Second Life resident.
Mainland Ownership: You are required to have a Premium membership which costs $9.95US per month with additional discounts if you pay quarterly or annually.
Land choices include either a Linden Home in a themed neighborhood or upgrade to a mainland location and your tier waived on a 512m parcel. The Mainland parcel will give you building rights while the Linden Homes cannot be moved or essentially changed.

Linden Homes Covenant can be read at p://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Linden_Home/Covenant

Mainland parcels must still be purchased.  Premium membership gives you the tier for a 512 parcel as part of your membership.  You still have to purchase the parcel from Linden Labs. If you purchase more land beyond the 512m parcel, you will be pay more tier payments to Linden Lab based on the amount of land you “own”. A risk or downside to owning Mainland parcels is you really have no control over your neighbors and their personal tastes.

Private Estate Land. Caledon Oxbridge is part of the Caledon Private Estate, a group of 50 sims. In other words, you are on private estate land right now. Estate owners collect monthly tier fees from their residents, and pay Linden Labs out of what they earn. A Private Estate owner is responsible for paying LL a monthly tier of 295US$ or 195US$ for each sim/island that they own (the amount depends on the purchase date of the island.) One good thing about buying on a Private Estate is that you don’t have to have premium account to do so. That transaction is between you and the island owner. They could care less what kind of account you have. They just want your money and your monthly tier fees! Some Private Estate owners allow you to pay your monthly tier in L$.

The terms and conditions of your purchase (or lease) of any land on a Private Estate is defined in that land’s Covenant. The Covenant document for a parcel of land can be found on the Covenant tab of the “About Land” window.

Even sitting here, you may click on World at the top left of your viewer, then on About Land. Click on Covenant tab and you will see the Caledon Covenant. Think of a land Covenant as a binding contract between you and the Estate Owner. A typical land Covenant will cover the amount of tier due for a parcel of land, when and how often it is due, and what forms of payment the Estate owner will accept.
For example, the Tier payments for Caledon are towards the end of the Covenant

Covenants will also spell out penalties for late or non-payment. The Covenant may also cover how and to whom you can sell your land and whether the Estate owner will buy it back–and if so, for how much. Covenants also serve as zoning for the Private Estate. A typical Covenant will set out land use regulations for the area (commercial versus residential, whether sub-leasing is allowed, restrictions on the size and appearance of buildings, setback requirements, sim theme, etc.)

One warning–it is up to the Estate Owner to enforce any such zoning. If they choose not to, you have no real recourse. But by contrast, on the Mainland, there is no zoning at all (in nearly all sims). The biggest risk when buying land on Private Estates is that if the person who owns the estate/island you purchased land on goes under (or sells that island) then your land may disappear too.  It is rare, but it does happen. If so, you are almost certainly out of luck. You can complain to Linden Lab, but they very rarely get involved in any resident to resident business dealings, except in the case of blatant fraud–and sometimes not even then!

Since you must pay tier fees on any land you own in Second Life you can look at the difference between Mainland and Private Estate land as the difference between leasing land from Linden Lab directly versus sub-leasing from a fellow resident who has leased land from Linden Lab. Ultimately Linden Lab is the overriding owner of all land in Second Life.

If you would look at the slide behind me (see Image above) and you also have this graphic in your class notes. It is a good visual explanation of land in second life. First comes Regions or also called sims. Regions can be Mainland as owned by Linden labs or they can be Private Regions or Sims which anyone can purchase. To purchase a private sim, you have to be a Premium member of Second Life

Just an fyi, I’m still a Basic member and my Land parcels are both on Private Estates. Caledon is an example of a Private Estate. There are also educational regions such as American Library Association or the ALA have their regions

Searching for Land
USING THE “SEARCH/LAND SALES” WINDOW
Land–there’s a lot of it. An amazing amount–with new sims coming on several times a day. Each little square dot on the map is a sim–either part of one of the Mainland continents–or a Private Estate.  SL is just plain big–around 25,000 sims, for over 1200 square kilometers of land. (A sim is a region of land in SL–a square 256m x 256m generated by one server. A sim contains 65,536 square meters of land, and can support up to 15,000 prims.) So how do you find land to buy? And how do your buyers find your land?  You have two tools in SL to do this. The Map and the Search/Land Sales window.

First, it is important to see the Property Lines.  At the top left of your viewer, click on View – Property Lines.  Now when you walk around you can see colored lines where the property lines are outlined. If you click this on now, you can see the colored lines outside on the grounds. This chart behind me explains the various features of the Search/Land Sales window. To get to that window, click the blue “Search” button on the bottom of your screen. Then select the “Land Sales” tab.

This chart behind me explains the various features of the Search/Land Sales window. To get to that window, click the blue “Search” button on the bottom of your screen. Then select the “Land Sales” tab.

Find the Search button on the viewer. As you can see–there are a number of options that you can use to filter the search results.

