Great day!

Well, today was a pretty amazing day.

• The Chronicle article came out today
• taught and started to bring my class into SL
• finished the Faculty Resource Room to the point it needed to be for the GoPrint installation on Tuesday
• A student finally came in during the open lab hours and I was able to help her get her account (thanks NMC) and also get her started.

One thing I thought was pretty amazing was how both in my class and in the open lab, those signing in took to the command structure pretty quickly (fly, walk, directions, etc…)

• went to the gym
• build the CHSS Beach
• joined and placed the CHSS Dorms (thanx SR)
• parceled off the areas so the name would appear in the title.

Where’s that can of whoop ass?

Does absence make the heart grow fonder?

I’ve been wrapped up in the vortex that is the start of the Fall semester. I’m teaching two classes this semester, a writing class and my usual New Student Seminar course. Both will be required to have accounts on: Second Life, MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter, and I’ve just decided to add Skype. To what extent each of these is used will depend on the direction the courses take. Second Life will be the most widely used. More on that at is progresses.

While working on some prep for class I began thinking about what I would want from life. I went back to something I’d written not so long ago and found that I’d listed seven different items:
* Freedom with my time
* Eat well
* Be healthy
* Enjoy the company of others
* Travel frequently
* Live comfortably
* Laugh a lot

These are not listed in order. :- )

Virtual Worlds Hot Topics Discussion at the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference in Seattle

I am thrilled to announce that EDUCAUSE has scheduled a Virtual Worlds Hot Topics Discussion for this year's Annual Conference in Seattle. The conference will take place from October 23rd to the 26th at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center.

Details on the full convention can be found here - http://www.educause.edu/e07

The Virtual Worlds Hot Topic Discussion will be held on Thursday, October 25th from 12:45pm to 2:15pm (PDT) in Room 211. The description of this event is:

Will teaching in a virtual environment really be the next big thing? A number of institutions and faculty think so, and that number is growing. This session brings together those who want to discuss how virtual learning environments impact all facets of the institution. Given the position of Second Life in this arena, it will probably dominate most discussions.

http://www.educause.edu/E07/Program/11073?PRODUCT_CODE=E07/CI17

I've made arrangements for there to be a laptop, project, and a static IP address which will enable us to stream SL into the conference location. Streaming the conference into SL is going to be up to us. More on that in a second.

If you are planning on attending EDUCAUSE, please make sure to include this event on your schedule. A good show this year could very well lead to a great commitment from EDUCAUSE ( i.e., I'm working to try and establish a Constituent Group, etc...)

If you have not decided if you will be attending, I hope this will push you off the fence. :-) Its usually a good conference, plus...I'll be there! :-)

If you cannot attend, I'm hoping you'll attend the in-world session.

I am looking for volunteers on two fronts:
1) people who can help work on the technology aspect of this with me
2) people who are willing to work as in-world organizers.

Please respond to me directly (sorry.afk@gmail.com).

More on this as it comes together.

The crosses we all bear

I’m seeing press about the “wackier” side of SL crop up. What I am not seeing is mention that vampires, scantily clad females, and leatherfolks were not the only people attending this convention.

Of course not, who wants to read that an exceptional group of academics gathered to potentially change the way learning happens.

Instead, the people who read these stories, the people who pay the fees to make sure the magazine can print these stories, they all want to see pictures of a buxom girl pulling around a guy with a collar.

So how much are we to blame and how much is the media to blame. And I don’t mean “we” as in those who went to the conference or support Second Life – I mean we as a media-consuming public.

We accept these standards, well, some of us do, anyway

It just seems, though, that saying “stop paying attention”, but that seems almost as silly as the “don’t buy gas for one day” idea. Neither are silly in principle…application is another thing.

So what can we do? What do YOU think we can do?

Airplane Seats

Ok - this is so off topic, but its a great thing, so I'm sharing.

