PESD Island

Working in the Math Nets Sandbox

2012-01-10T16:08:00.000-08:00

Using the Reaction Grid for Math Nets

2012-01-09T19:54:00.000-08:00

Third and fourth grade students need to work on math nets as part of their math curriculum and since I teach form and shape in art, I was asked to help teach this concept. I created special interactive SMART Notebook activities and we also did some color theory related paper/pencil activities. Today the kids got an introduction to the Reaction Grid and the sandbox I created for them. Next time we will create prims to match the nets on the building platforms.Virtual world building tools are perfect for these spatial concepts.

Ugly Sweater Party on the Reaction Grid!

2011-12-15T17:29:00.001-08:00

For our last class of the semester all avatars got a set of 4 ugly holiday sweaters, a Santa hat, and a pair of skates with a skating animation. Students had to use the snipping tool, save pics to their folder and then put them on their Prezis. Here are the photos that got taken. Our sim crashed mid-party, but Reaction Grid gurus Chris Hart and Kyle Gomboy were ready to help us out. We love working and playing on the Reaction Grid!

Funniest Prezi this Semester

2011-12-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

Check it out!

Getting in the Holiday Mood on the Reaction Grid

2011-11-29T10:49:00.000-08:00

Junior High Students in Ms. Strehlow's Digital Art Elective continue to work on final Reaction Grid projects but with a twist. Holiday textures and Gingerbread Houses are making an appearance along with the houses and rooms being designed. One student is working hard on a replica of a WWII bomber plane.

Working on the Grid

2011-11-29T10:23:00.001-08:00

Beach Umbrella Challenge

2011-09-22T09:23:00.001-07:00

First Building Challenge

2011-09-18T21:44:00.001-07:00

Getting Started on the Grid Again

2011-09-08T07:10:00.001-07:00

The Chess Challenge

2011-05-01T14:41:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the more completed assignments done by Jr. High but also including some of the latest pieces done by a small group of 5th graders

Jacob's Chess Set

2011-04-10T08:26:00.000-07:00

Jacob is doing independent work on the RG and completed this chess set in less than two class periods! Way to go Jacob!

Chess Set Challenge

2011-04-07T15:14:00.001-07:00

Students are now working with Rokuro to create a sculpted prim chess set on the Reaction Grid after finishing their new t-shirt designs.

Rokuro and Tokoroten = Lathe and Extruder for Sculpted Prims

2011-03-10T20:14:00.000-08:00

We have been so busy creating sculpted prims using the open source programs Rokuro and Tokoroten that I haven't captured any of the progress on the floor plans. Now we are using Gimp to create graphics with transparent backgrounds to create plants and animals. After that we are going to design t-shirts for our avatars using Robin Wood's templates.

Second Semester Building Begins

2011-01-20T17:07:00.000-08:00

We Got Blogged!

2011-01-10T20:27:00.000-08:00

We got mentioned in this educational blog today! Please check out the article.

Day Two of Floor Plan Challenge

2010-12-14T14:02:00.000-08:00

Students Begin Floor Plan Challenge

2010-12-10T14:23:00.000-08:00

Today the students in my 8th hour Reaction Grid class began their first collaborative project. Groups of four students began work on a real floor plan. They had six choices and although they had a bit of a shaky start placing themselves on the building platforms in groups, once they had their plan, they went right to work.

Live From Phoenix!

2010-12-02T14:16:00.000-08:00

Today the Jr. High Students were streamed live on the internet from the Virtual Worlds Conference. Chris Hart of the Reaction Grid team showed the students finishing up their avatar apartments for the Top Design Challenge. Various visitors remarked that the students were sweet and polite, which made me chuckle because I was in the room with them and although they are great kids, they are not always polite to each other. Good to know that their communication skills are improving. Their building skills have come a long way also and I am proud of the work being done. These students are getting a chance to be part of the global community by participating in events like this.

Art Island Becomes a Tourist Attraction!

2010-11-04T19:57:00.000-07:00

This past week we have had three sets of visitors to our island! The first group was from the Virtual Pioneers History Conference. We were streamed live into Second Life for those who could not make the grid hop. Then Pathfinder Lester brought his Hypergrid Adventurer Group to tour the sim. Today the 8th hour Jr. High Elective class was working and another group of grad students came to visit and the kids got a chance to see avatars from Canada, North Carolina, and Australia! This has been a very exciting week on Art Island!

Students Begin Top Design Challenge

2010-11-03T09:49:00.000-07:00

Minions and More Minions

2010-09-23T19:25:00.001-07:00

Check out this link!

Minion Challenge Continues

2010-09-09T15:54:00.000-07:00

First Prim Work done by 5th Graders!

2010-08-27T10:49:00.001-07:00

First Glitch of the New School Year

2010-08-18T14:15:00.000-07:00

I have some refurbished laptops in my art room but when I tried to run the browser software for the Reaction Grid, I got video driver errors. I got a chance to talk to Kyle Gomboy, the head administrator of the RG, and after finding out what laptops we had, directed me to the proper driver. Now I just have to wait for someone with admin clearance at the district to download and install the drivers. (yes, of course I could do that myself...) So, until that time, we will be working with Gimp.

School Year 2010-2011 Begins

2010-08-01T17:12:00.000-07:00

This won't be the first thing students do, but I think it will be a fun assignment.

Welcome to the Art Zone

2010-05-24T14:13:00.000-07:00

Since I will no longer be working at the district office as a Technology Integration Specialist, I decided to rework some of my island on the Reaction Grid to reflect the transition as an art room resource. I will be doing short presentations at ISTE2010 in Denver on this and my curriculum skybox at the SIGVE (Special Interest Group Virtual Environments) playground. I hope to meet the people I now count as very important members of my PLN (Personal Learning Network). Some of them live in Oregon, Michigan, Texas, Tennessee, Virginia, New York, Florida, the UK, and Thailand!

Leaving Teen Second Life

2010-05-21T11:33:00.000-07:00

Right now the plan for the coming school year is to begin anew on the Reaction Grid. Since I will be going back to the classroom as an art teacher, I will use my island on the Reaction Grid for teaching art. I have a great student gallery but if I can get computers for a graphic design course, I will also use the space for 3D sculptural student work. Mrs. Rodriguez will be starting an after school club and her school will be purchasing their own RG island. Mrs. Baron would like to start the new school year off with her own space on the Reaction Grid as well. I will continue to support them as much as my schedule will allow. I look forward to working with more students and demonstrating how engaging lessons can be when taught by an avatar!

New Floor Plans for Last Project

2010-05-11T15:07:00.000-07:00

Students don't have much time left before the end of the school year. Classes will be cut for field trips and other end of the year activities, so these probably won't get finished. It was a first completed, first choice situation and students picked from several new floor plans on which they could collaborate. The choices were: two different types of office buildings, a middle school classroom, a primary classroom, an auditorium, and a 50's diner. There was also a club/restaurant project underway from last trimester. Students who completed the Cartoon Challenge with a high degree of craftsmanship got first choice. Students are realizing that just because they say they are done doesn't mean they are finished to my standards. This kind of project is so easy to grade because the rubric is very simple. Either a student did something or they didn't. I enjoy watching the students interpret the floor plans. Today a student asked another what a certain symbol meant. The other student said that it was the symbol for a Christmas tree, when it was actually just a generic indoor plant symbol. I love it!

Grid Hopping Cartoon Characters

2010-04-30T13:16:00.000-07:00

Today I moved copies of several student created cartoon characters to my Art Gallery on the Reaction Grid. If you have been watching the photostories I have posted, you have seen some of the progress during the Cartoon Challenge. I am making these part of the permanent gallery as I have done with much of my students' work from past years. In the beginning I put student work on the hallway walls at Holy Family in Whitefish Bay, WI. I then got lucky and was able to display work at the local library. When the internet became available to me, I learned HTML and created a website where I posted digital photos I took with my new Sony Mavica. (It had a disk drive, remember?) Now that I have my own virtual land on the Reaction Grid, I have created a 3D Art Gallery with all the student artwork I have collected over the years I have been teaching including the move from Wisconsin to Arizona. People from all over the world can see what used to hang on a home refrigerator. How cool is that?

Technical Difficulties Beyond Our Control

2010-04-29T11:19:00.001-07:00

We haven't really had any technical issues since October 21st of 2009 when an upgrade left us stranded. I was afraid such an issue would occur again because Linden Lab issued another upgrade edict which had me online chatting with the Linden Lab concierge yesterday. I was told that we would be fine so when no one in the class could login today I went back to the concierge only to find out that 50% of all Second Life users could not get in due to server issues on their end. When you count so heavily on technology as the basis for a course it can be very disruptive. My improv training has left me fairly able to think on my feet and able to adapt to various situations so today I fast forwarded to the assignment of 150 words describing what the students learned by taking the Cartoon Challenge paired with a 2D version of their 3D character done using the PowerPoint drawing tools.
You may ask why PowerPoint? After all the writing was done in WORD, so why not use the same drawing tools within WORD? My answer is that WORD 2003 generates a most annoying drawing area which I have always disliked. Years ago I had to switch from Claris(Apple)Works to WORD and I have always thought WORD was inferior until the 2007 version which our district will finally move to in the 2010-2011 school year. But the creation of 2D overlayed objects in PowerPoint 2003 did not generate the annoying drawing area and would be simpler for the students. Here is what the students had to say about the Cartoon Challenge:

My name is Anthonee Arkright, and this is what I think about the Cartoon Challenge. I thought it was a great way to be more socially active, and how to learn how to make things on second life. I also thought it was a great way for the mentors, and mentees to get to know each other better. It was also a great way to be focused on something that will let us boost our grade up. Personally, I thought it was a really fun challenge, that I didn’t mind doing. I also thought it was a really different and original challenge. Most of us thought it was cool that we could pick any cartoon character from Dora the Explorer, to Stewie Griffin. The Cartoon Challenge was also a great way for us to learn how to use the tools on Second Life. This was also a great challenge to do, because it counted as a big part of our grade.
I thought that this was also a great way for us to interact with the Second Life computer program. One of the best things about the Cartoon Challenge was that once we completed it, we get linden for finishing our cartoon characters. We were told to make one cartoon and another companion cartoon character from the same series. There were two really fun parts, picking a cartoon, and making the cartoon. The one I chose was Winnie the Pooh. I was originally going to make Brian Griffin, but then I thought he was going to be too hard to make. It was also cool because no one has ever done the cartoon challenge before, not even the teachers. Everyone thought that this was a really fun challenge, and I hope that we do another project like this one very soon.

(Teacher’s Note: Although I do not condone the behavior of characters like Stewie Griffin, I am not so naïve that I don’t know that teens do watch shows that are often inappropriate. This was true even when I was teaching in a Catholic School! What this was about was giving students a say in the work they do, focusing on building challenges, and increasing the engagement. I think you can tell by these responses that middle school students appreciate being able to have a say in the learning process. It is something I have always believed important. Would I prevent kids from watching South Park or Family Guy if I could? Of course. Will they sneak watching it anyway? You bet! All I can do is try to guide them gently and hope they grow up to make good decisions in the future.)