As you can see at the Image above–there are a number of options that you can use to filter the search results. Just hitting the Search button with no filters active, shows you ALL land for sale (100 listings at a time). There may be some lag as we all hit the button But–you can filter and sort your results. The first pull down menu (next to the Search button) will let you choose, All, Auctions, Mainland, or Private Estate. The column of check boxes on the right of the Search/Land window (PG Content, Mature Content, Adult Content), allow you to select the maturity rating of the land you are looking for. All of these are at top of the Land Sales Search window btw

The “Price <=L$” check box and field will let your set a maximum price for land that you want to see unless price is not object for you. The “Area >= m2″ box will let you set a minimum area you want to look at. 512 is considered the smallest parcel area. You can sort your results by “Name” (land description), “L$ Price”, “Area”, “Type”, or “L$/m2″

You can click on the column headings just like on a speadsheet and sort them out. Just click on the gray column heading at the top of the column you want to sort by. Finally–the Search/Land Sales window will let you also see a description, location, traffic, price and area of your land underneath the picture at the right of the window.

If you want a closer look at the land you are interested in, you can hit the “Teleport” button to go their directly, or see it on the map, by hitting the “Show on Map” button.

Which nicely brings us to the “Using the “Map” Window” section (See Image above)

USING THE “MAP” WINDOW
I consider the fun way to look for parcels like detectives. If you look at land in the “Map” window, with “Land for Sale” checked, land that is colored yellow is for sale; land that is colored purple is being (or going to be) auctioned by the Lindens. Click on the Map tab at bottom of the viewer please. Land without a color overlay is not for sale. Open the map window now by clicking on the Map (not Mini-Map) button at the bottom of your screen. Note that to see these Land Sales overlays, you must have the “Land for Sale” box checked.

The Map window is a great way to get an idea of what other land is for sale near the land you are buying–or land you already own. It will also give you an idea of how tight the land market is in a particular sim.

Practice Example: Open Map. Click for the check by Land for Sale.  In the Search box, key in the sim “Zeppelinheim”. (laughs) ignore the Zeppelinheim example as the land there has already sold

There is one….scroll north to Winterfell Laudanum or type in Winterfell Laudanum into the Search on the Map. You will see a bright yellow square. See Image below:-

Land for Sale . There should be a yellow rectangle marking a parcel for sale…unless it has been sold earlier today! On the World Map, land for sale also is marked with a yellow price tag/dollar sign icon. If you click directly on that icon, you will get the cost, size, and seller’s description of the land. (Please be warned this does not always work–blame the asset server; it’s what we all do). Remember, some large Private Estates are now nearly as large as Mainland continents. Caledon for example has 50 sims.
It may not always be possible to tell if a parcel of land is Mainland or part of a Private Estate from the World Map. To be sure, teleport to the parcel you are interested in. Then do an “About Land” (either from the World menu at the top of your screen, or by clicking on the ground and selecting About Land from the pie-shaped menu). From the About Land window, select the Covenant tab. If the land has a Covenant, it is part of a Private Estate; and is not Mainland. Other sources of information for Land Sales include the Xstreet market which is now owned by Linden Labs.

Question by Panthora Haiku: i have one about covenants. I own 3 adjoining parcels. If i rent one out do i put my own coventant on it
Eleanor Anderton: yes, on the same region or sim. Are your parcels on Mainland or Private ?
Panthora Haiku: mainland

Eleanor Anderton: Yes, if you plan on renting, you then become a Manager and to protect yourself, you will need a covenant

TIER/LAND USE FEES
Now the having to pay for your fun
Tier is a term in SL for your land use fees. Whether Mainland or Private Estate, you can’t own land in SL without paying some sort of maintenance fee on it. Linden Lab charges you for Mainland land based on how much you have. This charge is known as “Tier.” You pay LL a monthly fee based on how much land on the Mainland you hold. This fee is paid in US dollars; not Lindens. How much land you own determines how many prims you can set out. The chart behind me is from the wiki. You are allowed to use 117 prims for each 512 square meters of land you own. That can vary on private estates. Some offer “double prim” land, where they have let part of the estate be mostly empty, and allocated the prims to leased parcels. But no estate can go above the 15,000 prims per sim limit.

We all dream of owning our own 15,000 prims! Digressing for a moment on prims–a prim is a measurement of an object in the world (and in a roundabout way server resources used).  A prim (short for “primitive”) is a simple shape such as a cube or a sphere. Most objects consist of multiple prims. Except for your avatar, the ground itself, and (some) clothing, everything you see in Second Life is made of Prims. Houses, furniture, buildings, vehicles, etc. are made of prims. Sometimes only a few prims–sometimes a lot of them.

Because prim limits are directly linked to tier fees, prims are one of the fundamental economic units of Second Life (along with L$). In order to have a prim “rezzed” (exist) in the world, you have to have space for that prim. I started to rez a home this afternoon but it was over 2000 prims! No room !

Each parcel of land can only support a limited number of Prims. (Land-based prim allotments originated as a way for Linden Lab to ration server resources.) A premium (i.e., paid) account includes the ability to own 512 m2 of Mainland with no additional charge. You must pay Linden Labs Tier on land in excess of that first 512 m2.  The Tier payment system is set up so that the more land you own, the less tier per m2 you pay.

