Second Life MOOC through the Looking Glass
A SL Newbie’s reflections on the SLMOOC 14 - Tom Atuto Mate, May 2014.
From the collection Reflections - by Tom Hussey
As a neophyte, I found the SLMOOC extremely helpful as a wonderful introduction to SL.
I attended almost all the presentations, viewing the recordings of the few I missed (due to technical problems with my server) and reviewing every one at a later date.
The SLMOOC was based on the Moodle 2.6 and WizIQ LMS platforms.
With a wonderful SLMOOC 14 Headquarters in SL:
The class schedule was packed with live presentations, both on WizIQ and SL, ranging from introductions on the use of SL, through adventure workshops and role-playing language classes, to educational courses using SL as part of the method of teaching. All of the classes were “user friendly”, the presenters offering lots of advice and help to the participants in order for them to enjoy to the maximum their SL experiences.
There were a few exciting presentations in Spanish, one of which was repeated in English.
Nellie’s wonderful introduction to SL and many of the presentations can be seen on her Second Life MOOC playlist on Youtube:
Following are my personal reflections (both literary and visual) on those presentations I liked, or that caught my attention the most. They are presented at random, but in groups of similar themes wherever applicable.
(I’ve included links to the Youtube videos where possible. These videos appear on my blog version of these reflections).
Introduction to SL and Workshops on how to use it:
Self explanatory title. Nan Zingrone explained, step-by-step, how to enter SL and set up your account and find and get around the SLMOOC HQ.
A great introduction to the MOOC by Dr. Nellie and Nan Zingrone with all the necessary information on how the MOOC works, about WizIQ and the Second Life activities and the activities in the Moodle for Teachers course.
View the video here:
Invitation to “Dancing the Night Away”. Live session showing how to make your Avatar dance and use various associated objects. Really enjoyed my first dance night in SL.
This was really helpful for me. Initially I had a lot of trouble trying to handle the camera and taking snapshots.
How to buy and use objects in your inventory. Great for the girls, lots of free dresses, ball gowns, jewelry and SHOES.
Baby Steps in SL Additional video by Nellie on the basic controls in SL. Using the mouse for zooming and the Alt button. Standing, walking, sitting down and going upstairs.
Using SL in Education:
Still under construction
The major disappointment with the MOOC was the relative lack of usage of the forums, not only on the Course Feed page in WizIQ but also on the Moodle site. With all live classes available on WizIQ and accessible directly from SL and the recordings available on WizIQ and Youtube, and also the final assignment uploadable to WizIQ, it seemed that Moodle was a little superfluous. I would like to see more traffic (and facilitator involvement) on the forums and the use of registered external blogs for the final assignment on Moodle.
In the introduction I referred to myself as an SL neophyte. Actually I was more of an SL-o-phobe, I didn’t want anything to do with all those “stupid people playing make believe, imagining themselves as super sexy, cool youngsters, partying and living on beautiful tropical islands” (reminds me of my life during the 70’s and 80’s, Ha-ha-ha). Like, Wake Up! Get back to dreary, damp, Doomsville U.S.A. and get on with your real lives.
A few years ago I had experienced trying to enter SL but found the initial learning curve too steep for me. I seem to have a problem getting started on up-hill slopes. No problem if it starts-off slowly, I soon build up enough steam to tackle the steepest of roller-coasters.
Now, thanks to the fantastic introductory lessons, workshops and didactical presentations in SLMOOC 14, I’m no longer an SL-o-phobic neophyte.
Am I an SL-o-phyle?
Ask me next year in SLMOOC 15.
This blog also available as a Google Drive doc:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SWfb5ygk27fsHIvD0Qcp5Y0FlvdpbAv_beUD-gtUpCQ
