Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
assist. As new users walk up the pathway toward
the HQ, they encounter bulletin boards with text,
graphics, and video teaching them fundamental
skills and providing encouragement. Once inside
the HQ building, a resource room provides free
items that educators will find useful in Second
Life. This, coupled with the personal attention
from friendly guides, makes ISTE Island a portal
preferable to typical welcome centers.
Many other outside organizations are develop-
ing their own orientation experiences that differ
from the official Orientation Island. New users
can pick these different experiences by selecting
a “community” from the SL web site while they
are setting up their avatar, or by registering for
SL through the outside organization's web site.
Above, we mentioned the “snicker factor” as
an obstacle to wider use of Second Life, particu-
larly for educator professional development on
the main grid. Even if early adopters are able to
overcome the snicker factor and convince their
colleagues to participate in Second Life, there are
certain protective measures that must be adopted,
especially if one is bringing educators into the
main grid for teacher education or professional
development. Among these are warning new us-
ers that if they stray beyond the particular islands
or estates where educational activities take place
(and even on some of those islands, on occasion),
the users will see things such as scantily-clad
or even naked avatars, provocative art, erotic
dancing, and more, including activities that nor-
mally would only take place in very private First
Life settings. Many first-time users of Second
Life will find themselves appalled even at the
“naked” avatars they see on Orientation Island,
where new users are encouraged to experiment
with their appearance and clothing and may be
fumbling with the process of changing or putting
on clothes. Also, when an avatar teleports into a
new environment, he or she often sees avatars as
gray “naked” forms, until their clothing “rezzes”
or comes into view. A good practice is to provide
every new user with a written disclaimer form that
emphasizes that the person advocating the use of
Second Life cannot be held responsible for such
events or for people's reactions to them. (Believe
us, we speak here from personal experience while
bring my graduate students and various teacher
groups into SL!)
Keep in mind that while SL offers the pos-
sibility of building whatever you, your students,
or a team together can imagine, in order to build
something, you need to have a place to put it, which
means renting or purchasing land. One alternative
is to use one of the many Sandboxes in Second
Life, which allow users to build things, and have
them persist temporarily (usually everything is
erased daily or weekly; see Figure 7). Sandboxes
are a great way to encourage experimentation in
building, and many Sandboxes also become so-
cial settings where builders encourage and assist
each other in their work. Be warned! All sorts of
things can happen in Sandboxes, including use
of weapons and various other activities that may
not be suitable for all audiences.
Schools, districts, and other educational orga-
nizations that are ready to use SL to its fullest
extent on an ongoing basis with teens will want
to purchase their own estate, or island on the Teen
Grid. Educational organizations interested in
having an ongoing presence on TSL but not able
or willing to make the financial and other com-
mitments necessary to maintain an entire island
have several options. They can partner with groups
such as Global Kids and the Eye4You Alliance,
bringing resources into the partnership and using
those groups' existing islands. Or, they can create
a presence by buying a parcel on a new group of
islands that has been developed specifically for
educational groups called the Virtual World Cam-
pus, developed by FireSabre Consulting in part-
nership with Global Kids. The Virtual World
Campus offers the possibility of true collaboration
among various educational projects, because adult
avatars will be able to communicate with adults
from other projects on the islands, and teens will
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