Notice how the Tier for Mainland doesn’t increase in proportion:
$5 for a 512 [19:43]  Eleanor Anderton: Then only $8 for the 1024 but you have to figure in your premium membership. Linden Labs calculates Tier based on the highest amount of land you own for the month. If you own 512 m2 for 29 days, and 1024 m2 for 1 day, you pay tier as if you had owned 1024 m2 that whole month. If you are going to increase the amount of land you can own (aka “tier up”), it is best to do it just after you have been charged for the last month’s tier fees. If you buy land on a Private Estate, you will be paying tier to the owner of that estate, and he or she will be paying Linden Lab.
Tier on private estates often varies from what is charged for Mainland lands, depending on the business model of the Estate developer. A few things to be aware of regarding tier and Private Estates:
1) Tier paid to Estate owners is separate from tier paid to Linden Lab. You can’t mix and match, should you own land on both an estate and the Mainland and many people own land on both

2) You do not need a premium account to buy land on a private estate.

3) The 512 free tier from a Premium account is only good on Linden Lab managed Mainland.

4) The details of Private Estate tier should be made clear in the Covenant for that land.

Tier can be expensive, but LL makes much of their money off of your tier payments–either directly on the mainland or indirectly on a Private Estate. Without tier, we wouldn’t have a SL to play in… So Tier is Good

Question from Adria Qualia: If you for example own 1024 m2 land on mainland….will you only pay as if it was 512 m2?  (because premium member bonus)

Eleanor Anderton: looking back at the chart. You pay tier on the highest amount of land you own but yes to your question. You would pay $5 for 1024 with 234 prims. Just as a rule of thumb,  you can figure 1,000 lindens equals approximately $4 about the cost of a latte grande

Adria Qualia: And if you buy 1023?
Eleanor Anderton: a 1023 would probably be counted as a 1024 and I would ask where that extra meter is

Aika Nirvana: if you rent from a private owner should you expect to pay about the same in tier?

Eleanor Anderton: It varies.

BUYING LAND
Buying land is really simple–all it takes is money    Sometimes quite a bit… And sometimes not so much at all…Now to buy. To buy a piece of land, just go to the plot of land you want to buy. Right click on the ground (it has to be the ground–not a building or a landscaping prim on the ground) to bring up a pie-shaped menu. If the land is for sale, you can select “Buy Land” from that menu–or go through the “About Land” window. Remember the yellow parcels on the Map? (If you are going to buy the land for a group, you will need to go through the “About Land” window.)

If you do that, you will get an “About Land” box. At the bottom of “About Land” box there is a “Buy Land” button. If the button is bright blue, that land’s for sale to you for the price listed by the “For Sale” field. “About Land” and “Buy Land” are also in the World menu. This can be handy for buying a plot where you can’t see the ground to click on (if the ground has been covered with prims, for example).  Covered in prims means “fake grass or rocks” usually. If you select “Buy Land”, you will get a window that tells you how the land you are about to purchase will impact to your account: if it will raise your tier level and how much it will cost to buy.

But–and I cannot stress this strongly enough–if you press “Purchase” SL will AUTOMATICALLY make those changes to your account, which will usually include charges to your credit card of US$. So look at the “Buy Land” window very carefully before you buy anything. Careful with the mouse clicks. You can also buy land for a group. To do that, click the “Buy for Group” button instead of the “Buy Land” button on the “About Land” window. You MUST have the group you are buying land for active to buy land for it. “Active” means that the group title is above your head. Be VERY careful here. You don’t want to accidentally buy the land for the wrong group! If you buy land for a group–then that group owns the land. Unless you control that group (are the Group Owner), you can’t get that land back unless the Group Owner allows it. As you can see, buying land for a group brings its own set of complications–which could be a class in and of itself. When buying land on Private Estates–watch out for misleading land reservation fees! (I consider this a deceptive trade practice.)

You may find land on island listed for a very low price–say 1L$ or 2L$ per square meter. Read those sale ads in the Search for Land Sales. some of those are worse than those telemarketing phone calls. But before you hit “buy” take a close look at the land’s Covenant. Some of these land holders have covenants that say things like “What you are buying is a one day hold on this land, after which you have to pay xxxxL$ payment to me.”

If you don’t pay them, they yank the land, and you have no recourse to Linden Labs. Most people selling land on private islands are honest–and will make covenants like this VERY CLEAR (often with a notice in the Search/Land Sales ad and/or a pop-up notecard when you enter the parcel) but you have to be careful. Some will just let the buyer beware…

Buying Land in SL: really means you are leasing the Land from Linden Labs for Mainland and for Private Regions such as Caledon. You are leasing the land from the Region owners who then pays tier to Linden labs. We are all so used to the real life real estate jargon that everyone uses BUY when they are really leasing the land. So understand that when your purchase a parcel on Private estates, you don’t really OWN the land and the same holds true for Mainland. Linden Labs own the business of Second Life and their servers which hold our pixels