I learned many things from the cartoon assignment in Second Life. First, I learned how to manage prims better. In my previous experiences I had learned how to build things, but on this current assignment I was able to make a cartoon character of my choice. The cartoon character that I picked was Bloo from Imaginary Friends. He seems like a really fun and exciting cartoon character to make. From the beginning of the assignment I was scared at the fact that I wasn’t going to be able to create my cartoon character. But with the help of friends and teachers, I was able to create Bloo. I was really excited because my cartoon character was coming to life in Second Life. I manipulated some of the characteristics on the character to make it seem as the real one from the cartoon series. And to me that was really exciting because I could manage my characters eyes, mouth, body figure, etc. That was a really nice experience for me to learn because I had never created a cartoon character. I felt like I had to do something simple because I never worked with creating a cartoon character, and in order for me to do something good, I had to work on something simple and that’s why I decided to pick Bloo as my cartoon character. Since I knew he wasn’t that difficult to make, I was able to create him. I have really learned new skills and abilities in Second Life. Now with the new assignment, I can build objects more precisely according to their characteristics. I think Second Life is a really fun class to take. You learn many things and it’s a really good class to take. _Evert Moonwall

While working on the cartoon challenge on Second Life I learned plenty of new things. We could not use any images we got from the internet (such as the characters face, but we only used the certain prims which are built into Second Life. The character which I chose to do is Oscar “The Grouch.” I personally believe my character was fairly simple seeing he had little complex areas, but for me the hardest part was building the open structure for the mouth and making his home seem as though it is a real trash can. Other challenges would have to be getting the color which was the closest as possible to the actual character. After all this the rest was easy seeing how everything else I needed to do could be copied after I had finished one so there was actually no grand challenge. While I was building my characters green figure and his metallic trash can I was filled with an urge of thrill and enjoyment all at the same time. These are only the simple reasons which I believed this project was fun and a great learning experience. _Jorrge Rodas

I liked the cartoon challenge. I liked the fact that you got to actually pick your own cartoon instead of given one to make. Making the cartoon was fun because as you progress your cartoon starts to look more and more like the real cartoon character. My cartoon character was Plankton from SpongeBob. Plankton was this little oval shaped guy who always wanted to steal the crabby patty recipe. He’s not that complicated of a character to build so I chose him. While building my character I noticed that it was coming along pretty good and it started to get really fun at points in the building process. At first I though that it was going to be really boring and hard but I was surprised at how easy and how fun it actually was. Second Life is pretty fun when you get to build stuff. Well, I only built one thing but I don’t think that it can be that hard. I hope that the other projects and stuff that we get to build will be as fun as this one because if they are then I will really like this program. I wouldn’t only like to build easy stuff though because I would also like some challenges along the way. I wouldn’t want all of the projects to be hard because when stuff gets to hard it frustrates me a little bit so that’s why I started off with Plankton so that I could do a little simple project to start off with. So its cool and its fun. _Fabiann Ghost

From Second Life, I have learned that I can build things that I didn’t know I could build. This activity was fun and educational at the same time. Thanks to Armando, I have learned how to place things in my character like other shapes for example. He has also showed me to look at my character from different angles to make my character as best as possible. I chose this character because it is one of my favorite characters other then Sponge Bob. Patrick Star is very funny and I think he is awesome because of the way he acts. This is my first time doing this and I think I would learn much more then I already know about Second Life. This is a very good program to teach little kids because of the three dimensional objects it has. I just hope I get to learn more about this program before I leave this school. _Jonathin Yexil

In the Cartoon Challenge I am making Winnie the Pooh. I chose Winnie the Pooh because I used to watch it all the time when I was small. I learned a lot from this challenge from many people who have helped me. What I learned was that I can change shapes, change the color of the shapes, and that we can build whatever we want like the cartoon challenge and probably the things that we are going to build to make some Linden dollars. I hope I can be able to make another character from Winnie the Pooh and make it 3D. I was hoping that I can make Piglet the small pig that is very smart but very little, but there is also the old rabbit that is almost always mad and angry, or Eyore who is sad and doesn’t really talk to anyone, but he talks when he feels like talking to his friends. I still wish I can finish Winnie the Pooh. _Laurra Starfall

In Second Life we are doing a cartoon character challenge. The cartoon person that I selected was Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc. I did Mike Wazowski because I liked the Monsters Inc movie. I am almost finished with this project. I am in the process of doing his legs and then I will be completed. The cartoon challenge was a new project and I was really looking forward to it. This is a project that should be used in the future with other Second Life classes. What I learned from this project is that you need to pay attention to detail when creating your character. This project really helps you be creative in what you want to do, because you got to choose what character you were going to create. This is probably the most interesting project that we have done since I have been in Second Life. I can’t wait till I finish this project! _Jesus Panache

What I learned from Second Life is I am making a cartoon character of Carl Wheezer from Jimmy Neutron. He is kind of chunky and dweebish. He really never likes getting into trouble because his parents would really get mad if he were to get into big trouble with Jimmy Neutron. He likes to go on spaceships with Jimmy and Sean. Carl has asthma and he has to take his inhaler when he gets creeped out and sees something scary. Carl is a very nice boy but if you get him mad he can be really mad. I picked Carl because he is cool. That’s my opinion that he is my favorite character. Carl is kind of funny when he laughs. He sounds like a pig and a cow when it chews the hay. When Carl’s parents embraced him he gets red like a tomato. When Carl gets a bad grade he tries to hide the grade. _Armando Moonwall

In Second Life I am doing the character Humpy Dumpty. The Reason why is because it looks very simple and real cool. Humpty Dumpty was my favorite story to read as a child even though the story was very short. I was Humpty Dumpty for Halloween when I was just 4 years old. I think Humpty Dumpty is real funny because when his body cracks open instead of putting him back together I say eat him and make scrambled eggs or boiled eggs. I think Second Life is the most amazing program ever invented. My real name is Luis and I am a seventh grader. I first tried to make the Monopoly man but the thing I had problems with was that I couldn’t get the mustache right and I couldn’t even make the mustache into the proper shape. I am really looking forward to finishing this project. By the way my avatars name is Louiz Longfall.

Today we are making cartoon characters as a project. I really enjoy this project because it’s fun for me. I like projects that I can relate to, and this is something that my nephew and I can relate to. It reminds me of how my nephew and I relate with each other. So what we needed to do in this project is pick a cartoon character and build them in Second Life. You will have to use your building tools and use all the objects that you need to be able to build your character as best to your ability that you can. Then you can go to the internet and see what type of style or fabric you want and then you can go and download it on Second Life. Also you can pick all the other types of colors so that it can match to the cartoon character you are building. My avatar name is Aymee Verwood.

In Second Life we are creating cartoon characters from cartoon shows and it is quite a challenge because we have to build it from blocks and we have to put textures on our cartoon characters. Some of the Second Life students are creating a popular TV show character named SpongeBob Squarepants and others are either creating cartoon characters or characters that are in games and in cartoons.
What I learned from this challenge was that it takes a while to create our characters because we have to stretch, shrink, and move our objects around in order to create the cartoon characters and then we have to press a button on Second Life that says build and we have to click back and forth a lot . My cartoon character is Toad from a game called Super Mario. He is a little hard to make but at the same time he is easy. I chose Toad because he is apart of the game that I like to play a lot and he also is a part of the game’s series. _Jonathin Frostbite

In Second Life we already had our person (avatar), and we got used to the Second Life world, so then for our project or assignment we had to make a cartoon character. For the cartoon character challenge I am making a character called Kirby. Kirby is a small pink character that comes up in a show called “Kirby Right Back At Ya.” I wanted to make that character because it looked simple to make but then when I started making it, I thought it was a harder one because the challenge was in his eyes. His body shape is just a plain light pink circle and his feet are a more oval shape that are darker pink. His eyes are also similar to ovals but the hard part about them was the inside of them. They have many different colors on them, and I wanted the eyes to come out exactly like the picture of Kirby. _Beckie Blackheart

The Cartoon Project was fascinating because we had to build a cartoon character out of only prims. I personally chose Stewie Griffin, because I like how he looks and acts. His head was the hardest part of the project. I took about 1 hour for the head, and the rest of the body was so easy I finished in about ten minutes. My Second Life Stewie came out pretty nice, because he has the big head with the evil eyes. I like this project a lot because I enjoyed building my character. I also earned a lot of money. This project can help you improve your building skills and creativity. For beginners this project would be a good test to see their building skills and tell teachers or mentors what they can help the beginner on. _Nik Neximus

I learned how to create a cartoon character by putting different shapes together and adding colors to them. I learned how to put different shapes together to make a new one. At first it seemed hard but it wasn’t that difficult, it just took time. I liked the project. It was fun and entertaining and it was simpler because it was an individual project. I like individual projects because it’s hard to coordinate with other people and also it is better because it’s only your ideas and thoughts. I created Mr. Potato Head because he seemed simple. He came out looking pretty good even though I haven’t done the arms yet but I’ll get them in on Tuesday. _Alexus Adored

We had to create a cartoon character of our own choice. I chose the red M&M. So far I have the basic shape of the M&M. I also have the eyes completed. I almost have the mouth of the M&M finished. I don’t know what shape I am going to use for the tongue. I am going to create the arms next. I will use a blank texture and just put the color as a tan or brown color. For the hands I will probably use ovals for the fingers and a sort of small smashed sphere for the palm of the hand. I will link all the parts of the hand then copy it for on the other hand. It will be the same size as the other hand. _Damien Ashmoot

I think that what we are making is great and that it is lots of fun. The cartoon that I have been doing is very fun. I did Spiderpig from the Simpson’s. It’s pretty easy to do. I need much more money to put the skin of the pig and I just have 5 Linden dollars. Lots of people have much more money than me but when I am done I will get 25 Linden dollars so that will give me 30 Linden but I think that she will be giving more than that. The more money the better. It is so you can buy stuff. The teacher has like 1500 Linden and she is rich. _Hassan Drammond

(Teacher’s Note: I had to bring over another avatar just recently because I was running out of Linden and would not have been able to pay anyone past this trimester!)

The cartoon project was a fun and interesting project. I had lots of fun. I thought it was kind of interesting because I had to build a cartoon character that I liked and I had to link them too. I thought it was pretty easy and fun. I thought it was cool that we can build characters and other objects. If I got stuck or didn’t know what to do all I had to do is ask my mentor how or what to do and he would tell me and if I needed better ideas all I had to do is look around at other projects. _Nelson Moorlord

The cartoon challenge was pretty cool because we got to choose what cartoon character we wanted to build. I chose the yellow M&M, and I choose him because I thought he would have been easy to make. The shapes I used were simple. I had lots of fun building him. I got to improve my building skills. I was using different measurement and different shapes and sizes. That helped me improve a bit on my building skills. While building the cartoon character was exciting, you got to see how the other people build theirs too and what shapes they used. _Ohmar Orsini

The cartoon challenge was a challenge to me because we had to create a cartoon character and I am creating Plankton because I think Plankton is pretty cool and it is kind of easy to create him. I learned how to build some cartoon characters and I picked Plankton because, he was my favorite cartoon character and because he is evil in all of his parts but he always fails. I started to build him by going to “build” and all kinds of shapes came out. _Ramoan Gridolfo

The cartoon person I picked was Plankton because he is cool and kind of hard to do like his hands because they have to move it. I am almost finished with my cartoon person. I just need the arms and the face. I like this project because we get do the cartoon person that we want to do. I pick Plankton because he is cool and he comes out in SpongeBob and that show is cool that’s why I picked it. This project is good to do in class and it is fun to do. I like this project because it is great for us. _Paulow Aquila

Fly on the Virtual Wall

2010-04-28T10:45:00.001-07:00

The Cartoon Challenge (Final Photostory - May 11)

2010-04-26T15:02:00.000-07:00

Students began the Cartoon Challenge which requires that they use prims to build a character of their own choosing. As you can see, student teacher Nik Neximus has done an excellent job while I was away! Kudos Nik! I'm hoping some day Nik becomes an art teacher :)

Student Teaches Intro to Prims

2010-04-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

Nik Neximus will be taking my class while I go to see my family. Today he continued with beginning prim work and taught the students how to take snapshots and then send them to my epal account. I like to have students get a taste of teaching and perhaps encourage them to consider it as a career. It certainly helps their communication skills! Way to go Nik!

New Challenges

2010-04-13T14:26:00.000-07:00

I'm assigned to help with state testing so this week Nik Neximus will be student teaching! It will be his job to help the newbies learn how to rez prims, link them, take pictures, and then move them to more challenging work. To that end I have added some brand new floor plans to the mini islands. There is an auditorium/amphitheatre, two different office buildings, a primary and secondary classroom, and a diner. That ought to keep them busy till I come back from a visit home to see my father who is now getting home hospice care.

Short Writing Assignments

2010-04-08T08:43:00.000-07:00

Before beginning the Gimp lessons to create the avatar t-shirts, each student was required to write two paragraphs. One was to tell about their talents, hopes, future plans for education and career. The other was to tell about their "dream world," since they were going to get a chance to build part of it in Second Life. Unfortunately, the classwork from Lowell went missing and was not able to be retrieved. The following paragraphs are from Edison students.

Hi my name is Brianda. Ever since I was a little girl my dream was to become a lawyer and it still is till this day. This career really interests me because it’s about defending people that most of the time we think are innocent, or some time people that aren’t. Becoming a lawyer is the career that would make me happy for many reasons. I want to work with women that pass through domestic violence. What I enjoy is listening to music while I’m studying because I concentrate more. When I finish my homework I always go outside with my friends and we hang out. We like to play especially during the rain because there are more possibilities of falling and sliding. Man that’s fun! We blast the radio on my porch, and we enjoy getting wet and enjoy our childhood.

If I had a land much larger than just for a house I would like to build a really big house. By the entrance of the house there would be a huge fountain of water that turns on during the night. I would like to have a lot of gardens with different passages to different places. One of the gardens is going to be close to the pool that has a kind of waterfall. There are two ways to go inside of the waterfall in the pool. I would call it “My Paradise”. It would also be very peaceful and it would have animals like horses and ducks and some dogs. That’s my dream world!

My name is Ana and I’m an 8th grader in Mrs. Rodriguez’ class. I’m planning on going to high school and graduating from it. Then I would like to go to college and start studying for something I like. I’m not really sure what I want to be right now but I would like to be a fashion designer in some point of my life. So far that’s what I really would really want to be. I might also want to be a chef.

If I had an empty piece of land and I could build anything I want on it I would build a huge store where I design all the clothes in it. I would also want the store next to a beach. I would want it to be only a clothing store. I would also want a park to be close to the store. Then I would like to live in a huge two floor house with a beautiful garden and a pool in the back.

