hit the ground running in second life
DESCRIPTION
Presentation from a workshop given at the 2007 Summer NMC Conference.TRANSCRIPT
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Hit The Ground Running In Second Life
Questions:
How long have you been in Second Life?• Never, I didn’t create my account yet.• I’ve created an account but didn’t log in.• I’ve logged in but done nothing.• I’ve completed Orientation Island.• I’ve been exploring but I still consider myself a newbie.• I consider myself past the beginner stage so maybe I’m in the wrong workshop.
What do hope to leave with by the end of the workshop?
Presentation Outline:
• What is Second Life?• Why use it in the classroom?• Can I run it on my computer?• How does one get started?• Challenges?• How can I find other educators using Second Life?• Do you have any resources for me?• What’s next?
Heidi Trotta and Nick Noakes
Copyright Heidi Trotta, Nick Noakes, 2007. This work is the intellectual property of the authors. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the authors, however, we would be flattered!
What is Second Life?
• Online, 3-D interactive space• Downloadable client program• Enables “residents” to interact with each other through avatars• Provides social networking• Residents can explore, meet others, participate in individual and group activities, create, trade items and services from one another• Not a game – a space!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxj8RTW4ev4
Why are you interested in using Second Life in Education?
• Engages students• Encourages active learning and collaboration • Brings real world experiences into the classroom via technology• Allows for role-play and the “trying on” of different real-world identities
This content is so dry and
boring!
So Cool!
Why use Second Life (con’t)?
• Adds a sense of presence not available in other online environments
• Gives students the ability to interact with others outside of the university community
• Creates new landscapes for work, learning, teaching and collaborating
• Encourages higher level cognitive skills – interpreting, analyzing, discovering, evaluating and problem solving
• Provides an environment for creativity and innovation
Introduction to Second Life – A Movie
Technical Considerations for Education
• Account Setup - Challenging
• High Learning Curve
• Labor Intensive – Processing, Updates, Need Broadband
• Online support and scaffolding needed
How do I get started?
– Create an account – Login– Movement – Communication – Inventory– Changing your appearance and clothes– Searching– Notecards
How do I get started?Click the orange Join Now button to create an account – free or $
Download the client and you are ready to
go!
How do you move?
Fly:Page Up, Page Down
Hitch a Ride
Walk: Arrow Keys
Teleport
Communication - Chat
View > Chat History
Communication – Instant Message
View > Chat History
Changing Your Appearance and Clothes
Handout
Your clothes are in your inventory. Find someplace to change
that is private!
Don’t forget to take your current clothes
off first by right clicking on yourself, choose “Take Off”.
Find the piece of clothing you want to wear, right click and
choose “Wear”.
Search for People, Places, Events
Many different options
Give items away by dropping on
profile here
Search for Groups with Similar Interests – NMC Guests
Join
Location
Teleport
Search for Places - World Map
Find “Notecards” in your inventory, right
click and choose “New Note”
Knowing how to create a notecard is an important skill in Second Life
Type directly into the notecard and
remember to rename your card something that makes sense.
Keep your card!
Type your content in here!
Just a review …
We have: – Created an account – Logged in– Moved around – Communicated with people near and far– Found items in our inventory– Changed our appearance and clothes– Searched for people, places and events– Created a notecard
Need to improve your performance? Follow the instructions on the next couple of slides .
Windows XP – select
> Right click desktop > Properties (display) > Settings tab > Advanced button > Troubleshoot tab > Acceleration = full
>Full hardware acceleration
Adjust to Full
If Second Life does not load, or if you have graphic problems, click on Preferences.
Lower the draw distance
Turn offbumpmapping;
lower terrain detail
Turn off anisotropicfiltering,
reduce settings
http://sl.nmc.org/wiki/NMC2007_Hit_The_Ground_Running
Contacts:
Heidi Trotta(aka Heidi TeeCee)[email protected]: www.heiditrotta.com
Nick Noakes(aka Corwin Carillon)[email protected]
Many thanks to Lyr Lobo for her slides on improving system performance that are included in this presentation.
Questions?