RENTING VERSUS OWNING
Second Life has a very active rental market. As with any transaction, there are advantages and disadvantages to renting; carefully weigh these before deciding to rent.
Land is offered for rent on both the Mainland and on Private Estates. Land on Private Estates may even be sublet in some cases. (In Caledon, this requires permission from the Estate Owner)
One thing to keep in mind–because of Linden Labs tier (land use fee) system–essentially ALL land in Second Life is leased.
Whether you buy land from LL, buy it on a Private Estate, or rent it from a landlord, ultimately, you are paying a recurring fee for the rights to various levels of control over that land (i.e., allotment of LL server resources).
All “land” in Second Life is the property of Linden Labs, and can be revoked for a variety of reasons outlined in the Terms of Service contract you agreed to when you joined Second Life.
Let’s look at the negatives of renting first. They are:
1) no binding leases,
2) land use restrictions,
3) group requirements, and
4) limits to changing land settings.

This would mean if you “rent” a home from a parcel owner such as Panthora could set up her rental parcel with any requirments or limits you wanted

No Binding Lease–Your landlord (or someone he or she might sell the land to) can kick you off rented land for any reason–at any time. If they do, you have no recourse. Not that Panthora would do that

LL won’t get involved in resident-to-resident business dealings. A smart and/or ethical landlord won’t do that. Most landlords want to keep their tenants happy–and avoid generating negative word-of-mouth.  They don’t make money by running off the people who pay them. But it can and does happen.

Land Use Restrictions–Most rented land comes with some land use restrictions. At a bare minimum you will be limited in the number of prims that you can use. This is a reasonable and rational restriction. Your Landlord only can use a set number of prims (based on how much land they own in that sim). If you go over your prim limit, you are keeping your neighbors from being able to use their share or taking prims from common areas or landscaping. Many landlords will also have various aesthetic and/or zoning-type restrictions on their properties. For example, you may not be able to open a store in a residential development, or you may not be allowed to build out up to the property line. Most good landlords want to maximize the value of their property to their tenants. Just like Real Life. Also–if you rent in a sim, you must abide by it’s PG/Mature/Adult rating. Persistent griefing will get usually get you evicted. Examples include: attacking or insulting people, using push weapons, excessive shouting or playing of annoying sound clips, and overuse of lag-creating scripts and particles. If this happens to you–cheers to your landlord!  Try not to be such a jerk next time.

Group Requirements–To rent land, you normally must be a member of a land leasing group created by your landlord. Any objects you rez must be set to that group, or they will be auto-returned–including your house, shop, or furniture. Landlords require this so that they can remove prim litter–prims that people leave lying around–will be automatically returned to the person who left it there.

-END-

Abrupt ending cause the line lag @.@

vwbpe2010:day02 part 2

Abstract Thoughts to Concrete Examples: Transferring Student Essays to the Virtual Realm in Second Life

Location: East 2

Duration:50 minutes

Speaker: Elphaba Helendale

Elphaba Helendale, known as Rawlslyn Francis in RL, has a BA in Engilsh from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and an MA in English from the University of North Florida. She currently works as a Student Affairs Advisor in the GED Academy and as an Adjunct English Professor at Florida State College at Jacksonville.

Elphaba uses Second Life in her face to face, hybrid and online college courses. In addition to her college courses, she’s currently leading a technology team in the Adult Education Department to implement virtual spaces for experimental learning at FSCJ.

Elphaba Helendale talked about ***How she incorporated SL into her college courses.***

Below is the extract from the presentation. Read how she uses SL for her college courses.

[7:11] Elphaba Helendale: I utilize Second Life in my college writing courses to encourage students to transform abstract concepts in their essays to concrete examples in a virtual setting.

Elphaba Helendale: My goal in using Second Life in my college classes is to improve students’ technological proficiencies and online communication and collaborative skills.

Elphaba Helendale: These skill sets are vital in a Digital Age where a college graduate without these technological proficiencies will struggle to compete in a society of Digital Natives.

Elphaba Helendale: Students become engaged in their writing assignments because they have pride in the virtual replica of their written work that everyone in the class is able to see and experience, as opposed to an isolated experience of writing a paper.

Elphaba Helendale: They are also able to see which parts of their essays are out of place during the process of transferring their written concepts to the virtual display.

Elphaba Helendale: Students conclude that by creating the 3D version of their essays, they are able to literally see how the basic essay structure (introduction, thesis, supporting paragraphs and conclusion) affects their readers’ understanding of their main idea.

[7:15] Elphaba Helendale: ***My first experience with using SL in the classroom – summer term 2009***

[7:15] Elphaba Helendale: After attending the VWBPE Conference in 2009, I was able to visualize how I could implement this virtual simulation environment.

[7:16] Elphaba Helendale: So, in the summer term of 2009, I asked my 3 classes (one hybrid and two face to face) to not only write a final research paper, but to also recreate their written work in Second Life.

Elphaba Helendale: I’m not scared of chaos and uncertainty, so, for better or worse, I encouraged them to create a virtual project in any format.

[7:18] Elphaba Helendale: My summer term students analyized themes from the graphic novel Maus I & II.

