I didn’t want to spend too much time wandering around and I'm not one for reading manuals so did a quick search on keywords ‘education’ and ‘kiwi’ to see if I could locate some like minded people.
First up I met the organiser of a group of kiwi educators (NMIT Garden of Learning on EDUisland) who invited me to their weekly get together. This was time well spent with Arwena Starburst the group’s organiser and some other Kiwi educators exploring what is possible in Second Life. Amongst other things I did learn how to create an object. Challenging, with the whole 3D thing going on, but with the patience and help of Arwena and Isa I succeeded. Here we all are sitting on the finished product (that’s me in the middle…Irihipeti Kayo)
My biggest challenge was landing in a dignified fashion after flying. Some wonderful people in the ISTEisland(International Society for Technology in Education ) to the rescue there too. I had discovered that to right click on the mouse I needed to use the Apple Key not the Ctrl as usual, and after chatting with Clare and KJ I can now land without falling flat on my face!...thanks for the wings too Clare.
Also spent some time with some other ISTE people starting to explore ‘voice’ which I am told is only new and active in a few places in Second Life…very much like participating in a Skype conference call …setting some protocols up always helps and a headset and microphone will be essential.
So all up I found the whole experience fun however I would recommend seeking out groups such as ISTE island and EduIsland ll, will save time as they are all very helpful and have many organised events especially geared towards education and eLearning.
As result of this first Second Life adventure I can imagine some interesting and exciting possibilities for education. If you are in Second Life, and see me say hello…I am Irihipeti Kayo.
