Second+Life

=Second Life=


 * 1. INTRODUCTION TO SECOND LIFE**

Questions:
 * What do you know about Second life already?
 * What do you hope to achieve from our session today?

We'll start by watching two brief videos that provide an introductory overview of what happens in the Second Life educational community.

Video 1. A snapshot of education in Second Life, including educational locations, tools and learning archetypes that are applicable to Second Life (MaryAnn CLT).

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Video 2. An **inspirational introduction** to the potential of Second Life, from the NMC's Symposium on Creativity:

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Video 3: Pedagogy in Virtual Worlds

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 * 2. GETTING STARTED IN SECOND LIFE :** Making and customising an avatar

I strongly suggest you enter via [|the NMC's registration portal], as it means you will enter into a G rated, educator-friendly orientation area.

The first thing we're going to be doing is making an avatar and learning how to customise it a little. We'll spend more time on this later so don't worry too much now.

//Video Tutorial: How to edit appearance (Torley Linden)//

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 * 3. LEARNING HOW TO WALK, FLY, TELEPORT AND COMMUNICATE

We'll spend some time now learning and practising some of the basics. Some people estimate that there is about a 7 hour learning curve for adults (less for the computer-savvy adult or somebody who has "grown up digital"). This definitely impacts upon teaching but the pay off is worth it! A few very short and simple video tutorials will get us started:

//Video Tutorial: Moving and Flying in Second Life// //(Torley Linden)//

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//Video Tutorial: Using the camera controls// //(Torley Linden)//

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//Video Tutorial: Teleporting and Landmarks (Torley Linden)

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When ready, we will explore three places: 1) the NMC main islands 2) The University of Sydney islands 3) Jokaydia 4. EDUCATION IN SECOND LIFE**

If you are an educator wondering about the overall potential of using a virtual world in an educational context, I highly recommend Jo Kay and Sean Fitzgerald's wiki on the Educational Uses of Second Life (see an overview in images in the slideshow above by Jo Kay) and SimTeach's [|The Who, Where, When and How of Second Life as a Teaching Tool] as a starting point.

In Jokaydia, locate the education hub and we'll spend a few minutes exploring some of the recommended educational spaces.

** 5. HISTORY, FEATURES AND AFFORDANCES OF SECOND LIFE **.

 * Slides: A sociocultural overview of Second Life**

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Some of the affordances I like to discuss when talking about virtual communities in general, and Second Life in particular, include:
 * the nature of the avatar
 * the nature of online role-playing
 * the potential for digital storytelling
 * the easy construction of film - machinima
 * the use of the esoteric and metaphorical qualities of the space to explore any field - in my case, literary worlds.

a) What makes Second Life unique and of interest to so many different groups of people? b) What do some of the stories and case studies tell us about the worth of a space such as Second Life in their lives? c) What are some of the potentials for using Second Life in and across a range of contexts? d) How might you now answer your own questions before viewing the slides? What is left unanswered?
 * Reflection:**


 * 6. THE AVATAR AS A NEW LITERACY**

Let's go shopping and develop our avatars to reflect our favourite persona from literature! Each person will be given some funds from Angela and some locations for shopping.

//Video Tutorial: How to go shopping in Second Life// //(Torley Linden)//

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//Video Tutorial: Unpacking a box (Torley Linden)//

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 * 7. INTERMEDIATE SKILLS**

Task: We will write a brief story (on a notecard) to explain our avatar choice - why is this figure important or special to us? Make a placard, upload a snapshot of your avatar to texture the placard, insert a notecard into the placard so that when clicked the user will be given the notecard.

//Video: The origins of a prim (Philip Rosedale)

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//Video Tutorial: Creating a notecard (Torley Linden)

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Video Tutorial: Making, stretching and texturing a prim (Torley Linden)

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8. **STORY QUESTS!**

Let's look at [|the Storyworlds Project]

First, a short film:

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Let's go and explore ourselves! (Storybook Island 36, 212, 22)


 * 9. ADVANCED SKILLS**

Let's go sculpting! We'll learn some simple building skills through sculpting and texturing a human figure.


 * Additional Video Resources:**

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Look me up on Second Life - Anya Ixchel