Continuing our education theme from last week, this Friday December 9 at the Nonprofit Commons we welcome LuAnn Phillips (SL:Thynka Little) Virtual Worlds Coordinator for the National eXtension Initiative.

Cooperative Extension is a nationwide non-formal educational program in the USA, primarily focused on agriculture and food, home and family, the environment, community economic development, and the 4-H youth program. The nonprofit “eXtension Initiative” aims to transform this century-old organization through the use of Internet technology such as a website, social media, and the use of virtual worlds. LuAnn will share her vision of how immersive 3D can play a part in the transformation of Cooperative Extension education, and some of the challenges and frustrations that she faces in bringing these ideas to life.

Join us this Friday, December 9, starting at 8:30am PT at the Plush Nonprofit Commons in Second Life.

12/ 12/ 11: UPDATED WITH CHATLOG TRANSCRIPT…

CHATLOG

Nonprofit Commons Meeting

December 9, 8:30am PST

Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Plush%20Nonprofit%20Commons/88/126/26

AGENDA

8:30am Introductions

8:40am TechSoup Announcements

8:45am Mentors Corner

8:55am LuAnn Phillips, National eXtension Initiative

9:30am OpenMic/ Announcements

INTRODUCTIONS

[2011/12/09 08:31] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): ok we should get started, although people are still rezzing in

[2011/12/09 08:32] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Welcome everyone to the December 9 edition of the Nonprofit Commons weekly

meetup
[2011/12/09 08:32] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): I’m your community manager, Rik Panganiban

[2011/12/09 08:32] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Very happy to see everyone today!

[2011/12/09 08:32] Sarvana Haalan: Hello Rik…

[2011/12/09 08:32] Angelle Marquette: Hey, Rik ~ ^

[2011/12/09 08:32] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): We have a great guest speaker coming up later from National eXtension.

[2011/12/09 08:32] Sarvana Haalan: this has been busy week for NPSL

[2011/12/09 08:32] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): But as always we begin with introductions.

[2011/12/09 08:33] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Sravana: that’s so true!

[2011/12/09 08:33] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Please feel free to type into the text chat your RL name, organization, location, URL, and Twitter handle

[2011/12/09 08:33] Buffy Beale: /Buffy Bye, Bridges for Women, Victoria BC Canada, http://www.bridgesforwomen.ca @buffyb https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bridges-for-Women/181011348617531
[2011/12/09 08:33] Kali Idziak: Jessica Dally, Community Voice Mail, Seattle WA @jessicadally @cvmnational
[2011/12/09 08:33] Ronnie Rhode: Denise Harrison, The Garden for the Missing, http://www.gardenforthemissing.org/ and SLURL http://slurl.com/secondlife/Remora/203/148/21, Project Jason, assistance for families of the missing, http://www.projectjason.org.
[2011/12/09 08:33] Red (talkwithmarie): Marie C.-talkwithmarie, aka Red., Greater Boston, Girls project/Girl TV/Talk!withmarie, http://youtube.com/girltvlive, http://youtube.com/talkwithmarie, @talkwithmarie
[2011/12/09 08:33] Gentle Heron: Virtual Ability, Inc. http://www.virtualability.org
[2011/12/09 08:33] Lyssa AskJAN.org (janlyssa.serenity): Lyssa Rowan, Job Accommodation Network, Morgantown WV http://AskJAN.org @JANatJAN
[2011/12/09 08:34] Zinnia Zauber: Renne Emiko Brock-Richmond, Sequim Humanities and Arts Alliance, Sequim, Washington. http://www.sequimartsalliance.org http://www.facebook.com/sequimartsalliance @renneemiko
[2011/12/09 08:34] Amy SO (revslilsis): Amy- Special Olympics NY www.specialolympicsNY.org
[2011/12/09 08:34] Jadyn Firehawk: Pixel to Pixel Foundation, in SL
[2011/12/09 08:34] Thynka Little: LuAnn Phillips, Cooperative Extension extension.org
[2011/12/09 08:34] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Rik Panganiban, Nonprofit Commons/ TechSoup Global, Oakland CA, http://nonprofitcommons.org, @npsl @betterverse
[2011/12/09 08:34] Sarvana Haalan: Thanks to sharing bout the rl to vw meetup, potential tenant plns to ttend tody
[2011/12/09 08:34] CarynTopia Silvercloud: Caryn Heilman, Topia Arts Center, www.TopiaArts.org, today from Athens on slow connection, @topiarts, on Facebook Topia Arts Center
[2011/12/09 08:34] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): hurra for special olympics!
[2011/12/09 08:35] Ozma Malibu: Sandy Andrews, Floaters Org, Arizona, Mexico, and on the road, @ozma, still trying to get our website back up after the volunteer took us offline. must find another solution.
[2011/12/09 08:35] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): caryn: wow! I love greece.
[2011/12/09 08:35] CarynTopia Silvercloud: it is evening here ahead
[2011/12/09 08:36] Buffy Beale: yay CT glad you can still make it here 🙂
[2011/12/09 08:36] CarynTopia Silvercloud: glad also
[2011/12/09 08:36] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): I once hosted a machinima festival from a hotel lobby in Greece at 1am
[2011/12/09 08:37] Ozma Malibu: Sandy Andrews, Floaters Org, Arizona and Mexico and on the road, @ozma, website still down
[2011/12/09 08:37] Buffy Beale: and welcome home Kali, from your amazing trip 🙂
[2011/12/09 08:37] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Kali, where were you?
[2011/12/09 08:37] Calliope Lexington: thank you all for tpp
[2011/12/09 08:37] Buffy Beale: oops she’s away, but was in Nicaragua
[2011/12/09 08:37] Adalace Jewell: @adalace RoSa Library, Brussels, Belgium. www.rosadoc.be
[2011/12/09 08:37] Kali Idziak: I’m here
[2011/12/09 08:37] Kali Idziak: right in front
[2011/12/09 08:37] Red (talkwithmarie): yay Kali!
[2011/12/09 08:38] Buffy Beale: oh lol
[2011/12/09 08:38] Kali Idziak: back from Nicaragua now, just this week!
[2011/12/09 08:38] Zinnia Zauber: Everyone has been traveling! Thank you for sharing photos and insight. It is awesome!
[2011/12/09 08:38] Buffy Beale: Jac hi!
[2011/12/09 08:38] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): any more introductions?
[2011/12/09 08:38] Dancers Yao: Kara Bennett, Elder Voices, Los Angeles, Health Care and Human Rights
[2011/12/09 08:39] Sarvana Haalan: Sally S. Cherry, Baltimore, MD, Consultant for Protect Yourself 1, http://protectyourself1.org (Email: sarvonne@gmail.com)
[2011/12/09 08:39] jacmacaire Humby: Jacques Macaire HUMANBE http://www.humanbe.com ACTION TANK and Council on Sustainable Development France and International @Humanbe
[2011/12/09 08:39] Zazoom Zimminy: Kyle Reis, Grants Managers Network, NYC
[2011/12/09 08:39] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): fantastic
[2011/12/09 08:39] Buffy Beale: yay Zazzy!