[7:21] Elphaba Helendale: The students without computer access were the “researchers” in the group and they assisted with collecting information for the “builder” in the group to upload to their virtual project.

[7:21] Elphaba Helendale: I was not opposed to my students using a wide open space on our island to create their projects, but it was decided that my students would create their projects in rooms stacked upon each other.

[7:21] Elphaba Helendale: Students who were timid of Second Life were comforted by a “contained” space, and most of them met the minimum requirements.

[7:22] Elphaba Helendale: They created clean, structured spaces, but I found them to be almost sterile, too clean.

Elphaba Helendale: It became inevitable that several groups quickly spilled out of the condo high rise (as they lovingly named it).

[7:23] Elphaba Helendale: We maxed out the prims available, but it became a blessing in disguise.

[7:23] Elphaba Helendale: In these images, you see how students truly used the open virtual space to create their projects.

[7:24] Elphaba Helendale: Once I saw these projects in the “open” space, I could see that they were able to “tell” a story more easily.

[7:24] Elphaba Helendale: In the square spaces of the condo rise, it was difficult to understand where to “start” in a students’ project. There wasn’t a clear beginning and end.

Elphaba Helendale: In the open space, one group was particularly successful in creating a sequential build that represented the progression in their research paper.

[7:25] Elektra Panthar: I love this

[7:26] Elphaba Helendale: And, when I presented my summer term SL student projects to other faculty and deans in the Liberal Arts Dept., they all liked the “structured” virtual build the best.

[7:26] Elphaba Helendale: However, I’m not convinced that such rigid structure is necessary for the success of a build in SL, as demonstrated in this student’s virtual build.

[7:27] Elphaba Helendale: Should we contain and restrict their building area, or give them free reign? In confining them to a particular space, do we contradict what SL offers our students?

[7:27] Elphaba Helendale: I’m not sure. I’m curious to know your thoughts on this subject….

[7:27] Elphaba Helendale: ***The second run – fall term 2009***

[7:27] Elphaba Helendale: During this term, I only taught online English Composition courses. Instead of allowing students to work in small groups within a class, I experimented with having all 3 of my online courses work on one project together, one theme.

[7:30] Elphaba Helendale: The book for this cohort was Welfare Brat. It’s a memoir of a woman who was raised in poverty.

[7:30] Elphaba Helendale: I decided to have all three classes work on one project for a couple of reasons:

[7:30] Elphaba Helendale: 1) I wasn’t sure of the number of students who would participate successfully and I wasn’t sure of my ability yet as their educator to make the experience seamless.

[7:31] Elphaba Helendale: 2) I would not be able help them in person and my intention was to allow a greater number of tech savvy students help the students who might struggle.

[7:31] Elphaba Helendale: Although the product that came out of this semester was a great achievement, I will not merge classes together again for a project.

7:31] Elphaba Helendale: I assumed that online students would, overall, be more computer literate than my face to face classes, and this was not the case!

[7:31] Elphaba Helendale: What occured was mainly a small group of very talented students labored over the project while many other students barely participated, or not at all.

[7:31] Elphaba Helendale: It was very difficult encouraging all students in every class to participate in this format.

[7:32] Elphaba Helendale: Lesson learned.

[7:32] Elphaba Helendale: But, as I stated before, the Welfare Brat maze was a success. The student who is responsible for its structure (and maintenance) will be able to meet the author in person in a couple of weeks, and the local media will film their encounter.

[7:32] Elphaba Helendale: ***What’s happening now – spring term 2010***

[7:34] Elphaba Helendale: Again this semester, I’m only teaching online courses.

[7:34] Elphaba Helendale: These students will be assigned rooms in the Welfare Brat maze to complete the work started from the previous term.

[7:34] Elphaba Helendale: Students will choose their room based on the theme they decide to write on from the memoir (themes such as alcoholism, teen pregnancy, welfare structure, single parent homes, etc.)

[7:34] Elphaba Helendale: I also included Second Life participation during the first week and included an activity in SL as a requirement during the week 1 assignments to avoid being dropped from the course.

[7:34] Elphaba Helendale: In the last 2 terms, I waited to introduce Second Life to my students as I didn’t want to overwhelm, but I’ve decided against that this term, and, thus far, I recommend this change.

[7:34] Elphaba Helendale: It enforces the importance of using SL in my course and I haven’t received any emails this term stating “Do I have to use Second Life in this class?”

Here is the island for the students.

One of the areas in the island. An re-enactment of a literature story which focuses on the holocaust.

They (the students) even created a maze for a literature story. But I got spooked out as I was lost in the maze and needed the help from the speaker.

vwbpe2010:day02 part 1

While waiting for the next session to start, I was roaming around. This was the area where the posters were displayed.

Here is the following session:-

Virtual Worlds in Schools: some challenges.

