I had intended that the post Connected World in Second Life would be my last in the series on Second Life (SL) this month. Well, I just have to squeeze in another.
Being a new ISTE member and an avid enthusiast for learning, I happened to touch down on ISTE Island yesterday and met up with friend and fellow educator, Louise Borgnine.
She was assisting with the first of a series of intermediate sessions for educators in SL facilitated by Southern Georgia.
The objective was to learn how to do things that will enhance teaching presentations in SL. The venue was over at Brahma.
Being new to all of what is SL, and in much need of the associated skills, I accepted Louise’s advice to teleport to the workshop.
The number of attendees was impressive. I must say that I found the facilitators extremely helpful. When I got stuck (and I did!) there was no end of assistance ready at hand. That’s what good keen educators are like I guess. Always ready to help a willing learner.
Something else impressed me, and that was how wonderful it was to arrive at a distant venue, be attending a session with people from different countries, and be greeted with the customary formalities without having to shift out of my ergonomic chair.
Kallan, wearing his ISTE student badge
There were other features that made me feel welcome. It was a participatory session. I was recognised by the facilitator by name, and he acknowledged me being there more than once. That was something special for one who is so new to SL and feeling a bit anonymous.
Then there were the facilitators, among them docent Tuxedo, who was kind and helpful. She was especially helpful when I dropped my laptop and got left behind. Tuxedo helped me pick it all up, and got me started again and following Southern’s instructions.
This was no ordinary workshop, yet it had the presence and feel of a real life workshop.
I learnt a lot. I even got some session notes to take away, as well as a free digital TV presentation screen, which I managed to get working.
“What’s with SL?” I hear my readers say. What’s possessed Blogger in Middle-earth to let himself be led astray by all this virtual reality stuff? I read some comments to that effect on a post only a day or so ago.
No. I don’t think I’m being led astray here. It is the reality of virtual conferencing – no less contrived than video conferencing, with a lot more freedom to move about and participate.
We had a participatory session at the end when Southern rallied us to flex our new-learnt skills in a game of look and see – an active finish to a rigourous session in using the camera facility in SL.
A transparent dice box, suspended in mid virtual space, rolled the dice for us to observe and call. It wasn’t easy, for we had to navigate our cameras in which ever direction was called, to declare the numbers on the dice. It was fun – as much fun as I have had at many well run training sessions in real life.
Next day, I dropped into the ISTE Conference Centre to be greeted yet again with a welcoming smile, this time from docent Mo Hax. He was kind enough to chat and pass on to me his useful site on SL.
These people are volunteers. They are trained educators and they are teaching their hearts out in SL. I might just drop in on another session some time soon. What do you reckon?
Learner motivation differs in each learner according to circumstance. Yet a common factor shared by many elearners, of all ages, is their isolation.
This year, I feel privileged to have a daughter who is studying in her first year of a BA course in Fine Art at AUT. I’m equally as fortunate to also watch her younger sister pilot her way through her first examinable year at High School.
The role of the parent
My daughters are capable learners, but I’m always aware of the roles my wife and I play in providing necessary support with their study.
As parents and supervisors, we are appreciative spectators, sounding boards, mentors, fund managers and sometimes even punch-pillows, for we love our daughters dearly.
Hannah is hostelling in Auckland; her family lives in Wellington. The presence of the Internet and reliable mobile phone reception permit a free flow of communication which we take advantage of every day. Despite the 500 kilometres between us, these digital links can close the distance, effectively at times to within a few centimetres.
Motivation and support
While adult learners often have a maturity that permits a greater focus on engagement, some can find it just as difficult to knuckle down to study as do teenagers. Elearners need support, and not only from their learning resources or their teachers.
A solo mother can find her motivation for learning academic skills dulled through the importance of her necessary child-care responsibilities.
A mother, who has a partner who may be less committed to her study, can meet similar snags to her motivation.
In much the same way as the younger learner needs support from parents or caregivers, a learner who is in a relationship needs support from his or her partner.
The eteacher may well be aware of circumstances where an elearner’s home lacks necessary study support. But what can a teacher do about such a situation so that there is benefit to the learner?
Teacher-caregiver support
Relationships between the teacher and the learner's caregiver can play an important part in assisting home support. Caregivers are not always aware of the needs of the learner. For instance, aspects such as the need for access to a computer and other study requisites may not be understood.