If I ever had a dream world I would call it Leo Island. One part of my section of the land would be the bank (we need money) and another part of section would be a fast food place like famous fast food places. Another part we need is transport to get to the point we need to be so we need a cars to get to our point. And at last we need to make a house to able to live in and be safe from danger. We need all these things to complete a cool and fun island.

My name is Aesia. I am 13 years old and I am in the 7th grade. I am very smart and I like to write. I am a very shy person when I am around new people. I am also a very nice person. My talent is writing about things I see in the world or if someone gives me a topic to write about I can turn it into a great story. The career I would like to use my talent is I want to be a writer or an actress or a song writer for the celebrities.

My name is Cynthia and I am fourteen years old. This is my first year here in Edison. Before coming to this school I had gone to four different schools. Education plays an important role in my life and no matter what school I go to I always try my best. I’m a person who receives great school grades because I want to have a great future. Next year I’m finally going to high school and I am really excited because I am getting closer to my career. I hope to become a doctor in the future to save lives since I enjoy helping people. I also love listening to music so in high school I will join clubs that have to do with that. I will try to join many clubs to receive scholarships. My main goal in life is to accomplish my dreams but to also have fun. I hope to be one of the first to graduate from high school from my family. I want to make my parents proud.

I’m Luis, a 13 year old boy that likes to play basketball a lot and I like sports too. I am active. I have a little bit of talent and I want to be a basketball player when I grow up. That is my goal for now because I like basketball a lot. It’s my favorite sport and I’m good at it too. I’m not that good but I’m getting better and better. I can beat everyone in my family. For my education I want to go to college then to the NBA.

My name is Ramon, and I would want to build a mansion with at least 100 rooms. I want my land to be at least 2 acres long. For my back yard I want a swimming pool, basketball court, soccer & football field, and more sport fields. One of my rooms will be filled with computers. Another will be for my kid’s toys. I will let my family and best friends live with me. I will also have 20 guest rooms.

Trimester Three Begins

2010-04-05T15:24:00.000-07:00

A partially new group of students will be working on PESD Island for this final trimester which is disjointed due to state testing and field trips. I like to spend the beginning part of the trimester in the classroom with the kids so that I get to know them well enough to do the class remotely from my office at the district. This time I don't have nearly as many new names to remember since many have decided to either continue or return from a previous trimester. Some will be on my "watch" list as during their first go round they did not live up to my expectations. Just because this is one of the most fun activities, doesn't mean there isn't rigor built in. The first two classes were our Gimp lessons. This week students will be taking their Gimp designed t-shirts and learning how to bring them into Second Life for their avatars to wear. In previous trimesters I did that step but have decided that the students who have been with me for a while now need to learn how to do this for themselves.

Map Skills Lead to Exploring New Worlds

2010-03-30T19:42:00.000-07:00

Mr. Ross’ 4th graders have been busy doing writing samples but today they were back on the Reaction Grid and learning map skills. They got a chance to explore many of the other wonderful areas which have been created by other schools and teachers.

Clean up on Island 5...

2010-03-14T12:23:00.000-07:00

Each trimester we have new students on the island because they can sign up for this elective. We get a few who want to continue working on projects as well, so it's difficult during the school year to wipe the slate clean but I still want to give new students that empty canvas I talked about when I began working with students about a year ago. So I save a few samples and make sure I have enough space for new students. This is what PESD Island looks like right now before the third trimester begins.

Farm Challenge Continues

2010-03-01T09:46:00.001-08:00

Since the students only get less than 45 minutes three times a week, I didn't expect them to complete the Farm Challenge in one class period.

Farm Challenge Final Exam for Edison Students

2010-02-26T09:45:00.000-08:00

Since the Lowell group did such a good job with this challenge, I decided it would be a good way of assessing skills for Edison's group also. I will have to look for more things like this in Second Life. I like the idea of building completely from scratch, but I think having specific shapes and sizes presents an opportunity for students to really hone those alignment skills.

Students Choose Final Projects

2010-02-25T10:26:00.001-08:00

The Kids Behind the Avatars on the RG

2010-02-23T15:28:00.000-08:00

Winding Down the Trimester

2010-02-17T09:30:00.001-08:00

Students Write about the Farm Challenge

2010-02-16T13:33:00.000-08:00

I am a student from Second Life. My name is Teddie Canucci and I just took the farm test. The farm test was an excellent challenge for what we have learned over this course. I think it would be a good idea to give this test to the students who have taken the Second Life course. What we did on this test was to build a barn, cow, sheep, and a chicken. The barn had a thatched roof, red walls on the outside, and is wooden on the inside. The sheep had wool for a body texture and the end product actually looked like a sheep. The chicken looked like the actual size of a chicken compared to a human. The cow was an easy part on the test because it is big. That made it easier to build. This test actually demonstrated what the real sizes and textures of a human compared to animals and a barn. It is a great way to see the skills you have obtained over the class. Some of the skills you had to know to pass the test were to link the parts together. Linking the parts together meant you put the parts sticking them together. This could be to your advantage because it will help you move everything together as one object. You had to figure out how to align the parts, by looking really close you can put the parts near each other to get ready to link them. If you did a superb job you would get Linden (money), the money could be spent at the Lowell depot to buy textures and such for other projects. The textures are all different types like cow, fur, different colors, and things like that. Another thing I like about Second Life is you are in control. Ms. Strehlow just tells you what to build. You can do what ever you want such as the textures, how it should look (colorful), and what you want in it. The students can basically do what ever they want.

I’ve just taken a test in Second Life, and yes I would say that this farm test was challenging enough. I like how we built the barn by using prims to build the walls. I use a red wood texture. The roof was made out of straw. I had a little problem with the doors because I couldn’t work the script to make the doors open. So I just rotated the doors so I could walk in and out. It would also have been more difficult if we had to build a variety of buildings like a mill or a pump house. In the test we also had to build some animals. We had to build a cow, sheep, and a chicken out of prims. The chicken was the hardest to build, because the chickens were small. Being small required me to be precise on where I put the body parts. But on top of all that I liked the test because it challenged my abilities. I hope we have more tests like this in the future. -Nik Neximus

In Second Life the project we worked on was building a barn and farm animals which included sheep, cows, and chickens. We were required to build these objects with parts that were given to us for zero Linden. These parts were premade prims of the animals and parts of the barn like walls and a roof. Once I put the parts together I had to then apply the texture of the animal or animal body part and then link the parts so the entire animal and barn could be moved around. I first began with the barn because it was the largest object I had to build so it would be the easiest to put together. The barn was made with a very large rectangle and had red wooden walls and yellow hay colored roof. Once that was built, linked, and had the texture applied, I started working on the animals. I first built the cow since it was the largest animal and easiest to build in my opinion and used the same three steps I used to build the barn [put together, link, apply texture]. The cow was made with a large oval that was white with black spots and had a pink udder and pink nose with yellowish white horns. I then did the sheep which was basically all white like sheep wool and fluffy. The chicken was the last I built and was very small and its parts were very tiny and difficult to see. The color of the chickens was brown and white like feathers. In my opinion the barn was the easiest to build and the chickens the hardest since the barn was the largest and the chickens the smallest. After building all the animals and barn I made a clone of each animal so that there was two of each animal to take up space so it didn’t look so empty. This is how I completed this project. -Salvador Badger

I liked the barn project because it helped me get an enhanced idea what a barn looks like. I have never seen a barn until now because I know how a barn actually looks. I liked the animals because it was a challenge like what the cow needs and what color and textures are. This project helped me improve my skills. I liked the chicken because we had to put the leg on its body. I stretched the chicken and put the feathers on the chicken. The color of the barn is red and the barn is colossal. It was a good size compared to a human because in the real world it is about the same. I liked the test because it helped a group that really needed help with building. The barn just needed to be put together. Ms. Strehlow gave us the parts to it and we had to put it right. We also had to link it so it looks improved. We had to build a chicken, cow and sheep. If you do a superior job you will receive money (Linden). The hardest thing was building the barn because you had to align the walls and putting the right textures on the right objects. Some of the textures I used were black and white textures. I used colored textures too. -Miguell Nirvana

In my farm project I made a cow, sheep, and a chicken. I tried to make my barn as realistic as possible. My animals are realistic sizes compared to my avatar. My barn has a red color with designs on the sides. In the barn I have doubles of the animals outside my barn. I took a picture with me on all the animals. For me the hardest part was the cow because I didn't know what an udder was. Also the chicken was hard because it was small. It was hard to make the animals because it was hard to put then together. I didn't find a nose for my cow. - Gerardo Capelo

In this project I made a barn along with the animals. The animals that we had to build with the barn were a cow, a chicken, and a sheep. I would say that the cow was the hardest to build. I didn't really finish this project, but I did think it was interesting. The skills that were needed to do this project were to link pieces together and align things perfectly. With that being said, my skills in that category aren't very good. I would say that the animals looked very much like they do in real life, except that they're virtual. Textures that we used in this project were white fluff for the sheep, yellow straw for the barn roof, golden feathers for the chickens, and black and white fur for the cow. -Karla Panache

The test on Second Life was great. It really tested our ability on what we have learned in Second Life. It made us use our inventory and take objects out to create the barn and the animals. We had to put the roof, wall, and doors together. We also had to put the legs, arms, and heads together. Then we had to use texture selector and put the red wood on the barn and on the roof of the barn we had to put the hay texture. On the animals we used the feather texture it was brown with a little white on it, the spots were black with a white background, and sheep wool was white and looked like cotton. We also had to link it just in case we had to move anything. It was a great test but we should have made everything instead of just taking it out of our inventory. Then it would have taken longer. The test we had was able to be finished in the time we had. I think the chicken was the hardest thing to do because it was so small. I had to put the feet and the legs together and every time I look around the chicken I was creating then I seen that the foot was not aligned with the leg. I had to move it again then I had the same problem with the right leg and then after that I put the chicken body onto my legs. I put the head and the comb together including the beak but I didn’t finish because I had to write about what I had did so far. We had to create three animals the cow, sheep, and the chicken. We also made a barn. _Damien Ashmoot

These past two weeks we have been working on the farm project. The farm project consisted of a barn, a sheep, a chicken, and a cow. What we had to do was first buy all the supplies which is again, the sheep, cow, chicken, and barn. Then we would have to open our inventory and grab all the supplies. We would have to drag them out and connect everything together. For example we would have to connect the sheep’s head to its body then the feet to the body and stuff like that. For the barn we would take out all four walls then go to the build feature and choose the mouse, so that we can position all the walls together so that it can be a building. After that we can link everything together so that it is just one building and all the parts can move together instead of apart. For the animals we would do the same thing. I would open my inventory and then create the animals with the same process but with the different materials. For example, the sheep we would have to use a white color but red for the barn. –Aymee Verwood

Hello my name is Jonathin Frostbite and I am a Second Life character that took the barn test. I thought the Second Life test was a little challenging but a little easy at the same time. The part that was complicated was making the barn animals because the body parts for the chicken were too little to see and put together. Another part that was very easy was making the barn roof fit on the barn perfectly because the roof was large enough to fit on top of the barn with the walls. I fixed the roof by stretching it out to fit evenly with the barn walls and I enlarged the chicken body parts to make it easier to put the pieces perfectly together. What I was doing in Second Life was building farm walls, farm floors farm doors and a farm roof. The colors of the barn are red and white from the outside and the size of the cow is 1.609, 1.107, 1.430 and the color of the cow is black and white fur color, the size of the chicken was 0.046, 0.036, 0.036 and the color of it is brown feathers, yellow beak and red for the neck and the size of the sheep was 0.469, 0.328, and 0.252 and the color of it was all white fur.

What I leaned from this project is how to use my skills to build different objects. The barn is where all of the animals live. The barn was really big it was life size. This is a really awesome project I liked to make the barn; I would love to do this again. I leaned to use my skills to make everyday things like a barn, the chicken, and the sheep. The best project was probably the barn; the hardest project was the chicken because it was so small. The textures for the barn were pretty colorful it really looked like a barn the most realistic thing was the cow. The cow looked life size. I made a barrel of water it looks so realistic you could almost taste it. The cow had a cow fur. The barn had a straw roof, red walls on the outside the inside had what looked like a metal texture. I didn’t get to finish the chicken but it looked like a real chicken. The chicken is about the same size as a regular chicken. The sheep was pretty easy and fast I finished that with no problem its texture was wool, it looked pretty soft like you could almost feel it. It looked like a real sheep I hope to take this test again it was very cool. _Jaycob Verwood

In this project I made a barn along with barn animals. Some barn animals that I had to build were a cow, sheep, and a chicken. I would have to say that the cow was the hardest to build for me. I didn't work on the chicken and I didn't finish the cow, but I think that this project was interesting and fun. The sheep has all the body parts that a sheep would have and the textures for the sheep are like a cloudy white. The cow has all the body parts that a cow would have and the textures for the cow was black and white fur pattern. The barn texture that I used for the barn floor was a wooden texture, for the outside it was red, and on the top it was a hay texture. The skills that we needed to know were how to put the pieces together and how to link the pieces together. _Tiffanie Starship

Hi! My name is Armando and I have been working on my sheep. My sheep is white and it has its tail and legs. I am working on my cow and it is spotted. My cow is round. The cows legs are going to be round .My cow is round because that’s how most cow are. The cow is going to look like an animal standing outside of an animal store. The cow is like an animal that is a vegetarian so I have to put grass in my barn so that there will be food for my animal to eat. The chicken will look like a yellow feathered animal and it will look really small. The chicken is like a small rodent and it is really fast. My chicken is really hard to make because it has real small features and you can barely see the body parts.

