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| Finally, I am at Selmo Park! |
Exploring the Second Life website was quite an experience. I have been on Second Life once before, not by choice, but because I was assigned to for a class (like many of you). When first logging on, I was very surprised by the detail and various options that were available. But after being on a second run through, I realized that the graphics were really not all that special. Nor was the whole point of the program.
I consider myself very experienced when it comes to video games and graphics, but the Second Life world was hard to get a hold of. I found the program user friendly; once the time (which was more than I expected) was put into learning how to maneuver the avatar. I spent a long time reading the signs and directions on how to explore, that by the time I knew what I was doing I was VERY ready to get off of Second Life and go back to my real life! Though I did not know what I was doing in the beginning, I considered myself to have come a long way with reading, gesturing, changing clothing, and talking with other avatars.
After finally finding Selmo Park, I made my way to EdTech Island. I found an area for video tutorials where students could log in and watch a “how to” video on any given subject. I thought this was very neat, and the fact that a student could log on at any time and learn a lesson was awesome!
Within my yearbook class I teach, I use video tutorials quite often when teaching the students how to function the yearbook creation website we use. Videos make it easy because I play the video and while students are watching the video, I also have them doing it on their own computers (I pause of course, to make sure everyone has figured it out).
Overall, I must say that logging onto Second Life always seems to be an unpleasant experience. I feel that it is not something that I could use currently in my classes because the time issue would be a huge downfall to have to practice in the face to face classroom. However, if I ever have the time down the road I may be able to tweak it down the road. Something that came to mind was to make it a summer project for my incoming yearbook staff. I could have them create avatars and watch video tutorials (about uploading pictures, photography basics, grammar practice, etc…) over the summer, so that when they come back to school, they would be one step ahead! Below are some other articles I found regarding ideas and ways to incorporate Second Life into educational settings.
And a great podcast from NPR... The School Of Second Life
Maybe I just needed this to help me get it? 
Learning to teleport in Second Life makes the game/tool so much easier. Flying aimlessly is annoying.
ReplyDeleteJamie, your approach seems to be much like mine. I got the photo first since it was worth so many points. Then I got lucky and was "friended" by someone that taught me how to teleport. I agree with Lucy, flying aimlessly was a little frustrating because I didn't know where I was going.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to read your full post, nothing better than venting some frustration on a post. I am not a huge fan of Second Life, but I bet you will find something positive about it.
ReplyDeleteHa, I couldn't agree more!
ReplyDeleteSorry you had a hard time Jamie...I just played around with the basic then went to the advanced and it seemed to work well.
ReplyDeleteAgain, I think time could be used more productively in other areas..
ReplyDeleteI think I learned a lot from a few youtube videos and then was able to get around but had no real goal or destination in mind. Just wandered and bumped into things by accident. I don't have endless amounts of time to explore. If I really had to learn SL maybe a scavenger hunt would help. Hope you didn't get too frustrated.
ReplyDeleteI think I need the book SL for Dummies, I hate those titles but they are usually very helpful.
ReplyDeletei wonder if I would like SL better if I did it in a F2F class and had some support instead of the singular make it work approach I took. I think some demonstrations with hints and tips would have made the experience, even the second time more enjoyable.
Great post! It's not one of my favorite tool but UCM does/did have a few users. I can't see myself using this though...
ReplyDelete