Communication between teacher and caregiver can often help solve learner difficulties. But sometimes it is as demanding for the teacher to engage the supervisor as it is to engage the learner.
How on earth do eteachers go about tackling this challenging task?
Maka, Huntress and Kallan enjoying a night out dancing
This is the last of a series of September posts summarising some of what I’ve learnt while looking around Second Life (SL).
Exploring SL from the elearning perspective, there is a range of features that facilitate communication, making it an accessible networking tool.
Here are the features I’ve found most useful during the 3 weeks I have been exploring in SL:
Local chat and voice
This feature provides synchronous text or voice communication. In local text chat, selecting the range of communication provides a means of control over the ‘loudness’ of the chat.
Normal chat can be ‘heard’ within a virtual range of 20 m from the participant’s avatar. A whisper cuts the range to 10 m, whereas a shout extends it to 100 m (SL).
Instant Message (IM)
Instant Messaging provides a direct means to communicate across SL between two avatars. This is useful if there's a need for close communication between two avatars when in company. It has global range in SL and permits avatars to chat asychronously if need be. Avatar profile
There are often delays in chat when avatars meet for the first time. This is mainly due to the customary practice of mutual avatar profile checking during an initial conversation.
There are sections or tabs in the avatar profile where useful information can be put by the avatar’s owner.
Since most of this added content is viewable by others, it pays to give careful thought to what’s entered that is viewable by the 'public'. It can be helpful to those you meet and save a lot of misunderstanding. Drop-box transfer between inventories
Each avatar has its own Inventory – an accumulated ordered series of virtual commodities. These can be images (Textures), text files (Notecards) and sound files (Sounds) or more particularly .wav files and other items such as scripted objects that have specific functions in SL.
A simple click-and-drag from the inventory of the giver to the drop-box of the recipient permits a copy of the item to be transferred across SL. Media Browser
A built in browser provides ready access to the Internet direct from SL. As well, the Media Browser can be set so that the browser on the user's PC opens by default. I found this a useful function as it permitted a separate browser window to be opened on the screen giving greater flexibility of use. Ratings in SL
On 15 September 2009, Linden Lab successfully separated the "adult content" from the general grid. This is a welcome move, for business people and educators using SL, towards a safer and pleasanter environment. It is also a good move for the reputation of Second Life.
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height; And far away into the sickly light, From many a wondrous grot and secret cell Unnumbered and enormous polypi Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
Alfred Lord Tennyson
My love of fantasy has taken me deeper into Second life (SL) than I’d imagined. The distinction between reality and fantasy becomes more diffuse with every minute I spend in these regions. Coming back to RL (real life) is a bit like walking out to a daylit street from an exciting and gripping movie. It puts a new perspective on reality.
The effect that SL has on the mind can be powerful if the imagination is energised. For a few minutes after logging off, I wonder if real life isn’t all virtual too. It makes me think again about what some people say about violent virtual games and the effect they may have on the real life behaviour of some people.
But like every other thought stimulation, SL is just another influence. Persona and personality are two entirely different things.
Real adventure
A recent sojourn into SL found me a delightful companion, Zylle (zill).
Like me, she is new to SL but she has a little more experience and that is useful to me. We share our interests and our fascination for SL in conversation, while we show each other around islands that we'd discovered in the short time since we were rezzed.
part of Kalepa
The other night we took off to the volcanic island of Kalepa, one of Zylle’s favourite spots. It is an enchanting place with lots to explore, including a sail in a gondola and a journey on a huge enchanted feather.
On our second visit to the island, she took me on the Da Vinci Gardens Indiana Jones Adventure.
Here we entered the lobby, close to the entrance to the tomb of the Pharaoh where the Sarcophagus and treasure chamber lay.
Among the rich assemblage of Egyptian statues, treasure chests and ornate accoutrements, were opportunities to actively participate in snake charming, or try a spot of belly dancing, supervised by the resident genie-of-the-lamp.
Kallan watching Zylle belly dancing
Our quest for the treasure chest was fraught with unimaginable peril.
Zylle had to teleporte me to safety from the deathly pit of cobras and avatar-eating spiders at least twice. I wasn’t at my ease in those circumstances and had to keep saying to myself, “this is SL!”