This barn project was difficult, the hardest part was to build the cow, sheep, and chicken. The barn is red; it has space for the cow, sheep, and the chicken to stay in. In Second Life the cow and sheep are black and white the chicken is a yellow and red and it's the smallest of them all. Barn is not really that tall, you could barley fit inside it. The whole barn is hard and it made out of wood, you could sit on it are you could kick it and it wont brake. If you go to Second Life you will like it because it has cool stuff to do and you won’t be bored!!!!!! In Second Life all animals looked real they were all the same size and they looked real. _Kassandra

Hi, my name is Lorenzo and I’m taking the Second Life class and I was working on a barn project. This project helped me get a better understanding in how to link different objects and how to make items without getting any help from students and teachers. The barn project was fun although I did not get a lot done and it helped me improve my building skills so now when I do another project like this I’m going to do much better on it. I used a cow texture on the cow and I know how to make the cow objects bigger and link them together and the barn looked like a barn back in the old days with all the texture and had black and red on the out side and it had a texture that looked like old hay and in the inside it had little stables for the animals to stay in and to be separated from each other. Although I did not do the other projects I think that the chicken would have black and gold feathers and it would have a beak that would look like wood and it would have a red crown on the top of the head and the sheep had a thick fur that looked like leather but is was not brown it was white and the sheep’s legs looked buff and the face looked realistic and the sheep did not have as much detail as the cow and the sheep because it did not have as much body parts as the other two projects. I enjoyed doing this project and I wish I could do another project like this again.

4th Grade Photos on the RG

2010-02-03T11:41:00.000-08:00

Students learned how to take snapshots from the Reaction Grid browser (we are using Imprudence). They then save the photos to their inventories where I later retrieve them by taking screenshots of the photos. We don't have e-pal accounts for these students because three students are sharing one avatar and we have also had students come and go. You can see that some of the students understand how to use their ALT key to zoom around the subject matter for a different type of shot.

More from the Reaction Grid

2010-02-02T14:47:00.000-08:00

We have been overloading our sim on the Reaction Grid with too many avatars so we had to cut back and do even more sharing. It seems to have worked because although we get bumped out, we are able to get back in quickly and continue working. New groupings meant ironing out some collaboration kinks but I think you can see things shaping up. We hope that while studying the planets and also building their own solar systems, the students will retain more of the basic information.

Down on the Farm - Student Photos

2010-02-02T14:13:00.000-08:00

Farm Challenge Continues

2010-02-02T09:54:00.000-08:00

I just had an idea that I think will be fun. The farm challenge was a skill test for the students who had to use specific parts to complete a barn, cow, sheep, and chicken. The spatial skills making the chicken alone would stump many adults! My idea is a State Fair where the kids will judge each other's animals according to craftsmanship. We don't have much time left during this trimester and this might just be a fun culminating event. Maybe someone will make a ride or a game booth.

The Farm Challenge

2010-01-28T10:48:00.000-08:00

After missing two sessions for other activities, the students in this class were assigned mini-islands where they found the materials for The Farm Challenge. Each student had 4 boxed projects including a barn, cow, sheep, and chicken. They have been having problems seeing the big picture and completing projects of their own choosing, so this was a way to access their skill level. They had to buy each box and find the project folder in their inventories. Then they would drag the pieces to the ground and align them into a finished object. It was so fun to watch and the barns went up quickly. It was more difficult to align the wings and legs of the animals, but the ones that got that far did a great job. One student raised his cow in the air in order to attach the hooves and it was just like a mechanic putting your car up on a rack to get under it! I loved it.

Edison Student Work on Vehicles and House Continues

2010-01-28T10:09:00.000-08:00

Newbies Begin House Challenge

2010-01-27T15:58:00.000-08:00

Today some newbies began the floor plan project on the island. They were apprehensive but I assured them that they were up for the challenge. I want to empower more of our female students when it comes to honing their building skills. Video below is two days later.

The Vehicle Challenge

2010-01-25T10:39:00.000-08:00

Although today was supposed to be the Vehicle or Animal Challenge, no one wanted to build an animal. Go figure. I'll see how tomorrow's Farm Challenge at a different school goes. We had some nonsense happen today which resulted in two students losing their Second Life privileges. I'm always sad when that happens because these students so seldom get to use computers to help support their ability to think in three dimensions. Four girls from this group will be moved to the island where they can work on building from the house floor plan. I really want to encourage the girls to think of possible careers in architecture, design, or engineering.

Edison Rookies work on Connecting Prims

2010-01-22T09:50:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, the machine I was using in the Edison Computer Lab ran out of virtual memory less than 2 min. into capturing the newest kids working up on the building platform.

Various Social Studies Projects

2010-01-15T07:37:00.000-08:00

In the past week or so, 8th graders at Lowell have been working on approved curricular projects. Our main focus is building so we asked students to come up with something related to another class that could be translated into a building project on the island. We have the beginnings of a Native American Village, the Mayflower, a forest, another ecosystem focused on aquatic creatures, Westward movement, and the Plymouth Settlement. Some are more successful than others but everyone is getting building experience. It would be great to be directly working with the classroom teachers but so far that hasn't happened.

4th Graders 1st Prim Practice

2010-01-13T14:04:00.000-08:00

I absolutely have to thank Chris Hart for being with us yesterday when we finally got a chance to experience the real wonder of the Reaction Grid; the building! You can't imagine the excitement in a room of about 28 4th graders who are creating prims. It was awesome! Thanks also to Kyle and Felix for their work on the RG. Your team is great!! Mr. Ross and I taught the kids how to take snapshots and save them to their inventories, so I was able to go and retrieve them later. Here is a taste of our first venture with prims.

More Work on Hooverville

2010-01-08T09:34:00.000-08:00

With the shacks looking fairly authentic with walls that are not perfectly aligned and mismatched materials, today the students added barrels that could have fires in them.

The 4th Grade on the RG

2010-01-05T18:59:00.000-08:00

It was chaotic, it was exciting, it was fantastic! 4th graders at Lowell School had their first experience with the Reaction Grid today. We went through a lot of basic procedures today such as assigning computers, setting up partners because the class is more than twice the number of computers available, finding the software, and logging in. The classroom teacher, Mr. Ross, and I let the kids have this class period for basic exploration. We wanted to see what they would discover on their own and by the end of the period, they had learned to add friends, chat with each other, fly and walk. This class will be studying the solar system and associated topics. To help, they will have a 3D model of the planets and a virtual moon that goes through the phases. Their first building activity will be to create their own planet. I'm very grateful to Mr. Ross for not only lending me his class, but also for learning very quickly how to take snapshots of the students so we can document as much of this as possible.

Back to Work on PESD Island TSL

2010-01-04T09:34:00.000-08:00

Although I'm doing prep work for PESD Island RG, today my Edison students continued working on their Social Studies connection and are getting closer to having a Hooverville on PESD Island TSL. Here's a little video of them working.

Getting Ready for the Reaction Grid

2009-12-29T13:48:00.000-08:00

I have been spending my vacation prepping for 4th graders at Lowell School and their first visit to the virtual world called the Reaction Grid. I have strengthened my friendships with teachers from Michigan, etc. who have already brought students in to work. It is very much like Second Life, but focusing heavily on elementary education. Since our classes are larger than can be accommodated by the grid, students will be sharing avatars unlike the middle school students who have their own avatars on our Second Life Teen island. This means that students will learn how to collaborate more closely, be resilient when there are technical issues, and be creative with the tools within the grid. We will use the same tools that the middle school kids use, but will expect a different level of sophistication at this grade level.

Winter Wonderland in the Desert

2009-12-16T07:20:00.000-08:00

Since it's really only sweater weather here in Phoenix, I thought it might be fun for the students to build virtual snowmen today. They also got free skates so they could skate while building, but none of them really noticed all the WORK they were doing while they were having FUN!! As always, the kids took snapshots and then sent them to me via their epal accounts.

Early December Building

2009-12-15T14:02:00.000-08:00

We ran into a couple of snags this week when both classes ended up losing an entire class period due to bus evacuation drills. We get less than two hours a week, so this didn't help. Some students had to start over on the tables because they did not clone the prims, or they cloned them and then moved them to the side which makes it difficult to align them again. Getting a bird's eye view helps line things up with the grid on the workspace, but kids are only using a touch pad and it is more difficult to build without a mouse. Things too far out of alignment do not get the full 10L for the day's building. A few curricular projects began this week too.

Learning to Texture Specific Faces of a Prim

2009-11-20T10:48:00.001-08:00

We continued our basic prim work by learning how to select specific faces of a prim for texturing. If you are building a house, you certainly don't want the inside of the house to look like the outside so you can put bricks, stone, or siding on the outer face of the wall, and wallpaper or plaster on the inner face. Students will create a window that fits into the hollow space and texture it with one of the many glass textures they have available from the Lowell Depot.

Login, Chat, Create, Stretch, Hollow, Rotate, Texture & Snap Pic

2009-11-18T07:17:00.000-08:00

I got to meet this group last week when they were working on Gimp, but today I had the great fun of seeing yet another group of kids as they took their first steps in Second Life. Looking at their faces as they login and see their virtual selves is something not to be missed. This group got right to work learning to do everything in the post title. Oh, they also learned to retrieve their passwords from their epal accounts :)

Clone, Align, Taper, and Twist

2009-11-16T10:34:00.000-08:00

Students today concentrated on cloning prims by using the shift/click/pull method. They learned about twist and taper, and making sure their prims were linked so multiple pieces can be moved as a single unit.

Two days later, these students learned how to hollow, rotate, stretch, and name their objects

The Students Take Over

2009-11-13T14:54:00.000-08:00

This week Amy and Carla volunteered to teach the new students how to use Gimp to create their name in BLING for their Second Life t-shirts. I stood back and tried not to butt in too much :) I remember wanting to help my friends so much in school only to have my teacher tell me, "Miss Spack! I am the teacher, not you! Go back to your seat!" (big sigh of defeat and I didn't decide to become a teacher until I was well past college age and I gave a presentation on The Print Shop at the Milwaukee Educational Computing Association) I want our students to think teaching is a great thing to do, so I make sure they get chances to help each other without doing the work for the other students. Amy and Carla had help from several of the boys who decided to come back for another trimester also. It's great to see them cooperating and being there for each other.

Halloween on PESD Island

2009-10-29T10:48:00.000-07:00

Trimester 1 Coming to an End

2009-10-29T09:37:00.000-07:00

Our first trimester is coming quickly to a close and some of the projects haven't gotten very far. I have a better idea of how long things take now and will have the curricular projects start earlier in the next trimester. We will have a new group of students so we will have to begin again with using Gimp and beginning prim practice.

Observation

2009-10-23T10:28:00.000-07:00

Although I was just going to observe today, I did sneak down and explain where twist could be found on the object menu. When I do something like that, I usually just find one student I think can move ahead and teach it to them. Then we follow the "each one, teach one" method.

Technical Difficulties Don't Stop Us

2009-10-21T07:49:00.000-07:00

We ran into a snag today when our computers required another Second Life upgrade. Our MIS (IT to most of the world) guys created a rip just recently so we would not have to run off flash drives, but now they have to create another one so our classes can continue. The newest rip crashes & reboots the computers. In one lab, we have all newer HP laptops and in another we have a combination of newer HP laptops, 10 Dell GX620 stand alones, and 10 GX270 stand alones. The GX270s have to use flash drives containing an older but still grid enabled version. I have to use that version on my work computer also. I know we are really lucky to even have this available to students, but when they only get to use it for less than 2 hours per week, any down time is sorely missed.
P.S. Our MIS guru is going to go over 1st thing in the morning to see what can be done. I will be there to help!
(Updating Java seems to have helped but now my workstation is acting up! Arrrgghhh!)

Prims 101 for New Group

2009-10-19T11:06:00.000-07:00

Welcome Edison Students!

