A community-led project, providing space to meet and network, all to create a cooperative learning environment and foster outreach, education, fundraising, all in a virtual environment.
There are a lot of great resources out there for conducting classes and furthering educational initiatives in Second Life. Here’s a little Friday link luv for some helpful and hopefully interesting articles about education and Second Life.
Written by: Beth J. Bates
Come show your support for one of the hardest hit communities of HIV.
Saturday Feb. 7th 2009
Starting at 2 pm we will have a viewing of the short documentary
Into Focus: a talk about hiv in Jamaica
at 2:30 we will have an open discussion
at 3:00 we will have the global sounds of DJ Harley MC
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Plush%20Nonprofit%20Commons/124/166/26
Part of the ongoing support that Techsoup/Non Profit Commons has for health oriented non-profits
For more details contact Ricken Flow in world or email
Written by: Ricken Flow
From Megan “Penguin” Keane….
The group of folks planning the Health Panel Expo in SL has grown so big that to manage it, we’ve created a separate Google Group for planning: http://groups.google.com/group/npsl-health-expo?hl=en.
To eliminate any confusion and making sure we include everyone interested, we’ll be using this group to disseminate information about meetings and plans for the Health Panel Expo event. If you are interested in taking part in this and you haven’t joined yet, please do and feel free to point others that would like to be involved to join.
You can see notes from our previous meetings linked here: http://npsl.wikispaces.com/healthpanelevent
Written by: Beth J. Bates
Many thanks to Serene Jewell for compiling this wonderful summary of last Friday’s NPC meeting…
Sim Move and Update by In Kenzo and Glitteractica Cookie
All NPC sims are now next to each other and attached. Now we can walk from sim to sim rather than teleport. The move will hopefully encourage more traffic between the sims. Planning is underway for new navigation paths and a teleport system. In Kenzo is looking for volunteers to help with the job of building bridges, walkways, and handrails. (Penguin, Buffy, Coughran, Tech coleslaw, Zinnia Zauber, Ronnie Rhode, Zazoom Zimminy, Mel Schaller, Szavanna Anatra, Nany Kayo all volunteered to help.)
New NPC User Group by Tech Coleslaw
Tech is proposing a new user group for nonprofit technical support folks. (Rebus Mandelbrot volunteered to help organize and promote some initial meetings. Penguin and Glitteractica will promote meetings.)
Community Gateway Project by Penguin
This project involves creating a landing and orientation area for SL newcomers who have expressed an interest in nonprofits. This would be similar to the newcomer orientation areas at NCI Caledon Oxbridge and Virtual Ability Island. (Muse Carmona, Ozma Malibu, Szavanna Anatra, Serene Jewell, volunteered to help, In Kenzo has will clear land and has USC elements
Research Project by Muse Carmona
Muse Carmona is a graduate student studying online community here through Mar. 31. She will be observing members of NPC for 10 hours and will interview 3 people. She’ll be in her alt, Katherine Violet.
Meet Your NPC Neighbor by Gabrielle Knipper
Sierra Club has opened up a space on the Eco Commons. Gabrielle described the Sierra Club mission and current initiatives. Wants to set up a Second Life Sierra Club Chapter
Open Mic
Glitteractica announced a locals lunch in San Francisco Friday, Feb. 6.
Zinnia Zauber announced Thurs. Feb 5 Common Ground dance will be sponsored by Project Jason. Color for the night is eggplant purple. 7pm. Be there! Looking for future sponsors.
Glitteractica announced East Coast happy hour on Feb. 11. Email her for details
Ricken Flow announced Dreams Education and Health Community Fair being organized, Contact Golda Stein
Malin Dahlstrom announced 1363 unique avatars in a month to Aloft, 500 to Plush sim. Average visit is more than an hour.
Penguin encouraged everyone to use the wiki! Sign up for an account and she will approve you. http://npsl.wikispaces.com
Volunteers Needed:
Help In Kenzo build bridges and walkways between the sims.