We found the treasure chest eventually, but unfortunately neither of us could lift any of the treasure it contained. Getting back out to the sunny sands of Kalepa meant retracing our steps! I was relieved to get out.
While looking around outside, we spotted Felixx, the developer of Kalepa! We identified him by his name tag as the owner of all that we had seen in Kalepa.
We approached him, and after brief introductions, he kindly showed us around. Felixx teleported us to his customer service depot where we had a chat and shared a few of our interests.
Felixx meeting Kallan and Zylle
I think he was taken with our interest in his work. He gave us the link to a recent video made in Kalepa, starring Alissa Moreno, singing and accompanying herself on piano.
I got the impression time was running short for Felixx. He had lots to get on with, yet he continued to show us around.
When Zylle explained that we’d been to Sunken Atlantis, he asked, “Did you take a ride on the sea-horses?” We hadn’t.
So off we went, teleport-fashion, to ride the sea-horses in the “slumbering green”.
Kallan and Zylle on the sea-horse chariot
Felixx took a snapshot of us as we rode into the depths, and bid us farewell. This journey was amazing, for it revealed the true beauty of Felixx’s animations.
He explained that he first got into building in SL when he'd been out of work for some months, during which time he taught himself the ropes, while building his amazing fantasy land.
He told us that, as a student, he'd studied Biochemistry. He had a PhD in Genetics. I could see where his love for detail in nature came from.
A shipwreck, a lost treasure chest and a visit from a giant octopus set the scene for much adventure. The next evening, we were in Hawaii and met Pawn who had been newly rezzed. As dutiful avatars, we helped him with some of the basic skills in SL, and a few more tricks, not that I knew much! Swimming underwater with the dolphins was a great introduction to having fun with animation in SL.
Zylle and Pawn swimming with the dolphins
But Kalepa is obviously the place to go for ‘real’ adventure. So off we went, only to meet Felixx, once again! He so much wanted to demonstrate what he could do to entertain us and had us fascinated as he scripted the crocodiles to fight with each another.
Zylle and Kallan look on as Felixx scripts the crocodiles
Isn’t Zylle’s hair wonderful? She decided she needed a complete change after losing her hair while playing chess with Pawn earlier.
Felixx’s power with scripting allowed him to work magic with the Sarcophagus of the Pharaoh.
Kallan, Pawn and Zylle watch as Felixx scripts the Sarcophagus
Later, we decided to take up Felixx’s earlier advice to visit Mars! We’d spent too much time on the seahorses the evening before to enter the underwater spaceship that takes us to Mars from Sunken Atlantis.
It was count down . . . - 3, - 2, - 1, - 0 . . . “We have lift off!”
The journey was somewhat rocky. But with me in the controls, what would you expect? When we landed, we decided it was better that Zylle took the controls on the Mars buggy! Did you know that’s there’s water on Mars? And all sorts of fantasy plant life?
And mushrooms! Or are they Marsrooms? For Jaba the Hut?
Zylle got us safely to the observation tower, where we took a drink from the bar, relaxed a bit and enjoyed the view.
Throughout the adventure, at the back of my mind I was making mental notes on the potential Second Life had in providing a platform for elearning. Its networking potential, for me, is implicit.
In a flight of fantasy, one need not wonder if even romance is possible in Second Life.
Learner motivation differs in each learner according to circumstance. Yet a common factor shared by many elearners, of all ages, is their isolation.
My continued study of distance learners and elearners makes me aware that isolation is experienced by a significant cohort within that group. (By distance learners, I mean those who are not necessarily following a course with an e-component).
Adult and younger learners have so many different circumstances. The disposition of the adolescent, for instance, creates a cohort of its own.
A few recent visits to Second Life (SL) has confirmed for me how important the support met within an elearning environment is to the elearner.
I am new to SL. There is so much there to learn. During the explorations I made intermittently over a period of only a few days, I visited many different and interesting places.
Because of the significant time difference between New Zealand and the rest of the world, I often found that I navigated my avatar across islands on my own, for I was the only visitor on these islands.
For me this can be a lonely experience, especially when one of my goals is to improve my skills in communicating and sharing with other SL visitors. However, in New Zealand there is a growing interest in SL. It's significant that most of the friends I've made in SL are actually from New Zealand (in real life).