Speaker: Guy Merchant (RL) Gdot Spires (SL) Professor of Literacy in education and coordinator of the Language and Literacy Research Group, Sheffield Hallam University

Moderator: Sheila Yoshikawa

Duration 50 minutes

Here is the key sentences / words / phrases / highlights from his presentation as presented by the moderator:

Sheila Yoshikawa: ok he is chasing three themes from the data

[3:25] Sheila Yoshikawa: 2nd is to do with relationship with curriculum

[3:25] Sheila Yoshikawa: 3rd to do with literacy elements

[3:25] Sheila Yoshikawa: so – the first of these "designing and imagining"

[3:26] Sheila Yoshikawa: a group of adults sitting in a room devising something for the children

[3:26] Sheila Yoshikawa: made him think about how these things so often have to start with imagination

[3:26] Sheila Yoshikawa: the imagination of the teachers

[3:26] Sheila Yoshikawa: "make and remake the conditions of our existence"

[3:26] Sheila Yoshikawa: though ALSO constrained by day to day realities

[3:27] Sheila Yoshikawa: the realities of lived lived experience and practical etc constraints

[3:27] Sheila Yoshikawa: so here he contrasts tthe PLANNING vs the compromise of ACTUAL activity

[3:28] Sheila Yoshikawa: so PLANNED for exploration, discovery, pupils making meeting

[3:28] Sheila Yoshikawa: however

[3:28] Sheila Yoshikawa: when looked at data from classrooms

[3:28] Sheila Yoshikawa: there were GUIDEd activities, DIRECTED work, COMPREHENSION exercises

[3:29] Sheila Yoshikawa: so teacher described an activity where students had to look at planning documents in the town hall

[3:29] Sheila Yoshikawa: but she told them where it was

[3:29] Sheila Yoshikawa: and set a comprehension exercise

[3:29] Sheila Yoshikawa: which matched the SATS test format

3:29] Sheila Yoshikawa: so translating into familiar classroom routines and practice

Sheila Yoshikawa: this is not surprising given the UK education system’s emphasis on accountability, testing etc ;-(

Exosius Woolley: Do you have any information on the age groups of instructors?

[3:31] Sheila Yoshikawa: here Gdot is showing how teachers were linking their practice

[3:32] Sheila Yoshikawa: to the existing requirements for literacy learning

[3:32] Janna Abeyante: Yes this is very important! We have a lot of roles to follow!

[3:32] Sheila Yoshikawa: for example it is part of the national curriculum in England to learn about "genres" of writing

[3:33] Sheila Yoshikawa: also using familiar techniques and tools and activities

[3:33] Sheila Yoshikawa: also timetables separation of literacy and technology

[3:33] Sheila Yoshikawa: so again in the English national curriculum these are both areas that have to be taught

[3:33] Sheila Yoshikawa: but they are separate subjects

[3:33] Sheila Yoshikawa: there has to be timetabled time for literacy

[3:34] Sheila Yoshikawa: and (often very small) timetabled time for "technology"

[3:34] Sheila Yoshikawa: this is an obstacle!

[3:34] Sheila Yoshikawa: not insurmountable, but certainly get in the way

[3:34] Rumi Saeed: wow, 30"/week is an OBSTACLE

[3:34] Janna Abeyante: To work in themes makes more time!

[3:36] Sheila Yoshikawa: it was interesting how the PUPILS were using the educational jargon

[3:36] Sheila Yoshikawa: the official jargon of literacy

[3:36] Sheila Yoshikawa: which can seem a bit chilling

[3:36] Sheila Yoshikawa: however the pupils were not passive dupes!

[3:36] Sheila Yoshikawa: so in third part

[3:36] Sheila Yoshikawa: talking about how the pupils worked informally

[3:37] Sheila Yoshikawa: one of his favourite extracts

[3:37] Karelia Kondor: ㋡

[3:38] Sheila Yoshikawa: "its absulutly brilliand MINTUS"

[3:38] Sheila Yoshikawa: i.e. happy to use bad spelling and lower case etc etc

[3:38] Sheila Yoshikawa says but no worse than me in SL on the whole

[3:38] Edith Halderman: but the rise of phonics

[3:39] Sheila Yoshikawa: so this did show their enthusiasm

[3:39] Sheila Yoshikawa: also the idea of the real and the fake

[3:39] Sheila Yoshikawa: "I get put off when i think the world is fake"

[3:39] Sheila Yoshikawa: did express feeling of immersion

[3:40] Sheila Yoshikawa: also "school trip syndrome"

[3:40] Sheila Yoshikawa: they like the exciting out of school trip

[3:40] Sheila Yoshikawa: but give it "kiss of death"

[3:40] Sheila Yoshikawa: by asking them to write about it

[3:41] Sheila Yoshikawa: so unfortunate this did happen for some

[3:41] Sheila Yoshikawa: was also "subversion" of rules

[3:41] Sheila Yoshikawa: now one thing was that teachers didn’t want children to run or fly

[3:42] Edith Halderman: power pedagogy?

[3:42] Sheila Yoshikawa: they wanted control!

[3:42] Sheila Yoshikawa: so didn’t explain to children how to do this

[3:42] JESSIE Gyranaut: still teacher centred

[3:42] JESSIE Gyranaut:

[3:42] Edith Halderman: and you thought the wouldn’t?