2009-10-16T12:27:00.000-07:00

Today a new group of students entered Second Life as part of the Edison School contingent. Since we are focusing quite a bit on the STEM initiative on PESD Island, they are all wearing a simple uniform of faded jeans and a school t-shirt. We just don't have enough time with this group to do the custom shirts as it is just a small part of a larger technology elective that includes important basic skills such as keyboarding, etc. We are hoping that given a taste of both Gimp and Second Life, some of these students will choose to accept an invitation back for another trimester which is geared to the building aspects of Second Life. Today they learned how to login, they did the basic tutorial, learned how to use the camera and take a snapshot of their "first look." Their homebase is the drum circle area of Edison Music Park, the home of their teacher, Mrs. Pamela Rodriguez.

2009-10-01T11:18:00.001-07:00

I have to laugh because the audio from this makes me sound like all I'm doing is looking for things that are wrong. We are getting to the nitty gritty of this project and precision needed to be addressed as well as craftsmanship. I tell the kids how awesome they are before we get started because once we get going, they really are zoned in. Soon students will be moving on to a cross curricular project related directly to something they are doing in another class. They have talked about studying the United Nations so perhaps they will tackle that as a building project.

John Kain Comes to Class

2009-09-29T14:23:00.000-07:00

John Kain is my counterpart at the district. We used to be in Instructional Technology together along with colleague Linda Cooper. IT no longer exists, Linda gets to sleep late and do what she wants, but John is in the Professional Development Dept. while I am now attached to General Studies. Today John went to Lowell and interviewed two of the students during their advanced computer class. Classroom teacher/Media Specialist Ginger Baron was in the classroom but I was sitting at my desk at the district office with two computers logged in to do some Screenr videos. Thanks to John, we have some live video to go with the photos the kids snapped today. Enjoy!

Screencasts from Today's Work

2009-09-24T10:26:00.000-07:00

My most sincere thanks to Chris Smith (aka Shambles Guru in Second Life). Chris told us about a screencasting tool called Screenr last night at ISTE and I love it! This is the power of networking via Second Life because Chris lives in Thailand! I would never be able to meet him or many of the others who are now part of my learning community because of time, distance, or cost, but Second Life makes it possible!

Meet the Class

2009-09-17T13:28:00.000-07:00

Students were required to write a blog entry this week telling what they have been learning in Second Life. I know it's a lot of text in one entry but I really didn't want to break it up because it reflects where the whole class is at this point in our work. For these beginner activities I awarded Linden based on word count divided by 10 and also awarded Linden for building the living rooms based on prim count.