Help Tech Coleslaw organize support group meetings for nonprofit technical staff
Help Penguin and others create an orientation area for SL newcomers
Help Muse Carmona with her research by volunteering to be interviewed
Help Zinnia Zauber or Ethelred to sponsor Thurs. night Common Ground dance
Full list of volunteer projects at http://npsl.wikispaces.com/volunteers
Remember:
Full notes from all meetings are on the wiki at http://npsl.wikispaces.com
Follow Glitteractica on twitter at twitter.com/suzboop
If you are putting photos on flickr, using delicio.us bookmarks etc., tag it with NPSL
Put NPC in your picks.
Community listserv is at: http://groups.google.com/group/TechSoup-Second-Life
The NPC blog is at nonprofitcommons.org
Send announcements to Serene Jewell or Cordelia Gothly for the blog
Written by: Beth J. Bates
I received this information from RezEd today. I’m a huge fan of the “a-ha” moment and love reading when the light bulb has lit up for other folks. Enjoy!
$50 Honorarium to Share your Aha Moment:
What aha moment did you have in using virtual worlds for learning?
Please send a message (2-5 sentences) describing one key element of your program’s success to Global Kids on RezEd.
A $50 USD honorarium will be given to those that fill out the short online form describing the key lessons learned in your work in virtual worlds.
Written by: Beth J. Bates
Nonprofits unite! It’s nonprofit week on Orange Island from Monday, January 26th to Thursday, January 29th. Orange Island and NPC are hosting a week of dynamic presenters who have pioneered the way for nonprofits to use virtual worlds.
A full schedule can be found on the Orange Island blog.
Written by: Beth J. Bates
We are wanting to collect some testimonials on how the NPC community has helped your nonprofit help achieve its real world mission and organizational goals/objectives. This will help newcomers, supporters and visitors to understand the value of our community in SL and RL.
Feel free to respond to this discussion or you can post your testimonial (or comment) on the WIKI Testimonial page at:
http://npsl.wikispaces.com/Testimonials
Thanks!
Anika Pastorelli
Written by: Beth J. Bates
Please join me in extending a warm welcome to our newest NPC neighbor – FasterCures. FasterCures is dedicated to saving lives by saving time. Our mission is to identify and implement global solutions to accelerate the process of discovery and clinical development of new therapies for the treatment of deadly and debilitating diseases.
Draxtor Despres has once again outdone himself with this great feature video which explains the FasterCures mission and goals for SL.
To find FasterCures online…
Website: www.fastercures.org
Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/FasterCures/23454067539
Blog: http://fastercures.blogspot.com/
SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/aloft%20nonprofit%20commons/100/68/25
Written by: Beth J. Bates
I found this really interesting post on one gentleman’s journey through Second Life and specifically virtual conferences. I hope that you find this post helpful – good stuff!
Editorial: Virtual conferences in Second Life
Written by: Beth J. Bates
Great information from Rafi Santo….
I thought I’d share with you all the recent independent evaluation that was completed about the Science through Second Life project that we ran during the last school year. The project integrated Second Life and wide range of web tools into a standards based high school science class in New York City. Among the findings:
– Students’ attitudes towards science-related careers changed positively with the StSL curriculum.
– Students’ self-efficacy and self-confidence in their abilities to do science-related work increased.
– Compared to the traditional science curriculum, the number of students reporting being overwhelmed by science class fell by 50%.
– Low achieving students’ grades improved significantly compared to the previous semester.
– Students’ collective intelligence skills improved throughout the semester. More students reported that they felt more comfortable working with others to get something done using digital media in the post survey.
Click here to download the report which also includes a detailed program description, and if you have any questions about the project feel free to be in touch.
Cheers,
Rafi
—
Rafi Santo
Senior Program Associate
Online Leadership Program
Global Kids
http://www.globalkids.org/?id=5
http://olp.globalkids.org
Written by: Beth J. Bates