TECHSOUP ANNOUNCEMENTS

[2011/12/09 08:39] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): and before I forget….

[2011/12/09 08:39] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Here are the many ways to can get involved with the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life:

Nonprofit Commons blog: http://nonprofitcommons.org

Wiki: http://npsl.wikispaces.com

Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/TechSoup-Second-Life

Google Calendar: http://bit.ly/2tMEYh

About TechSoup:

http://www.techsoup.org/tools/howtousetechsoup/

http://flavors.me/techsoup

http://flavors.me/nonprofitcommons

Weekly Networking Event: Wharf Ratz, Aloft, Tuesdays, 7-9pm SLT

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Aloft%20Nonprofit%20Commons/168/22…

Monthly Networking Event (1st Thursday):

Common Ground, Plush, 5PM-7PM SLT

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Plush%20Nonprofit%20Commons/128/22…

NPC Promo Video http://bit.ly/draxtorNPCvid

[2011/12/09 08:40] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): ok the rest of my team is tied up with other events right now, so I think its up to me to report on TechSoup Global updates.

[2011/12/09 08:41] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): AS you know, the Nonprofit Commons is made possible by TechSoup, which started this space five years ago.
[2011/12/09 08:41] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): We wanted to make you aware of an opporuntity to brag about your group for a really cool mapping project that is launching soon.
[2011/12/09 08:42] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): You just have to write about how a particular technology has increased your impact of your group.
[2011/12/09 08:42] Sarvana Haalan: I must sy tht your Virtual Meetup at a local holiday gaathering last night. apparently other local technies were following our dicussion on Facebook.
[2011/12/09 08:42] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): If you could post a story to us in the next couple of days, it will get added to this database of hundreds of groups around the world.
[2011/12/09 08:43] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): see here for details : http://nonprofitcommons.org/content/we-want-your-nonprofit-technology-im…
[2011/12/09 08:43] Buffy Beale: nice opportunity, thanks Rik + TechSoup
[2011/12/09 08:43] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): I think thats it from TechSoup.