Luckily I did meet people. The ones that I made friends with have been extremely helpful, and nearly all have been fun and interesting to be with. They provide the necessary components of friendship and sharing elearners so often need.
For as much as the asynchronous environments of a blog, wiki or Internet forum can provide much enrichment, and they do, the almost instantaneous feedback and feeling of companionship that’s experienced in a synchronous environment is astonishing.
A few of my SL friends are also learning about SL as, like me, they too are new to the environment. We share our experiences and fun, as well as our gliches and difficulties. All this is so necessary for facile learning. It is for me in SL.
And here may lie a difference, I think, between using a blog or wiki, and using a synchronous environment, in learning. I’ve found that the new visitors, newly rezzed in SL like myself, are a lot of fun to be with. The sharing that happens is also something that impresses me.
Not that this doesn’t happen in blogging. It most certainly does. But the immediacy of the interaction and the almost tangible nuances of the personal contact in a synchronous environment like SL is breath-taking. At least, it is for me. It's magic!
Last year, I listened to Clare Atkins talk of Koru at the DEANZ Conference, Wellington. I watched as Nancy White met with Clare (or rather Choconancy1 met with Arwenna) on Koru Island, just one of many virtual islands in Second Life (SL).
This weekend I ventured into Second Life as a first time visitor. Here are my first impressions.
Having done the requisite registration and created my avatar, I set off to visit ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) Island. I followed the link to Blogger’s Hut given to me by Scott Merrick who announced the nomination of my other blog Blogger in Middle-earth for Blog-o-the-Month sponsored by ISTE.
Getting the hang of a few mobility controls was easy, assisted by an easy-to-follow tutorial.
Blogger’s Hut sits among many other similar and some larger buildings, as well as stadia, conference centres and concourses on the island - an educator’s dream. The Island’s clean, freshly cropped grassy terrain and its shrubs and trees reminded me of Kinloch, a little village on the North Shore of Lake Taupo, New Zealand.
I felt quite at home walking about the precincts of the hut. I met Scott’s friendly ginger pussy-cat snoozing nearby.
I think I was extremely fortunate to meet up with a few very helpful ISTE Second Life members, among them PZ Zadark, from Mexico, who took me off to meet Snowflake and Aviva. After a brief conversation following introductions, Aviva invited me to become an ISTE SL member, which I accepted.
Exploring the Island was an experience. I enjoyed the flying – a far more efficient way of moving about from place to place on an island. Having got the hang of flying and then returning to terra firma, as it were, I happened to be soaring across the Munroe Public School building, when I decided to drop down to have a look.
Unfortunately, I stopped flying immediately above the swimming pool there, only to find that I dropped right to the bottom of the pool. No problem. It’s SL. I started to explore underwater and was delighted to see that the pool designer had a sense of humour. Along the base of the pool is a lamp-lit street with a mural of the moon on one side and a couple of what look like vacant shop premises on the other.
One of the shops sports the sign, “Second Life Education Resources”! Now that’s funny!
PZ also gave me the teleport coordinates for the Science Centre, Info Island. I teleported straight to Info Island! Best ever way to travel.
This was a most interesting excursion. I visited a memorial exhibition, Slane College of Communications and Fine Arts Gallery, in memory of author Philip José Farmer who died early this year. It features Cover Art from International Exhibitions of his works.
I recalled my experience in the swimming pool when I came across dolphins frolicking in the water outside Bradley University main building. I didn’t pass up the experience of having a virtual swim with the dophins.
Living in New Zealand means that at certain times during the day there would be very few educators who would be visiting ISTE Island. Most of my time was spent exploring alone. But on one occasion, early on, and being new to teleportation, I happened to choose ‘Go Home’ when selecting a destination. I found myself at Bay City Airport.
This destination was not the most enamouring. Lots of people there. But like most airports I’ve been to, it made me feel I wanted to teleport out of the place, soon as.
Being a new ISTE member and an avid enthusiast for learning,
Kallan, wearing his ISTE student badge
Then there were the facilitators, among them docent Tuxedo, who was kind and helpful. She was especially helpful when I dropped my laptop and got left behind. Tuxedo helped me pick it all up, and got me started again and following Southern’s instructions.
No. I don’t think I’m being led astray here. It is the reality of virtual conferencing – no less contrived than video conferencing, with a lot more freedom to move about and participate.