[3:42] Sheila Yoshikawa: so here an example of one person

[3:42] slammed Aabye: edumacators. Did they make them sit in rows too?

[3:42] Janna Abeyante: Bad!!!

[3:42] Sheila Yoshikawa: sharing how to do this

[3:42] Elektra Panthar: /is cringing at the spelling

[3:43] Kalyan Horatio: whose digital literacy was better? learners/tutors’?

[3:43] Gwen Gwasi: yikes

[3:43] Sheila Yoshikawa: anecdote

[3:43] Sheila Yoshikawa: teachers wanted children kept in town centre

[3:43] Enelya Pevensey:

[3:43] Sheila Yoshikawa: so children couldn’t get out!

[3:43] Ashlene McMinnar: lol

[3:43] Sheila Yoshikawa: "out of bounds" area

[3:43] Edith Halderman: and how long did it take them to get out?

[3:43] Sheila Yoshikawa: so no rows, but corralled

[3:43] Sheila Yoshikawa: but unrulines of learners

[3:44] slammed Aabye: police, town centres, walking …

[3:44] Janna Abeyante: And I thought they were still by the computers!!!

[3:44] Sheila Yoshikawa: some found that if you went to top of town hall, you walked through and landed outside

[3:44] Rumi Saeed: of course, children are so much cleverer than we are

[3:44] Rumi Saeed: and more creative when it comes to play while learning

[3:45] slammed Aabye: how much PD did the teachers get? was there a programme?

[3:45] slammed Aabye: professional development

[3:45] Elektra Panthar: not English, and can read typonese, but ohhh dear.. hehe

[3:45] Ashlene McMinnar: "Give some clues where you are", gotta love slang and text-chat.

[3:46] Elektra Panthar: indeed

[3:46] Rumi Saeed: Did they want to stay in virtual? Was there some reluctance to come out to write about it?

[3:47] Sheila Yoshikawa: what you have there is a standard response initiation-feedback move

[3:47] Gwen Gwasi: not a single image, Gdot?

[3:47] Kalyan Horatio: sinclair and Coulthard model of three moves

[3:47] Sheila Yoshikawa: so importing a mode where teacher eliciting and approving etc, importing it to virtaul world

[3:48] slammed Aabye: So there was a conscious fail potential before allowing the kids in?

[3:48] Sheila Yoshikawa: Hi there are some images in this ppt

[3:48] Sheila Yoshikawa: http://education.exeter.ac.uk/download.php?id=12014

[3:48] Sheila Yoshikawa: ok there are some in this ppt i just pasted

[3:49] Sheila Yoshikawa: so Gdot is finishing by just highlighting these issues

[3:49] Rumi Saeed: What a wonderful learning environment for their creativity

[3:49] Rumi Saeed: Were the children reluctant to leave Barsborough?

[3:50] Gdot Spires: Constance Steinkheuller

[3:50] Gwen Gwasi: Active Worlds is a software?

[3:50] Sheila Yoshikawa: age of teachers question – no specific age

[3:50] Gwen Gwasi: does it support voice?

[3:50] Sheila Yoshikawa: would be people teaching that class age

[3:51] toBe Destiny: this pedagogy seems to be some type of imposition of education, what I call supply side learning.

[3:51] Sheila Yoshikawa: youngest about 29/3-0

[3:51] Sheila Yoshikawa: oldest 62

[3:51] Gwen Gwasi: did the software support voice?

[3:51] Rumi Saeed: Did you survey the teachers for their reaction to this? positive or not?

[3:51] Sheila Yoshikawa: so the answer abiout voice was no

[3:52] Sheila Yoshikawa: prof dev

[3:52] Gwen Gwasi: to develop this software must have cost a fortune

[3:52] Sheila Yoshikawa: 3 days with teachers

[3:52] Gwen Gwasi: and you dont have funds for teacher training?

[3:52] Sheila Yoshikawa: spent in the virtual world

[3:52] GuyVWboard1: You do not have permission to use this Flip Board.

[3:52] GuyVWboard1: You may request permission from the owner, by clicking the lock.

[3:52] toBe Destiny: is there a constructivist aspect to this, or are the children considered to young?

[3:52] slammed Aabye: its a worry that you let teachers in without development and practice – would impact the student experience negatively in comparison to more mature models like Ramapo Islands surely?

[3:52] Edith Halderman: was that Constance Steinkuhler?

[3:53] Edith Halderman: Activ Worlds

[3:54] Sheila Yoshikawa: children WERE fond of the world

[3:54] Sheila Yoshikawa: but activities spread out and just short visits

[3:54] slammed Aabye: Did you look at Quest Atlantis?

[3:54] Sheila Yoshikawa: better to have intensive period

[3:54] Sheila Yoshikawa: Did you survey the teachers for their reaction to this? positive or not?

