Sloan-C Workshop

From June 20 through yesterday, June 29, I've been participating in an online workshop offered by the Sloan Consortium titled "Learning Online 2.0: Engaging, Interacting and Syndicating Applications." I was actually surprised at how much I already know about web 2.0 applications.

As part of the workshop, each participant had to review a web 2.0 application and post the review in a wiki. I reviewed Second Life since I've been spending a lot of time there lately.

I'm going to include part of my review here because these are things I've been thinking about a lot lately:

Educational Potential

As many people are realizing, SL has a lot of potential for educational uses. (Dozens of colleges, universities, libraries, and professional organizations are currently using SL.) Some of the ways SL can be used have been documented on the SLEducation (Second Life in Education) wiki. For me the greatest potential of SL is for networking and my own professional development.


Cautions

The lack of web access is a definite disadvantage for students who do not own computers and depend on a school's computer labs, even if the institution is fully supporting the educational use of SL and permits the software to be downloaded to all computers on campus. The software is also frequently updated, which would make maintenance on campus more time consuming.

. . . As I mentioned, SL has a lot of potential, but we need to be careful not to try to do things in SL that can be done better with other tools or in other venues.

Renaissance Classroom in SL

Here's a snapshot of me (Floria) outside the Renaissance Classroom on Renaissance Island in Second Life.

Literature Alive! Renaissance Classroom

I finished making a presentation on the sonnet for Desideria Stockton's Literature Alive! Renaissance Classroom in Second Life. I also created a t-shirt to be distributed for free.

There are now four members of CCC SLED.

SL Memberships

In addition to CCC SLED, of which I'm the only member right now, and SLolar Central, I've also joined the following profession-related groups in Second Life:

• Best Practices in Education
• Early Music Group
• ISTE: Educational Technology Association
• Literature Alive!
• NMC Guests
• NMC Teachers Buzz
• Parish of Reading Primley (Renaissance Island residents)
• Renaissance Island Dancers
• Sloan-C

Second Life Projects

This week I put together a presentation on the sonnet for the Renaissance Classroom that's part of Beth Ritter-Guth's Literature Alive! project. I still need to write up some study questions to go with the presentation. I'm also working on a presentation on research for her Collaboration Station.

Two other people who work for the Colorado Community College System have posted in the SLED (Second Life EDucators) listserv since I joined it. I contacted both of them, and they were interested in an SL group, so I created CCC SLED in Second Life. I also let some other people know about it. If we actually get a few more members, I'll look into creating a RL group using Google or Yahoo!

SL Membership and Shopping

I couldn't figure out how to get both pictures in one post, so I'm creating this one with a picture of the inside of "my" house.

I've spent some time, probably too much shopping for Renaissance clothing and furniture. In some cases, I've had to settle for medieval.

I've also upgraded my SL membership to premium. I figure that the signing bonus and weekly stipend will be almost what I paid for an annual membership.

My Continuing Adventures in Second Life

I'm afraid I haven't been spending much time at SLolar Central this week--at least since Wednesday. I've rented a house on Renaissance Island. Here's a picture of the outside. The house is right next to a building that is being used for a Renaissance literature classroom.

I met the woman who is organizing the project, Desideria Stockton (SL). She sent a message to the SLED (Second Life Educators) listserv about a Collaboration Station with information for students on composition, technical writing, business writing, and journalisting writing. I e-mailed her for more information, and she invited me to help with the design, so I am. At this point, I'm not good at building, but I can provide content on research and other topics. I'm also going to provide content on sonnets for the Renaissance classroom.

Second Life Scholars (SLolars)

I've been accepted into a program, Second Life Scholars (SLolars), that will give me free office space for a month while I explore Second Life; learn how to move, communicate, build, etc.; and, hopefully, get to know people. Here's a snapshot of me in front of my desk today. The chair, which I modified, and the rug were in my library. I bought the roses, lamp, and laptop in world, and I made the plant stand and bean-bag chair. (I love the lamp because it's stained glass, and I can turn it on and off.) I tried making another chair, but I couldn't figure out how to make it let me sit on it in the right place. I've also done a fair amount of looking around. I'll write more about that later.