Hi my name is Diana G, I am thirteen years old, and I am in the eighth grade. I am not that really into sports except in baseball and football. When I am bored I like to hear music and read. I also like to watch TV. I have learned so much in these classes that I have had with Ms. Baron and Ms. Strehlow in Second Life. For example I now know how to build any kind of furniture in Second Life such as sofas, tables, houses, and also other furniture. Once I accidently built my sofa into the ground. I also learned how to take pictures of my work while I am doing it. In Second Life we got to communicate with our friends and, not just talking about anything we had to talk about what we learned in class and how we did in class. Doing this got me Linden or money for my character in Second Life. I used this money to buy textures for my furniture. What was pretty cool is that I got to share my textures with my friends. I got all my furniture textures at the Lowell Depot. There was a lot to choose from. Another way I earned Linden was answering questions that Ms. Strehlow asked, and when I shared my opinion with her and with others. In Second Life we were able to fly, walk around, and also run. I think that was weird but cool. This would help me in my job or to get a job because if I wanted to become a construction worker or an architect that would build houses, tables, and other kind of furniture I would know how to build any kinds of things in a computer and they would be my models. This class was very helpful and very exciting.
Hi, I am Myron and I control the avatar Myron Mistwalker in Second Life. In real life, I attend Lowell Elementary in Phoenix, Arizona. I enjoy some sports. My favorite football team is the New England Patriots. I also enjoy reading a little bit and playing outside on the weekends. I used to want to be an architect when I grow up, but now I would like to be an oncologist. If I were to change my mind in the near future back to becoming an architect, then Second Life would give me some skills that I could take with me to that career choice. So far in Second Life I have learned how to use different geometric shapes to create different objects. I have learned how to do some interior design. I know how to match up colors. I know how to shape things on a computer, in a three dimensional environment. This year Second life has been different. There are more kids in the class, and we have to write blogs on our PESD island accounts on ning.com. I don’t enjoy writing these blogs because I don’t like writing and I want to spend more time in Second Life. I must write these blogs though, because people want to know what exactly we are doing in Second Life, and what we are learning from this program. Second Life is not a game. It is a very advanced program and it should be treated as such. It has taught me many things. Using Second Life I personally have learned to be more responsible. I have deadlines that I have to meet. I need to know how to spend my money wisely. When I get older I will need these skills in real life when I am in school. I will need to know how to reach deadlines and I will need to know how to spend my money wisely.
Hi, I’m Nick. I have an avatar named “Nik Neximus.” An avatar is the player/character in Second Life. We have this assignment that we are working on right now, which is a “floor plan.” This floor plan is literally a floor plan. This is different from all other assignments I had before because you have to build a kitchen in the kitchen. The floor plan says to build a table and four chairs and we had to build a stove and sink. In the living room we have to build two chairs and one big sofa and a table in the middle. I also put a plasma screen TV in the wall and had a big window on the side of the living room. In the bathroom I had to build a tub and toilet and a sink too. It’s a lot of fun, because it’s like creating your dream home. You can make it look like you want it to look. I had to learn how to use measurements and learn how to build beds, walls, floor, and a roof to scale. You start out with a simple 3-D shape like a cube, sphere, or pyramid and shape it to look like the wanted form. You can also gain money know as Linden by working and doing what you are suppose to. You can also lose Linden if you mess around and you are not in task. You can give money to other players or buy supplies that would help you in assignments you are doing. You can share some of the supplies with other people some other ones you can’t.
Hi. My name is Jesus R. and I’m in Second Life. My avatar name is Jesus Runner. What I have learned in Second Life is how to create objects and how we need to have the same length or it doesn’t come out the same size. This makes me think like people that work making things like tables and other objects. In the world it takes money to move forward in your life and in Second Life it’s helping me know how people spend their money. In life we have to work to get money and that’s what we are doing in Second Life. Everyday we have an assignment. Every time we come to the library we have to finish and by the end of the day get Linden. I think Second Life is trying to have us think what we do with our money. I am building a little table and a couch and made a floor. I spend my money on carpet and on fabric.
Hi, I’m Omar G. I have an avatar and my name is “Ohmar Orsini.” I have learned how to make lots of cool new items, for example I know how to build a bed, TV, drawers, counters, speakers, and I’ve learned how to make stuff hollow. I also learned how to communicate with my peers better than I used to. I built a speaker and I used a cube and made it hollow and then I got and other cube and made it to the right measurements and then I put it in side the hollow cube and I made a speaker. I got the supplies because I bought them from the Lowell Depot. The Lowell Depot is a store where you can buy lots of great textures, woods, windows, and much more. Most of the materials that you can buy cost 10 Linden. The materials you buy in the Lowell Depot are for your building uses, so when you make a wall you can change the texture into a better look. Yes, you can share items with other players or you can sell it to them. You report your work on Ning.com. The Ning is just like Twitter or MySpace because you get to talk to other people that have avatars. You also get to upload photos that you took while you play Second Life. You can upload your own pictures but they need to be appropriate. Adding people is quite simple. You just need to look for them and then send them a friend request or they can send you one. You design your own page but you really don’t get any points when you fix your page up. You communicate by typing on the “typing bar” on Second Life.
Hi. My name is Francisko Madrigal. I learned how to use Second Life and learned how to share objects with people. I am learning how to build a house with my partners. This program can help me learn about architecture. I learned how to communicate with other people. I got my supplies by buying them at Lowell Depot. Lowell is a place where you could buy things for your house like windows, carpets and doors. I share materials with my partners and most of my classmates. I report my work by taking pictures or talking to Ms. Strehlow. I communicate by chat messages and instant messages. When I barely came in I was confused and didn’t know what to do and I was behind on my work. Then I got help from Ms. Strehlow and that’s how I know how to build things like sofas , tables, walls and windows.
Hello, my name is Salvador Badger, I am an 8th grader at Lowell. I like rap music including Tupac Shakur as well as classic rock bands like the Beatles. The sports I like are basketball, football, baseball and soccer. I enjoy watching Sportcenter and other sports shows and games on television. In Second Life I have learned how to make furniture as well as a room and I am learning how to build many different objects using nothing but regular three dimensional shapes. This could help me in the real world because I now have an idea on how houses and furniture as well as other objects are really built. What I have learned in Second Life may definitely help me if I become a sculptor or a building designer as in Second Life we built a room, couch, chair, table, floor, rug, wall and lamp. In Second Life to get money which is called Linden, you have to do what is assigned to you which a lot of the time was building so you have to work for your Linden like you have to work for your money in the real world. I got my supplies by simply clicking where it says build and using the 3D shapes but you can also buy your supplies at the Lowell Depot which sells supplies. You report your work by taking pictures of what you built and sending it to your teacher by e-mail as we sent our work through epals. Last but not least you communicate by talking through a headsets’ microphone or send someone an instant message using the chat bar.
My name is Alexis Adored and I am an eighth grader at Lowell School. I like to play videogames, listen to music and play basketball. What I have learned through Second Life is how to construct and create buildings and houses. I have built a house by using geometric shapes and putting them together to make them look like I want them to look. These experiences will help me in life because I am learning techniques to become an architect and interior designer. Every few days Ms. Strehlow gives us an assignment and if we complete it she gives us Linden dollars. If you don’t you don’t get paid. You can use Linden to buy clothing and buy building materials. We can share materials with friends. We report our work by taking pictures of our work while we are working. We communicate by sending instant messages.
I’m Teddy Canucci from the Second Life program. I am in the eighth grade at Lowell School. What I have learned and what I am going to learn in the Second Life program was how to make a living room. This living room contains a couch, a chair, a carpet, a floor and a wall. We also learned how to make exact width, length, and height measurements. In the program we have an assignment that we have to do or make to get paid money that will let us, the workers, be able to buy carpeting and wood textures at the Lowell Depot where we buy different textures to place on our creations and to use for our future projects. After we have completed our project we take snapshots of it in order to show our work, our progress, and to get some Linden money. What I am learning right now is how to create a house using a floor plan to guide me and my workmates to build a house fit for four people. From basic shapes such as spheres and cubes we widen and flatten them to form the shape of an object we are building. To communicate to my workmates we have to type out what we want to say. This is not easy. You have to be exact with what you say or they might misunderstand. You can share your materials by giving some to someone. You can also sell objects and materials too. Then we add textures to them to create a room or an object to make it look like it can be a real man made object. This can help me prepare for the future to be able to build at exact measurements without making too many mistakes. If I was building a house for example, it will allow me to visualize what a plan would look like and be able to put everything in its place without making guesses. If I work for a company that builds houses I already have prior knowledge to use to make the house or object and some people do not have the knowledge that I have now so I might be able to use it when I get older and I am looking for work to do to get money. Some of the people that are using the Second Life program are in college or high school and I already know this, not as a master, but I have learned quite a bit of information to take from this.
Hello my name is Junior Jupiter. In Second Life, I have learned many things. I have learned how to build things out of 3D prims which are basic shapes. Since the last time that I wrote, I have learned how to work as a team with my partner in building a house. Sometimes, I buy building supplies, but other times my partner buys them. We are working as a team to build a house. He is building part of the house and I am building another. This would help me in the real world if I wanted to be an architect. This program is very much like real life in a way that there are real objects with actual sizes. I learned how to put prims to fit together without overlapping so that the finished product looks good and fits together properly. I earn money by recording my work by taking snapshots. With the money I could buy whatever it is that I want to buy, whether it be clothing or building supplies. In Second Life, I have built walls, a couch, a bed, a coffee table, and two seats. I built the couch from cubes, semi circles, and semi cylinders. I built the bed from cubes and a semi cylinder. The walls are cubes that have been flattened, hollowed, and stretched out. I bought all my supplies from a store called the Lowell Depot. It is a hardware store on an island in Second Life. In order to get Linden, I have to take snapshots or pictures and send them to my email address. I spend my money by buying supplies. There is no other way that I can spend my money in something that is useful. I share materials with my partner so that we can build the house with same textures so we don’t spend double the money for the same thing. I report my work by sending the snapshots to my email address and Ms. Strehlow checks them. Ms. Strehlow is our Second Life teacher. In Second Life, I communicate by instant messaging other people.
Hello my name is Christian Viper. I like to play football, soccer, and basketball. My goal is to play high school football. Here in advanced computers I have learned how to make beds, couches, houses, tables, and walls from scratch in Second Life. We were taught how it feels to be an architect creating a building and to read floor plans. Ms. Strehlow and Mrs. Baron have taught me how to use Gimp to make a name or word look cool and make it look all glittery. We have started to build a scale model with the floor plans laid out. We have learned to put texture on the objects we build. In Second Life I learned that you can change how you look, from your hair to your shoes you can change just about anything. When we take snapshots of what we are building we get Linden. Linden is money in Second Life. In Second Life you can fly into the sky and call your friends if you and they have a headset on with a microphone. You can go to the Lowell Depot and buy wood textures, glass textures, carpet textures and regular textures. We each have an email account on a website called epals.com. We are also on ning.com where we can post comments and send messages to each other. In Second Life Ms. Strehlow is the head of our Second Life Island and can get in with us any time. When we barely started we started out building a living room set. We built it with a plain cube to start with and we started shaping it into what we wanted. We clicked on a tab on the bottom of the screen that said build and we picked the cube shape or the others that are there. We earn Linden by taking snapshots of what we make. We spend Linden by buying supplies and buying stuff from other people. Yes you may share stuff because sometimes you need what other people don’t. You report your work by sending progress of what you are doing to your epals.com email. We communicate by clicking on the communicate tabs at the bottom of the screen.
I want to introduce myself. My name is Denise R, and I’m in Mrs. Kellerman’s home room. She is a very nice teacher to me and so are Mrs. Baron and Ms. Strehlow because they all help me with what I need help with and when I’m in trouble or in danger. I love playing volleyball, basketball. I’m a nice person if you would like to be my friend then you can. In advanced class I have been learning about making furniture and just building things like some people do. I have also learned in Second Life that you can earn Linden money for making the furniture. I have learned that in this activity you can make good friends by communicating and chatting to them and just being nice to them. You can learn how to make furniture in the future by practicing this activity. It also helps you because when you buy furniture for your house you will have to know where to put your furniture and how it will be organized in your very own place. I have learned in this activity that you can have your very own freedom by building furniture, communicating, and just exploring. When you are on this activity you have to take pictures and send them to Ms. Strehlow. This activity also helps me because when you do 3-D shapes you would have to make the shape even on all the sides. If you want to get Linden then you would have to make more furniture and you would have to be careful of what you do in order to get it. One way you can spend your Linden is you can go to Lowell Depot and buy fabrics and stuff. The materials you need for this activity is the size, shape, color, fabric and many other things in order to make your furniture and earn Linden. Last but not least I enjoy being in this activity because it kind of gives me a fresh start because as I get older and get my own place I will already know what to do because of this Second Life activity. I’m going to say this out of my very own words, I think that this will be great for anybody because it will help them in things they don’t even know about yet but they will know in the future, when people go to their house they will be amazed and like wow how did you learn how to make furniture and fabrics, the person that owns the house will probably say I learned how to make furniture and fabrics by practicing on this Second Life activity. And then the other person will be jealous and would want to copy or just does a little like the other person.
Hello. My name is Jonathan Frostbite and in the real world I like to play video games, play sports like basketball, baseball and football. I also like listening to music from famous artists like Linkin Park, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Michael Jackson and L’il Wayne. In Second Life I have learned how to build homes and furniture for me and other people. In the real world this could help me by learning how to build homes, make furniture and how to put different textures on chairs, couches, and beds. In the Second Life program I built a wall with a seashell texture and I bought a window at a store like place called Lowell Depot were you could buy different textures, windows, rugs for your floor, bed, chairs, and couches. I built the chairs, walls, and a bed for me by clicking a 3-D object like a square, rectangle, sphere and a pyramid. We communicate by talking into our headset with a microphone or we could send them an instant message just like MySpace, Twitter, and Face book. In real life my important goal is to finish school, high school, and college to get a degree in dentistry so I could be a professional dentist.
Hello, my name is Damian Ashmoot and I am a user in Second Life. I like to play football and my favorite football team is the Jacksonville Jaguars. I want to play quarter back. My favorite football player is Brett Favre. I like to watch movies. I am a big fan of action and comedy movies. I like some animated movies. My favorite movie is Super Bad. I like to listen to rock. I listen to most types of rock. In advanced computers we have learned how to build things in Second Life .We also learned some computers skills in Second Life. I learned how to make couches, walls and chairs. We make these objects by clicking build and putting it in the size we want it to be. We also learned how to color and put textures on the objects we create. We learned how to use Gimp. In Gimp we wrote our name and made it a different color. We added glitter in the middle of the letter. We also put shine on our name. We got our customized name on our shirts in Second Life. In Second Life we can buy equipment by getting Linden. We get Linden by taking pictures or posting comments or information on Epals. When we get Linden we can go to the Lowell Depot and buy carpet, glass, wood, and tiles. Once we buy equipment we can share with a friend. They can give you something then you can give them something. So far I have shared with Claudio and Teddy. We also can chat with friends. We can talk in private or in public.
Hi. My name is Claudio Lamplight. I have learned how to share a place with some of my friends and their names are Francisko Madrigal and Jesus Panache. I have learned how to share my material like fabric, window, and carpet texture and create things like a sofa, chair and the walls. This can probably be a good source for helping me to be an architect. I can probably build stuff for kids and make some type of gym equipment and things like that. I have also learned how to communicate with other people by using instant messaging. It lets me contact my friends easier. Second Life has changed my relationship with my friends and I have made new friends. In order for us to buy material we need to get Linden and that’s like money. We get it buy working on stuff and getting photos taken and sending them to the Ning. I think each picture is worth about ten Linden and we buy our stuff at Lowell Depot.
Hello. My name is Mikael Gearz and here in advanced computers I have learned in Second Life to make couches and matching chairs to go along with it. I also learned to earn money called Linden, and to take pictures and send them to our teachers so they can look at them. We have received email accounts for us to use. Now we are building houses that we have to make the furniture that goes with the design on the floor and make it 3-D. We can chat on Second Life and we can fly. We can change our clothes and hair. With the Linden money we can buy carpets and more. They have a Lowell Depot for that type of substance. We have shirts that say our name on them. We had to design them and then the teacher would put our names on the shirt. Second like is not a game but it has game similarities like the graphics and how we can fly and change our hair and clothes. When we build things we can zoom in to get a better look at what were building so we can build it just right.
Hi, my name is Evert Moonwall. I attend Lowell School in Phoenix, Arizona. There are lots of things that I have learned in Second Life. I have learned how to make my avatar. An avatar is a person in which you create many things by your skill and talents. I have also learned how to create things and share them in Second Life. I’m learning how to make a little house. By learning how to build things and how to focus better on my constructing skills, Second Life can really help me on my future. There are many techniques that can be learned in Second Life. Every time that I get in Second Life we always get an assignment that is required by the instructor. And when we complete the assignment and we do what is followed we get something called “Linden.” Linden is something like money. Linden can be used to buy things or use it for any use. We recently had an assignment in which we had to build sort of a house. We are in groups of three trying to build a house. I’m still not finished with my assignment but when I’m done I hope that Ms.Strehlow would be happy with what we have worked on. Sometimes we have to take pictures and we have to send it to our Ning. Everybody has a Ning that has been giving to us. In our Ning we have to check it because we sometimes get messages that we have to respond back to the instructor. Second Life has really been a great thing. You learn many things that you wouldn’t expect in Second Life. It has really helped me in many ways.
Hi! My name is Aymee Verwood and I’m a student in the state of Arizona. In real life I enjoy playing volleyball and listening to music. The music that I like is mostly pop or R&B. An important goal that I have in my real life is that I want to be a journalist, maybe on the Arizona Republic. What I have learned in Second Life is a lot of helpful and wonderful things that will help me in the future. Maybe I will use this program in high school or in my job and I will already know the program. I have learned how to build and create my own furniture, making sure they are all equal size in length and also in width. The objects also have to be linked together and how you do that is by clicking on one of them and pushing the shift key and then pressing the ctrl key plus the L and they will all be linked together! Linking will help you by making sure that the objects all have the same type of texture and this will make it look nice. Another thing that I learned is how to take a snapshot, and by taking a snapshot that will earn you more Lindens. Linden is a type of money that we use in Second Life.
My name is Karla Panache. I’m a student in Phoenix, Arizona. I enjoy listening to music. I listen to everything but mostly R&B and pop. I like watching movies, especially scary movies. My goals in life are to finish school and to get a good job. I really want to be a crime scene investigator. What I have learned in advanced computers that will help me in the real world is how to build furniture in Second Life. By learning how to build my own furniture I now know what it would be like to be a designer, for example you would want to know what size you want your furniture, and what shape. You also have to make sure that the pieces are all lined up together. I learned how to link all the pieces of the furniture, so the pieces are all together when you want to move them. We use Linden. Linden is like money, only we use it in Second Life. You have to complete your tasks in order to get Linden. You can spend your Linden on things you need to finish your living room space. You communicate by just chatting on Second Life. These are all the things I’ve learned in advanced computers.
My name is Rocio Mendle. I’ve been working in this class for the first trimester. The thing I most like in life is sports except football. The goal I have now is to finish my schooling. In Advanced Computers I have learned to build things in Second Life that can relate to the real world in becoming an architect. In Second Life I became an architect even though I don’t want to be one when I grow up. I really want to be a cosmetologist when I grow up. In Second Life I built a sofa, a chair to go with the sofa, even pillows for the two sofas plus a rug, floor, and wall. I’ve built all kind of things there. I almost built a whole room. How did I build it? There was this button that said build and I clicked on it. You can choose any shape you want your sofa to be. So I clicked on a cube. I stretched it out and rotated it till I got it the way I wanted it to look. Then I did the same to the other parts of the sofa. Then I went on like that to the rest of the furniture. After I was finished, I would take a snapshot of what I built and send it to my epals account. When you build stuff you will get Linden which is money for what you build. If you want to spend your money on texture or buy anything else for your furniture you just go to Lowell Depot and select the box of textures you want. Select buy and the program will automatically send it to you. If you want to share your texture you just click on the texture he/she wants then drag it to that person and then he/she will have it saved to their inventory. In Second Life we can communicate with each other, have fun, and be friends with each other. Being in the class is so much fun even though things are challenging for us.
My avatar name in Second Life is Nestor Jestyr. I am an 8th grader who currently attends at Lowell School. My favorite music is rock or hardcore, and screamo. The sport of my life is soccer. I hope to get into law or business in my future. I have learned on Second Life how to type better and much faster. On Second Life I had no idea how to make anything, but now I have learned how to make realistic items out of shapes such as cubes into sofas, beds, walls and other realistic items. I have built floors, rug, carpet and coffee tables. I have built it with the shapes given in the program such as cubes, spheres, or cylinders and much more. The way to get my Linden is to post blogs on how I am doing on Second Life and taking “snapshots” or pictures while I work. I spend the Linden on items our teacher/instructor builds or supplies for us to make our work a bit easier. We could and can share our materials. We report our work by going on Ning.com and blogging about our work. We communicate by typing on the computer and onto the “typing part” of the Second Life program. I’m now learning how to be creative instead of having the same fabrics for the same old sofa textures. This could help me in the real world by knowing how to use the computer. It can help me by typing faster, and making advanced files. It can also help me by knowing how to use programs that will help me if I get into business, insurance, law, etc. In Second Life I have an assignment to build a house. My partners and I have to build walls, doors, sofas, beds, and other real life needs to live in a house. My partners and I just started and are getting along pretty good.
Hello my name is Gerardo C. In Second Life my avatar name is Gerardo Capelo. In real life I like to play football, basketball, and soccer. I’m 13 years old and I go to Lowell School. I learned in Second Life how to make furniture out of shapes. This will help me in the future most in constructing things in the real world. If I get a job building I will need to make it out of simple shapes like squares, rectangles, ovals, and spheres. In Second Life I have built a furniture showroom. I built it out of squares and rectangles. I had to get the supplies at the Lowell Depot. Each box of supplies cost 10L. To get Linden you need to take pictures of your work. We communicate by instant messaging. I spent my Linden on my carpet, floor tile, and glass textures. I shared my supplies with my partners Christian and Nestor. I report my work by taking pictures and sending them to my Epals account. Epals is a little like MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook. We email our friends on Epals. Our first assignment was to do our name in Gimp. When we finish making our shirt we put them on our avatar. An avatar is a player that you are.
Hello my name is Jesus Panache. I like to play video games. My goal for me when I grow up is to be a lawyer and once I’m a lawyer I want to be a judge. What I have learned is multiple skills in Second Life. Some of the skills that I have learned are the ability to move the computer around. I now can use the computer and be able to manipulate the tabs at the bottom of the screen. I have an account on the Ning on the web so it has helped my web skills it has helped my web skills because it is like MySpace. This could help me in the real world because some of these skills could help me be an architect because of all the constructing that I have done in this class. Every class I have a different assignment so it’s a class with grades and everything. In this class you get Linden by doing your work or your assignment. Ms. Strehlow is our guest teacher and she is the one that determines how much Linden we get for the type of work we do. Linden is what we call money in Second Life. We spend our Linden on textures that we use on the objects that we build. We report our work by sending pictures of our work to our epals account. These are the many things we do in Second Life.
Hi, my avatar name is Jorge Rodas. I go to Lowell School in Phoenix. I have learned in Second Life to build furniture and our own rooms. I am learning to make a house in Second Life. It could help me in the real world by being a sculptor for my career because now I know how to build things. If you want to build a piece of furniture you have to left click on your mouse and go to build and you choose your sphere or a 3-D shape you like. You stretch your 3-D figure till you like the size. Then you can connect your shapes by linking them. To get money you have to work for your money like the real world. You communicate by a microphone or a chat bar on the bottom of your screen. There is a Lowell Depot on Second Life’s land. It sells wallpaper, carpet, and glass. Your avatar can fly in air. You can customize your avatar in Second Life. Mostly we have an assignment for Ms. Strehlow and if we accomplish our work we get Linden money.
My name is Paulo Aquila. I learned a lot in Second Life. At first you have to go to Gimp and make your name for your t-shirt using Bling. Then I learned how to build and work on projects. I was building a table and received Lindens. Each time I built more furniture, I received more Lindens. In Second Life you can fly and drive cars but you have to build them first. There are some apartments and you buy them and live in them. You paint them and then put items in the apartments like an Xbox360 and more. After I built a table, I built a lamp. There is a store called Lowell Depot and they sell textures and carpets. The money that we used is called Lindens. I don’t have that much Lindens. It is cool you have to take pictures in Second Life. I took my picture when I was flying.

