Had the opportunity at about 10:45 pm (EDT) last night to help gather a group of Second Life educators on the front steps of ISTE for a brief, live demo as part of Chris Smith’s (ShamblesGuru Voom’s) session on Second Life at the Learning 2.0 conference in Shanghai, China (Click here for the conference Ning). Who knew I could crowdsource? LOL! The network did the real work, as friends of friends started showing up, and others happened by when the ‘green dots’ started to accumulate on the in-world map.
Things never go as planned, and we didn’t plan much, so I want to apologize in advance if anyone felt the session was less than it could have been. DISCLAIMER: I am NOT a fan of PBWA (presenting by wandering around) but we knew we would not have a lot of time and agreed to do the best we could.
Chris had ten minutes at the end of his talk, so a tour of cool sites was virtually (ooh, bad pun) impossible – it would have meant leaving behind this neat group of people who included (starting from my right) Victoria Gloucester, Zsusa Thomsen, Gianina Rossini, Vegas Upshaw, Teacher Spitteler, Lor Fredrickson, Ravenphoenix Zenovka, and Knowclue Kidd. (Not pictured: Clare Lane, Winston Coalcliff, Kristy Flanagan, Corwin Carillon, and Macsmom Alcott and others I’m sure – sorry if I missed anyone!)
By the time I teleported Chris to ISTE, we had about 20 people there, which I’m sure made a great visual impression. The ISTE HQ is beautifully designed and perfect for large group gatherings. After some short introductions, we flew down to the campfire area, where Raven talked about the Thursday Night Socials (6pm SLT) which are fantastic networking and sharing events. Then we wandered over to the main auditorium, where even more people showed up, and where the real conversation got going.
Many people were using voice, though some were not (more on that later) but once we got through a few bugs we were able to use it reasonably effectively. We had questions from the Shanghai audience about getting started in Second Life, and I wish I had this link to Firesabre/Global Kids’ Virtual World Campus initiative handy – hopefully it will find its way to the questioner. We talked briefly about how the space is used for presentations (replicating traditional learning spaces in SL is looked down upon but I feel that doing so builds context and avatar confidence, which can and should lead to more creative uses).
Things got complicated when Victoria, a vocal opponent of voice in SL (how’s that for a paradox) began to make her eloquent case in text chat about the importance of written communication and how voice is actually harmful to the environment (no, it’s not because avatars emit Greenhouse gasses). Unwittingly, Winston Coalcliff (Chris Lehman in RL, Principal of the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia) provided the perfect illustration of one of her points as we were all treated to the catastrophic failure of an antique (and HEAVY!) chair in his house, which died with an awful sound. He apologized and we continued, but the point was emphatically made – environmental sounds can really detract from the SL experience, whether caused by disintegrating furniture, needy family members, or even background music unwittingly picked up by hypersensitive headset microphones.
We had a bit of controversy too as Winston tried to make a point about how SL’s pedigree (I believe the exact words he used were ‘sex, drugs and rock-n-roll’) should give educators pause prior to getting started with SL. (Chris, feel free to jump in here and straighten me out). I’ve blogged about this very issue myself, but I think the way the conversation happened, some people might have gotten the mistaken impression that the SD&R culture is an issue on the teen grid. IT IS NOT! There are extremely tight controls on content and inventory in Teen Second Life and educators need to understand that TSL *is* safe for kids. It’s a true walled garden with substantial security protocols and multiple protections in place. No system is perfect or infallible. I felt it was important to clarify this for everyone listening. And while SD&R is an issue on the Main Grid, it’s just like the public internet (even our RL communities) – there are dangerous places everywhere. We don’t avoid the web or stay indoors because we’re afraid. We educate ourselves … and stay away from the bad stuff. Simple as that.
Winston went on to explain (I think, Chris please correct me if I am wrong) that he meant schools need to think about pedagogy and curriculum before diving in, and that much I agree with, especially since we have the benefit of so much good work being done by the likes of Peggy Sheehy and her kids at Suffern Middle School on the Ramapo Islands project, Barry Joesph’s Global Kids, Stan Travena’s PacRimX, Peter Twinning’s Schome Park Project (click here for the project’s excellent results summary). Winston, like we say in Jersey, “You want pedagogy? We got yer pedagogy … RIGHT HERE!”
I should also point out that Winston is a resident of Carl F. Spackler Hall in SL, the think-tank/digital flophouse I run on EduIsland II, that counts among its members avatars belonging to David Warlick, Will Richardson, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, Alan November, Howard Rheingold, Sylvia Martinez, Jeff Utecht, Annette Lamb, Doug Johnson, Hall Davidson, and Andy Carvin. Admittedly, some of those folks are more active in SL than others, and that’s fine – the whole idea behind that initiative is to start a conversation (by any means possible) and for everyone to educate each other – which is what we were doing last night, from the comfort of our own homes, with a global collection of educators, at a conference half a world away. Chris and Jeff Utecht were very kind in acknowledging the effort of our group. I got this IM from Chris in-world afterwards:
[5:00] shamblesguru Voom: (Saved Sun Sep 16 00:47:04 2007) Kevin ….. that was brilliant … thanks so much for organising it in S.L. …. it had quite an impact on the audience in Shanghai.
Mission accomplished! I’d like to thank everyone who came out and made the meeting such a success. :)
After the demo ended we headed over to Knowclue Kidd’s Project Theater, where we watched an amazing music video (she still hasn’t explained to me how she did it) and another from NECC in San Diego. It worked well for the most part, but sim lag caused some problems with the media streams, and not everyone got to see or hear the videos. It happens … they don’t call it bleeding edge for nothing! Fortunately, I have an unlimited supply of virtual band-aids and an insatiable appetite for learning – so as long as SL is around and viable, I’ll be there, exploring, meeting people, promoting MUVEs in education, learning, and growing. Is it “the next big thing? Is it “all that and a bag of chips?” Will it be the dominant MUVE platform a year from now? I dunno. I *DO* know it will be what *WE* make it.
As Alan Kay said, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” So, if you’ll excuse me, I have some future to invent…
-kj-
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