How many times have you booked a flight and wondered if your seats are going to suck? Wonder no more, for there is http://www.seatguru.com/

Pick your airline, pick your plane type, and seatguru.com tells you a whole bunch of great information about the plane and your seat.

Svarga

http://slurl/secondlife.com/Svarga/128/128/0
This is a must see for everyone! If you haven’t been there, go there as soon as you finish reading this blog. Once you are there, wait for everything to rez, and to the right of the telehub is a small cart you can sit in to take a tour. If there isn’t one there, wait – its worth the 6 minutes or so the tour takes.

This island is as amazing as it is beautiful. I’m certain that this is going to take several trips back just to scratch the surface. Like Spaceport Alpha, there were a number of people visiting, showing that it is not JUST events that draw people in Second Life, although this island is, itself, somewhat of an event. UNLIKE Spaceport Alpha, the lag was minimal.

One thing that is important to note, I believe those who manage Svarga limit the number of avatars that can enter. So it is possible that you might try and get the “Could Not Teleport”. Try again, if that happens

The second time back I hopped out of the telehub and headed for the giant metal doors. Clicking the welcome sign opens this huge door, with a great accompanying sound.

The big problem with Svarga is not knowing where to look first. The second big problem is not wanting to miss anything.

I headed to the northwest along the first path I saw. The thunder rolling is a great addition, total atmosphere. I eventually found myself at a building with Elven musical instruments in it. After entering I right clicked one set of drums and selected PLAY ME. The picture says the rest. I only wish I could have found others to come with me so we all could have played. I’m going to wander back around at my leisure, coming back more times than I’m sure I’ll care to recount.
[note. – while I was writing this blog, and playing the drums, I shouted out to some of the folks within 96m. A super friendly person named Mellifera Slade came and found me and played the drums with me. We learned how to interact with the environment together, enjoyed playing the drums, and had a great time. Here’s a picture of us (thanks Mellifera!).]

So, what does this have to do with education? Simple – someone built something of interest and people come to see it and experience it. I liked these musical instruments and figured out how to play them. But someone has to anticipate that I might want to play them. These drums, the alcoves, all the other wild experiences, someone had to sit down and think about what it was that would interest people. They (the Svarga Gods) figured out how to make this island “sticky”, using web terms. People come, they come back, they enjoy, and they tell others.

So how do we do that with our material. How do we get away from simply recreating the “chalk and talk”. How do we create the environment in which our students want to learn, want to explore, want to figure things out for themselves? How do you do it in real life? How do you, or do you think you would, do it in Second Life? Each day, something else about all this amazes me.

It might not be as good as sex, but...

One of the things I have on my never-ending to-do list is to add something to one of my blogs each day. I try to keep to that. I determined that I should take a mere 10 minutes out of my day and write this to-be-posted item.

Well, it seems as if I can write an awful lot in five minutes. I don’t like to read really long blogs. Its not that I don’t want to see what others have to say, I just don’t have the time. Now, some blogs need to be long – but my daily rant isn’t one of them – at least not all the time. So, I’ve decided to cut my allocated time for this in half, to five minutes. Lets see what comes of it.

Well, it might not be as good as sex, but having my first paper published feels pretty damn good. After weeks of work, and a last minute revision to update statistics, my EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR) Research Bulletin was published yesterday. The Title is “Second Life: Reaching into the Virtual World for Real-World Learning” and here is the description.

Second Life: Reaching into the Virtual World for Real-World Learning
by Alan J. Kelton
Volume 2007, Issue 17
13 pages

Abstract: This research bulletin examines the current state of Second Life in relation to the educational environment. Although literature about virtual worlds dates back many years, this bulletin reflects on more recent publications that discuss both technological and pedagogical issues. Content is drawn from interviews with educators and innovators who are already involved in building campuses, teaching classes, and providing resources to those using Second Life.

Unfortunately for many, ECAR is a pay-for service, so unless your institution subscribes to ECAR, this document won’t be in the public domain for 18 months.