The Living Room Project

2009-09-10T13:59:00.000-07:00

Next week everyone will be transitioning from the living room solo project to the house building small group exercise. Most of the work in this class is done "at your own speed," but I also want to keep them challenged. By now, each student has learned enough to be a valuable team member even if they can't do everything themselves. This will be a good chance for them to understand what skills and talents they can bring to the table. This coming week they will be doing some reflective writing about the experience so far and I will certainly get those posted as soon as I have the final copies.

The students who were in Advanced Computers during the last trimester of 08-09 will move from their house building project to a project of their own devising that directly relates to one or more of their other content areas. Those of you who "know" Second Life will probably nod knowingly when I tell you that one student mentioned building a pyramid. (One of the basic shapes is already a pyramid) I asked if they were studying ancient Egypt and he said no. This project must be something they are going to be studying this year, so it will require much more of a "connection."

We've Got Our Bling On!

2009-09-01T15:52:00.000-07:00

The students are now wearing their special "bling" t-shirts. The first assignment was not done in Second Life, it was done using the open source software called "Gimp." Students learned how to use many of the paint and effect tools by creating their name in bling which was then applied to a black t-shirt template used in Second Life. Today we continued the sofa and matching chair problem with a new twist. The students will create a vignette that looks like a furniture showroom. They will add a few accessories such as tables, lamps, wall decor, and rugs. Although this is a solo assignment, students confer with each other regarding the new skills they are honing. Once they each have a good skill level, they will be able to more easily collaborate on upcoming challenges. These photos were taken by students and sent to their epal accounts for storage.

Beginning to Build

2009-08-27T11:46:00.000-07:00

Since most of us who are using virtual worlds in which to teach are sort of making it up as we go along, I decided that although I did want my newbies to see the island as a blank canvas, I would borrow an idea I had seen on the main grid. Some of the land available for educators to rent has been subdivided into smaller parcels divided by narrow waterways. As you can see in the video, I have done that. After briefly experimenting with prims, I gave my newbies their first problem. They were to build a sofa and matching chair with no formal directions. Thus, it was a problem they needed to solve and as you can see, they did not come to identical solutions.

The boys who were with me during the last trimester of the 2008-2009 school year were given the task of working in pairs to build a furnished house based on a floor plan. Again, I gave no formal directions so they could approach this collaborative problem any way they saw fit. They had to build from scratch unless they had an item they built last trimester in their inventory. I answer questions as they come up, but do not interfere with the process.

We have some very unfortunate crashing issues despite searching out the best versions of Second Life to run on the various computers. We are even running an old but grid enabled version from flash drives on our oldest desktops, but as in all things, we will deal with it. Today we dealt with a fire drill. How do you say, “C’est la vie” in Spanish?

Return to PESD Island

2009-08-12T14:41:00.000-07:00

Hi! My name is Nick and I’m an 8th grader at Lowell Elementary. Last year I was fortunate to learn about Second Life, and actually be a part of it. In this virtual reality world, I learned techniques that will help me in my future life. One of our assignments was to remodel a room. I had to learn how to use measurements and learn how to build beds, walls, floors, and a roof. You start out with a simple 3-D shape like a cube, sphere, or pyramids and shape it to look like the wanted form. You can also build vehicles, planes, motorcycles and more too. You even design how your avatar looks. In addition, you interact with other players throughout the game. You can work together and build something jointly or you can work separately. The presentations we did to show our work could be used for games, jobs, or school. This is a great educational adventure!

Hi, my name is Roberto. Last year, I had the opportunity to try Second Life. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever done. I'm now in high school, though. In Second Life, you build just about anything, make friends, and just try something new. Luckily, my class had Ms. Strehlow to help us out! Without her, I don't think we could've done something like this at all! Like I said, in Second Life, you can build just about anything. In my year, we were assigned into groups. My group was the mall/apartments. At first, I was a bit clueless as to how to build something. Then, with the help of Ms. Strehlow, I could build a basic apartment. I was happy when I finally built that apartment. It was thanks to me that I was able to provide every SL member in my class somewhere to keep their stuff. Another project was building a piece of furniture. I decided on a bed. It took me many tries before I made the bed I still have in my inventory today [By the way, you can buy it for 15 Linden!]. While taking SL, I found out that I wasn't always the perfect one to build things [for example, one of my SL Friends built a flat screen TV!]. But I always tried my best. You should try Second Life. It was one of the most amazing things I've done in my life!

I’m Myron and I really liked using Second Life. Even though the work we did was kind of hard, I enjoyed using the program and I can honestly say that I have learned a lot from it. Second Life has taught me how to be creative and how to build different objects. It has also helped me with my computer skills. It taught me how to work with others, to get things done, and how to share my ideas with others. I built objects by sizing different 3-D shapes and joining them together to create one object. To create more than one of the same shape, I used the shift copy technique. With Second Life, we used many different and unique shapes that were creative but also useful. As we finished our work we were given Linden which is the money of Second Life. We used our Linden to buy many fun virtual toys, but this was only if we finished our work. This taught me to be responsible in order to meet my deadlines. Second life was an exciting, cutting-edge experience and I was happy to be a part of this program that taught me how to be creative and learn architectural skills while having fun at the same time.

My name is Junior and Second Life taught me how to build objects that I didn’t know I could build. It was complicated but I managed to keep up with our instructor's help. Our instructor taught us how to create regular objects that were made up of basic 3-D shapes and form them into buildings. She also taught us how to put different textures on the shapes. We could also bend the objects and make different shapes from regular 3-D shapes. The objects that we built were objects that we could use in everyday life. For example we built an amusement park with rides and landscaping. Another group of students built a castle area, apartment buildings, and a shopping mall area. As we built different buildings and took snapshots of our work we earned Linden which is money in Second Life. Second Life was an advanced computer program and it was very much like real life. It was really fun to fly around in the virtual world and build things. Second Life was a cutting edge program. In the program we also learned how to communicate via chat instead of just talking to each other in real life. We had to chat/write our ideas to each other; otherwise we couldn’t make a building. We had the opportunity to use this program last year and we are fortunate to be able to use it again this year.

Hello! My name is Omar and I am an 8th grader at Lowell School. I already have taken Second Life which is a virtual reality world. Second Life is like reality because when you work and do all that you are asked to do you get rewarded with more opportunities and you receive additional privileges. And just like in real life you are rewarded with money which is called lindens. You get to work with other people and help them out by telling them how to do the tasks. In the real world you have to work with other people so it prepares you for this. When you are working you are already use to working with other people. This virtual game prepares you for the real world because you learn how to use measurement and how to communicate with other people and work with them. In this world you get to remodel your own space and put anything you want and in your space as long as it is appropriate. In an assignment your have to remodel your room so get to improve the measurements to make walls floors and lots of accessories to make your room look cool. So come and join the fun in this virtual world!

My name is Alexis and I am an eighth grade student at Lowell school. Last year I was fortunate to be in this class and learn how to measure and how to build things like a castle, an amusement park, a mall, and an apartment. Designing an apartment made me get creative. You can build vehicles and planes and ride around which isn’t really necessary because you can fly. You can also interact with other players in the virtual world. In this virtual world I learned techniques that will help me for life. This is a fun and educational game.

My name is Adrian. Last year Second Life taught me how to build objects that were not only useful but also practical. We made chairs, amusement rides, added landscape and other objects that my friends who were avatars used. I learned communication with messages by typing what I want to say and by speaking. I spoke to my friends next to me. When I finished an assignment I received Linden which was money. I would like to earn more Lindens this year and I can do that by being more responsible for my actions. This year I will complete my objectives. I can help myself by helping others and doing what I am supposed to do. Also if I ever have to do a job I might want to work my best.

In the Beginning...Part 2

2009-06-18T08:58:00.000-07:00

Difficult as it was to do, I have put the island back to it's pristine state of barren so students entering in the first trimester will have the same deserted island feeling when they arrive. As an art teacher I want to provide a blank canvas. You wouldn't give a child a piece of paper already covered with drawings and ask them to use that for a new drawing, so why give them an island where the inhabitants already have filled up most of the space?

The skyboxes were left intact for alumni and teacher use but the mainland is now ready for new imaginations and creations.

Taking a look back...

2009-06-05T16:10:00.000-07:00

These student screen captures give a fairly good overview of the past trimester. Students came back from Spring Break and we just plunged right in with our deserted island and made it our own one prim at a time. This work supports the latest STEM initiative (science, technology, engineering & math) and also the new NETS student standards in technology. Check out a job application for engineering these days and you will see that they want people who are self-starters who can collaborate with others. Those are just some of the 21st Century skills Phoenix Elementary students have learned during this brief time on PESD Island.

An Unexpected Vacation

2009-06-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

At the end of a school year, elective and special classes get interrupted for all kinds of reasons. Kids go on field trips, have to perform at assemblies, or...a school may just get closed down due to Swine Flu! Our kids got an unexpected weeklong vacation from school while the health department made sure everything got wiped down with disinfectant. This week was followed directly by the long Memorial Day Weekend so there wasn't much left to do but party when the kids came back. I provided all sorts of party supplies, a dance area and vehicles which could be used in the raceway. One teacher arranged to borrow her kids at a different time so they could meet kids from one of the other schools which was fun.

Here are some thoughts from a few of the students participating in this pilot project:

Hi, My name is Sammie Steamer. I am a Second Life user from Lowell School. What I like about Second Life is that you can almost build anything that you want. What I also like is that you can work with others from different schools or from the same school! I like when it comes down to working with others that you can learn many different things and have fun. I like that we get our own rooms and we get to pick what we want in our room and edit how we want it. I like building things for my room. That's fun to do for me. Second life is just like real life but in the computer. I like that you can change clothing and have different hair and shoes etc. I learned some math by building things with the numbers that you have to use. You also learn how to work with other people on Second Life. I think that working on Second Life is a good educational world and at the same time it is very fun. You should try it and find out.

My name is Vann Vyper. I’m in 7th grade and I go to Edison School. I am 14 years of age. My experience in Second Life was absolutely amazing. I could not get enough of it. There was so much to do. We had some set backs, like not having enough time. It took a long time to make my plane. It is a Japanese Mig. I plan to go to college and graduate. I don’t know what I want to do yet.

Hello, my name is Silvano Serenity and I attend Edison Elementary. What I like to do is use the internet and play sports. On Teen Island I learned a lot of different shapes and what they look like if they are hollow.
To build a plane was an easy process, just stretching ovals. When I grow up, I want to be in the Navy and fly planes. I also want to attend college so in case I get hurt I have a back up plan.

My name is Adreean Arrowmint and I go to Kenilworth School. This has been a learning experience for my friends and I. It's fun to build my own home and to be able to hang out with my friends and play games. There is a large Scrabble game which I played with my teacher. There are also chess tables and hangman games. I would like to continue this during the summer because it would be great to interact with friends as well as learn to build all sorts of things on a day to day basis during the summer. I would have fun making cars, playing on the ferris wheel, and dancing crazy. Being able to take the flash drive home over the summer will help me keep busy instead of goofing off or being bored, plus I would rather be doing something educational.