[3:54] Rumi Saeed: yes, 1/2 hour a week is an obstacle

[3:54] Edith Halderman: oh both

[3:54] slammed Aabye: yep, its the back channel

[3:55] Sheila Yoshikawa: he did survey teachers

[3:55] Sheila Yoshikawa: they were all positive

[3:55] Sheila Yoshikawa: had technical probs (reral probs, issues with tech in schools

[3:55] Sheila Yoshikawa: getting access to computers

[3:56] Rumi Saeed: great! so they enjoyed the experiment…regardless of the technical problems

[3:56] Kalyan Horatio: what about parents’ response to using virtual world for teaching given the fact virtual world involves gaming, violence and sex too

[3:57] Sheila Yoshikawa: is there a constructivist aspect to this, or are the children considered to young?

[3:57] Sheila Yoshikawa: parents – were moral panics

[3:57] Sheila Yoshikawa: parents were high on the TEACHERS’ agenda

[3:57] Sheila Yoshikawa: afraid of scandal

[3:58] Edith Halderman: this is fascinating – when does he speak in SL again? an ISTE Eduverse Talk perhaps or a DEN speaker?

[3:58] Rumi Saeed: is the computer access/experience primarily at school for these children as opposed to at home as well?

[3:58] Gwen Gwasi: really?

[3:58] Sheila Yoshikawa: so e.g. Gdot can’t demo world when he gives talks

[3:58] slammed Aabye: /because Google and Messenger is so safe//// Grinds me how VWs are seen as less safe. Just sayin’

[3:58] Gwen Gwasi: how much did the software cost?

[3:58] Sheila Yoshikawa: so this is part of "protecting teh children"

[3:58] slammed Aabye: *are

[3:58] Sheila Yoshikawa: he thinks this was all over the top

[3:58] Edith Halderman: it is

[3:58] Sheila Yoshikawa: but i (sheila) would say it is understandable

[3:59] Sheila Yoshikawa: given way things can get blown up by the media into a scandal

[3:59] Janna Abeyante: An they say school is old!

[3:59] Edith Halderman: have you ever known a burgler to sit down and play a game while burglaring?

[3:59] Kalyan Horatio: That is really great to hear

—END—

vwbpe2010:day01 part 2

Third session: 6 am (SL time)

I choose to attend

Successful Approaches to Virtual World Education

Duration: 2 hours

Speaker:  Janyth Ussery (RL) JanythKU Techsan (SL)

A brief intro on the main speaker”:

Janyth Ussery is the Director of Web Education, Texas State Technical College and has been part of the Second Life Community 3+ years. She has 16 years educational experience including administration, instruction and online course development. Janyth is a virtual world trainer, course designer and instructor at TSTC and Vushi Learning Network and was recognized by the Texas Distance Learning Association – Outstanding Commitment to Excellence and Innovation in Distance Learning as an Individual Award Finalist for 2009.

Moderator: Elektra Panthar (SL)

Here are some snapshots of the session:-

Segregation Sim. Function to replicate the racism which happen back then. Whenever the students go to a store, cinema or the bus, there will be racist statements popping up.

Teach business dinner etiquette – the students didn’t know how to participate in a business dinner based on the complaints from the company. Came up with the idea of setting up a place to learn fine dining which includes how to dress up for the dinner. When the student sits, the view faces the layout of his portion (as seen in the picture above)

Going to GROUND FLOOR

Classrooms where each classroom is fixed with “parcel the voice” where  you cannot hear voices from other nearby classes.

This setting is an active class.

Learning area sand box for multimedia communication class.

Projects by the students being displayed

Art projects – 20 titles. Students in groups choose 1 to research and present

…to be continued.

vwbpe2010:day01

There are lots of choices to choose from but a real bummer as the abstracts for every session is not put up (even though the speakers have already handed earlier). So choosing based on the title is rather difficult.

First session: 1am (SL time)

I choose to attend

Skoolaborate – Teens and teachers collaborating in a Virtual World: Exploring learning and subsequent heiristics used to make this global project project a success

Duration: 50 minutes

Speaker: Westley Field (RL) from Sydney Australia (click on his name for more info about what he is doing)

Moderator: Selby Evans (RL) Thinkerer Melville (SL)

Interesting thing(s): His project has been garnering students (teens say 14-16) from all parts of the world to sit together in SL and present and debate on issues. Students have been motivated with new-found skills and being leaders. He narrated one story on how this very introvert 15 year old girl (from an all-girl school) become so confident when she went through the project. It was not only SL, she was confident. She becomes confident in RL too.

Thing(s) wanted to ask: How is the presentation and debating session moderated?

Here are some print screens of the 1st session

Second session: 2 am (SL time)

I attend

Building the foundation for Second Life learning in New Zealand

Duration: 50 minutes

Speaker: Merle Lemon (RL) Briarmelle Quintessa (SL) from Auckland (click on her name for more info about what she is doing)

Moderator: CallieDel Boa

Interesting thing(s): Learning interviewing skills in SL. Learning what to wear for an interview in SL-the students were asked to choose a set of clothes from this huge room of clothes and were ask to do a catwalk at the holodeck (a must have). Students were given critique on the choice of clothes for the interview.

Here are some print screens of the 2nd session

here is a video on SLENZ

…to be continued.