Drape's Takes

I can't stop thinking about last week's Second Life International Best Practices in Education Conference. The experience was so immersive that I'm forced to admit that Second Life (as an educational tool) is not going away - as a distance education professional development tool it is simply too effective. How else can you gather thousands of people (from all around the world) into the same environment with such minimal costs and maximum benefits? Apparently, over 1,500 people attended the conference. At one point in the conference the presenter asked the participants to type in where we were located (see screen-shot below). Amazingly, I was "sitting" in a room with people from dozens of countries around the world.

The presentations were also excellent. Each detailed ways that Second Life can be used in educational settings on all levels. If you missed the conference, or any of the sessions, I highly recommend browsing the conference archives - you can view/review video from any of the sessions listed thanks to SLCN.tv. Exactly like speakers do in normal, First Life conferences, each of the presentations included multimedia presentations to enhance the learning experience. Oddly, however, well over 90% of the pictures included in such presentations were made from screen-shots taken in-world (I suppose posting copyrighted material in SL doesn't fall within Fair Use guidelines).

As an outsider looking in, huge kudos to the committee that put it all together. Specifically, I think that Ryan Bretag, Beth Ritter-Guth, and Eloise Pasteur deserve a well-earned virtual round of applause (everybody /clap) for the hundreds of hours they have put in for the cause.

Once again, excellent job - when can we do it again?


Technorati Tags: SLBPE2007 secondlife education technology

I have to admit - I thought it was a hit. The first Second Life International Best Practices in Education Conference was very interesting, to say the least. I managed to catch the first two keynotes and learned quite a bit. I walked away from the experience thinking that I would certainly do it again. I also wonder about how much work it took to pull off - behind the scenes. For example:

• How do teachers display PowerPoint slides in SL?
• How does one stream audio (or video)?
• How does a teacher gain access to TeenSL (which seems to hold promise for an effective SL classroom experience), and how can I be sure that it's truly safe in there for my students?

1. Most people are as clueless about SL as you probably are. During one particular session, participants were to grab a light-bulb and wear it on top of their heads (it was later used to vote during the session - great idea for interaction). A quick glance around the room revealed that at least half of the people there had no idea how to pick up the object. So as far as clueless goes - it's you and me both.
   
2. Second Life minus audio equals ineffective teaching. Chat just doesn't cut it. You've got to be able to interact with voice - luckily, it's apparently coming soon to a virtual world near you.
   

I'm sitting here waiting for Kenny Hubble's (Ken Hudson's) keynote to begin in the Second Life Best Practices Conference. All I hear is a barrage of camera clicks (from participants taking screen-shots - much like I have done to get this image.

As I am an SL newbie, I wasn't sure exactly how to best "experience" the conference. I originally thought that the best way to participate in the lectures is to have the Second Life client open on half of the screen, and http://slcn.tv/ open on the other side. That way you get audio with the text chat. The folks from SLCN have done a nice job in reporting on the events. Eventually, I learned that I could simply turn on the audio and experience the presentation (PowerPoint slides and all) just as I would in any other conference.

Quite a scene. I'd do it again.

Technorati Tags: secondlife education technology SLBPE2007