My name is Filiberto Firehawk and I am a student at Kenilworth. It is the last day of school and I really want to keep on working on Second Life during the summer. Here are some reasons why I want to continue it. I learned some computer skills for example my typing skills have increased. I learned what a flash drive is. I learned how to talk in a chat room. I need to continue because I need to finish my room. It will give me something to do during the summer break. Most of my friends are in it and I can chat with them over the summer. Second Life is really cool and fun and lots of other kids and teens agree with me. This may take a bite out of your summer but you can choose the hours we log on.

Who Has the Top Design?

2009-05-07T20:43:00.000-07:00

Today most of the class worked in the mall area which we are calling Lowell Center until someone comes up with a different name. I had an assignment in a notecard giver and the students had to follow the directions for Who Has the Top Design. They had to create a prim floor, ceiling, and three walls, so there was a lot of shift copying and rotation to be done. When you watch the video, you will see an entire building disappear. Not a single student mentioned it but were so into what they were doing that they just kept on working. You have to love that kind of engagement!

A Day at the Museum

2009-05-07T20:42:00.000-07:00

Things are starting to take shape at the Museum. We just don't have enough time to do everything we want with this project. This pullout class was going to compare visually in 3D the WWII era, Vietnam, and Iraq. They could have done music and art from the period, but chose uniforms, airplanes, and construct a timeline. Uniforms proved to be too time consuming and difficult. Hover text scripts could easily be used for each event, so I taught Ms. Rodriguez how to use the hover text script and she in turn taught the boys working in her room. It took a bit longer for them to catch on. I keep forgetting that I know adults who have never done any programming and so for young teens, these kids rock! You have to love their fleet of aircraft!

The Journey of Louiz Longfall

2009-05-03T19:41:00.000-07:00

Hello, my name is Louiz Longfall and I am in Mrs. Baron's advanced computer elective. When we started Second Life, we filled out a survey about our interests. Castles was something that I had interest in so Ms. Strehlow assigned me the job of chief architect. The castle reflects the medieval days. There were six assigned to work on the castle. We first built the floors then added the walls. We used bricks because bricks were used in the original castles. We then added the 2nd floor and built ladders to connect the two floors. We created the walls on the 2nd floor and added another platform so it could be longer on top. We tried to use plants that were common in Europe. As we completed parts of our castle some of our workers were reassigned to different areas in Second Life.
I think the castle was difficult to build but it was the most fun. As the chief architect I had to give directions to students so they could build the ladder, put the textures on the walls, and on the floor. This experience will help me in my future because this is something that was new for me and now I know how to work with other people.

Lowell Students Build Bridges

2009-05-01T14:50:00.000-07:00

The other day I decided to dredge a river gorge that would bisect the island. In an effort to give some students an extra chance to earn Linden dollars (points), I had them work on a footbridge problem that had to span the gorge. They could not just build a flat plank and the most successful remain on the island and acquired the most points. They could work with a partner if they wanted to.

More Kenilworth Newbies

2009-05-01T09:24:00.002-07:00

Today we had technical difficulties with computers that worked fine previously. One of our specialists had to change the display settings to 32 bit color which prevented the students from getting logged in and they really had just a brief time to be inworld. Next time they will have more time to get acclimated. The virtual world environment is not unknown to this gaming generation but I need to add more constraints initially until the students understand this is not completely playtime. Having worked in instructional technology for over 20 years, I understand the impulse to look at every computer as a source of amusement, which is fine (because I do the same thing), but the students need to understand that what they learn through play is also connected to so much more.

Edison Group - The Museum Starts to Take Shape

2009-05-01T09:24:00.001-07:00

Today more students worked on specific items for the Museum they are building. There is a timeline of events for which students will learn more about scripting prim objects. They will use a Hover Text script and learn how to edit it for content and color. A few girls tried using Vint's skirtmaker and my tutorial. I have to admit that skirts are not easy but if they are going to tackle historic uniforms, they will have to master this skill. Students are not just making the super easy "system clothing." They will be using Gimp and the avatar templates.

Today the kids got to explore some of the new things that magically appeared on the island.

I Am in Total Awe of These Kids!

2009-04-28T23:24:00.001-07:00

Everytime I go into the kids' hard drive folders to see what new pictures they have taken documenting their work on the island, I am in awe. These students are gaining a much better sense of spatial reasoning by manipulating three-dimensional shapes in a virtual environment and that gives them a better sense of their own physical world. They are creating buildings from scratch with no patterns or formal blueprints. They "see" what they want to build in their heads and just go for it. They consult with their team members and whatever is happening is evolving from their process. If you walked into the room, no one would even notice you because they are so engaged in the process.

Trees, Apartments, and Rides, Oh My!

2009-04-24T22:50:00.000-07:00

Students in all three Lowell groups continue to make progress with the planning and building of the apartment complex and mall, the castle and forest, and the amusement park. Ramps were erected near the apartments, towers and intricate ramps with railings have appeared in the castle, and a ferris wheel now has one set of seats. Students are experts now at taking screenshots and saving them giving us a wonderful visual record of the process. Collaborative and organizational skills are improving as the students work together to create various sections of each build.
I am in awe as I watch the level of engagement. I spent my time moving around the media center watching the kids work so my avatar fell asleep. The kids thought that was funny enough to document.

RL & SL (Real Life and Second Life)

2009-04-22T22:30:00.000-07:00

Three groups of students are now working on the island. The 27 advanced computer students at Lowell have had the most avatar time and have had time to work in their chosen groups. The smaller groups at Kenilworth and Edison have just begun to work in world, but work easily with their avatars. None of the students needed to learn how to walk, jump, fly, or chat. They multitask easily, switching from the Second Life browser to do screenshots and paste them into PowerPoints. The Edison students practiced some tutorial and math tasks. They will be working on a performance piece that integrates the cultures of WWII society, the Vietnam War era, and the 9-11 Iraq period. Students will compare and contrast in a 3D virtual setting the music, art, heroes, inventions, advertising, and more.

Kenilworth Students: First Look

2009-04-20T11:36:00.001-07:00

Today a few more students from Kenilworth came on board. The Kenilworth students will be located on the building platform until we get a better idea of what they will be doing. The first day I had 3 students and was going to have them teach this group but they were attending our gifted program so I had to orient this group. The interesting thing about this is that I did it all sitting at my desk in the district office location and the kids were in the computer lab of their school! Their computer teacher Ms. Gillam was in the room with them as well as my team member Mr. Kain. Both Ms. Gillam and Mr. Kain have spent time with me training in Second Life and are interested in this virtual learning environment. I foresee many more such situations where students are not necessarily in the same physical space as their teachers for various reasons.

April 17, 2009 - Wearing Our New Shirts!

2009-04-17T15:42:00.000-07:00

Students got to wear the new shirts they designed using the Gimp Bling project. They did a fantastic job but you will see that better when they take closeup portraits of themselves.

Our First Student Screenshots

2009-04-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

Today the students took some screenshots and created a PowerPoint for storage of their island pictures. The students finished their Gimp Bling T-shirt files and next class they will be wearing clothing of their own design. Students also had to decide in which of the areas they will work. Students rank ordered special areas and the final choices were a castle area, a modern apartment building and shopping mall, and an amusement park. The engineering skills they will have to cultivate just building a roller coaster are incredible. The classes go by so quickly that we will not be able to do a fraction of what we really want to do, but since this is our first foray into this, we are just happy doing the exploratory work.

The Kids Have a Guest from California

2009-04-10T19:43:00.000-07:00

Today we had a guest from California. There was some confusion even getting the students in and permissions had to be tweaked to get them logged in. Unfortunately it meant that our island showed up on everyone else's map but our map shows nothing. A 10th grader from California found the island a nice quiet place and we talked one afternoon about his building experience. I invited him to our second class so he could show the kids a little glimpse of what was possible. Our region ended up getting restarted during our class but the kids got a chance to play around with prims one more time before we start structured building assignments.

Hey! We All Look Alike!

2009-04-06T15:08:00.001-07:00

Disclaimer: I did not know the internal mike was picking up my voice! Yikes!
Today the advanced computer students at Lowell Elementary got their avatars and a taste of what it will be like on an empty island. They had some orientation watching me do a few things prior to class and along with what they already knew of other virtual environments, easily walked, jumped, and flew. We weren't sure how many avatars we could get in at one time due to bandwidth limitations but we did get everyone in. We are running the software off of flash drives and that seems to work fairly well. I wish the video would have worked (most of it was ruined) but it was a pretty wild first day. The kids played around with making prims, and many not only added textures, but used the hollow, twist, and other tools to modify the basic shapes. Students acquired points for how much they experimented with their prims. Points will translate into Linden dollars earned.

Woo Hoo! There be avatars here!

2009-03-29T19:17:00.000-07:00

I am sooooo excited I can hardly contain myself. One of the wonderful people at Skoolaborate e-mailed me the following:
Hi Noreen,
Here's a fix for the 'login failed' problem that another school has solved:
There are two places where access permissions are set, and the settings are NOT intuitive.
1) Log in as the owner avatar
2) go to World -->About Land -->Access Tab and set (check) "Allow Public Access" to be on
3) Go to World -->Region/Estate -->Estate tab and UNCHECK (have off) "Allow Public Access", and have off (unchecked) the two Restrict Access To tabs.
Number 3 above is what keeps the ISLAND private. However, the Island is also a single "parcel" and number 2 is what allows registered avatars to access it.
good luck with it!
Cheers
David
With that bit of info, I logged in and viola! The gates of PESD Island suddenly were opened. It took a while but I was able to successfully login with each of the newly registered avatars. I won't be able to work with the kids next week because I have to proctor state exams. As soon as those are done, PESD Island is going to become, well I have no idea what it's going to become. That's going to be up to 28 middle school students. (Oh don't worry, there will be strong connections to STEM, Social Studies, Literacy, and the arts, but no need to interrupt their learning with such details.) Learning is not a spectator sport!

Two Steps Forward?

2009-03-26T09:19:00.000-07:00

Wow, I don't know if I'm coming or going regarding this Teen Island project! For some reason, you have to join a mailing list to find out whether or not API is enabled for the closed estates (private islands). This makes no sense to me as a proper line of communication but as soon as I joined the list and sent an e-mail with my status question, I got an e-mail saying it was done. I also heard from someone else who said they finally heard from Linden after I put in my question so it is the correct vehicle to use.

This is what I received from the mailing list:
Hello Ginger (my avatar name on the Teen Grid)
Welcome to the Registration API beta. Your account has been given
capabilities and you can find instructions on how to use the API here:
http://secondlifegrid.net/programs/api/reg.

I forwarded that message to the lovely people in Sydney (Skoolaborate).

I also got another message from a third person at Skoolaborate showing me all she had sent to our office regarding the purchase order information. She explained that since it is not a product, but a service, they really do not do W-8 forms. I forwarded that to my boss in the hopes that she can explain to our business office that they really do not need a W-8. Since I do not handle any money (good thing too) I think I have done just about all I can do, but I will keep pushing to get Skoolaborate paid as soon as possible because I have a class of 26 kids chomping at the bit to get in there and rock that island!

Getting Closer!

2009-03-15T17:34:00.000-07:00

Just a brief note...The fine people at Skoolaborate are moving ahead with what they need to do and sent me the link to the student registry. They need to know that Linden Lab has enabled the API registry and so we need to be patient.
The photo is from our Tech Boot Camp. Teachers with prims can be dangerous!

One Step Forward; Two Steps Back

2009-03-13T09:11:00.000-07:00

Yet another blunder on my part. (I really need to start taking the time to read the fine print)

I heard from a different gentleman at Skoolaborate regarding the avatar registry for the island. Remember, if you have a closed estate (private island) you need to register your student avatars through a third party registration service which will cost an additional $500 to $600 for set up and hosting.

In his note to me the gentleman said that a custom last name would have to be purchased through Linden Lab. Even if I had wanted that, money is too tight to make another purchase and it would take some time. At this point, with third trimester upon us, (I still can't get used to that name instead of quarters) I haven't the time, money, or patience, so no custom last names.

He also told me that if I hadn't requested API registry enabled from Linden Lab, I needed to do that ASAP. I contacted the concierge support again via the Second Life Support Portal and was given a URL to the online form to make that request. That form required the URL of the site that was to host the registration form. I did not have that information from the gentleman, so I created a Login.htm for our district website and will add a link to the registry URL when we get it. If I were not the person in charge of the district website, I would have had to create a blog on which I could put the registry URL link because the request form could not be submitted without it.

No mention was made of the W8-BEN form that we need from their office in order to pay for this, so that is still pending as well, but to hear from them again after more than a week is a good thing.

I got a chance to do an Intro to Second Life workshop for 19 more teachers from the district this week at our Tech Boot Camp and that makes about 100 teachers who have had at least a 3 hour taste of Second Life. They would need more training in order to teach on the teen grid, but I know of at least a handful that will be capable of monitoring student activity with me. I can work with their classes and they can learn along with their students.

I get more excited about this daily because the immersive, multi-player, 3D environment fits perfectly into the latest STEM initiatives as well as the NETS-S.