MENTORS CORNER

[2011/12/09 08:43] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Is someone speaking on behalf of the Mentors today?
[2011/12/09 08:43] Buffy Beale: Hi, yes
[2011/12/09 08:43] Calliope Lexington: sorry it is not completely clear to me
[2011/12/09 08:44] Sarvana Haalan: * your Virtual Meetup w I must sy tht your Virtual Meetup at a local holiday gaathering last night.s a big discussion topic at a local holiday gaathering last night.
[2011/12/09 08:44] Calliope Lexington: what should we write about?
[2011/12/09 08:44] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): what part Calliope?
[2011/12/09 08:44] Buffy Beale: today we have our very own Zinnia talking about our upcoming exciting scathingly brilliant event
[2011/12/09 08:44] Calliope Lexington: our experience in sl?
[2011/12/09 08:44] Calliope Lexington: or rl?
[2011/12/09 08:44] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Calliope, how technology, any technology, has made a big impact on your group
[2011/12/09 08:44] Gentle Heron: “scathingly brilliant” sounds a little scary, Buffy
[2011/12/09 08:44] Calliope Lexington: ok
[2011/12/09 08:44] Buffy Beale: lol Gentle, it’s not
[2011/12/09 08:44] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): could be SL, but could be skype, or mobile, or whatever
[2011/12/09 08:44] Zinnia Zauber: I am on fire!
[2011/12/09 08:45] Calliope Lexington: ok it’s clear now
[2011/12/09 08:45] Calliope Lexington: thanks
[2011/12/09 08:45] Sarvana Haalan: looking forwrd to the looking forward to the panel discussion tomorrow
[2011/12/09 08:45] Buffy Beale: great question Calli, tahnks
[2011/12/09 08:45] Buffy Beale: er thanks even
[2011/12/09 08:45] Buffy Beale: just before Zinnia starts, I wanted to ask everyone
[2011/12/09 08:45] Buffy Beale: are you finding these sessions useful?
[2011/12/09 08:45] Buffy Beale: Do you have anything you’d like us to present on?
[2011/12/09 08:46] Buffy Beale: Do you have any comments for us?
[2011/12/09 08:46] Buffy Beale: jump in lol
[2011/12/09 08:46] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): (“us” being the mentors)
[2011/12/09 08:46] Zinnia Zauber: yes
[2011/12/09 08:46] Buffy Beale: oh, yes, the Mentor Corner
[2011/12/09 08:46] CarynTopia Silvercloud: I still need to learn so much that it is very helpful for me
[2011/12/09 08:47] Buffy Beale: ok tahnks CT
[2011/12/09 08:47] Buffy Beale: well if anyone has any suggestions please do let us know
[2011/12/09 08:47] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): would people be interewsted in a quick overview of the diff SL viewers?
[2011/12/09 08:47] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): and their strengths and weaknesses?
[2011/12/09 08:47] Gentle Heron: Rik, sorry, there is no such thing
[2011/12/09 08:47] Sarvana Haalan: learning is an ongoing process, CarynTopi
[2011/12/09 08:47] Zinnia Zauber: We are always excited to share with you and be helpful.
[2011/12/09 08:47] CarynTopia Silvercloud: yes, I have been wondering about that
[2011/12/09 08:47] Buffy Beale: and a reminder we meet following this meeting so anyone needing help or just want to hang out please do join us
[2011/12/09 08:48] Buffy Beale: great idea Rik, we could break down some of the advantages/disadvantages of the different viewers
[2011/12/09 08:48] Gentle Heron: Rik, we talked about that… it’s not a short topic, and the answer about “strengths and weaknesses” depends on your and your computer’s capabilities and needs
[2011/12/09 08:48] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): well maybe just one alternative browser?
[2011/12/09 08:48] Buffy Beale: yes, but there are some distinct advantages to some of the alternatives
[2011/12/09 08:49] Buffy Beale: we’ll talk about it at today’s mentor meeting, thanks
[2011/12/09 08:49] Sarvana Haalan: I use Imprudence
[2011/12/09 08:49] Buffy Beale: ok, so let’s have Zinnia talk about the upcoming NPC Winterfest event
[2011/12/09 08:49] Sarvana Haalan: It is in my comfort zone… lol, lol
[2011/12/09 08:49] Zinnia Zauber: THank you!
[2011/12/09 08:49] Zinnia Zauber: Please join us at the Nonprofit Commons for “Wishes Granted: Stories of Positive Impact” December 11 – 17.
[2011/12/09 08:49] Buffy Beale: and please do join us for the menotor meeting after take it away Z
[2011/12/09 08:49] Sarvana Haalan: Woot…. Zinnia
[2011/12/09 08:49] Zinnia Zauber: In a snow covered setting, visitors will discover huge books that tell real life fairy tales. Those stories are about how nonprofit organizations have had an encouraging and constructive influence on the lives of others.
[2011/12/09 08:50] Zinnia Zauber: Inside the “fairy tale” books will be insightful notecards, landmarks, and gifts from the unique nonprofits. Discover there is an opportunity, as individuals and as a community, to impact the lives of people who join us in the virtual world
[2011/12/09 08:50] Zinnia Zauber: and those we support in the physical world every day, many of whom do not even log in to Second Life. Grab a wand and make magic happen!
[2011/12/09 08:50] Zinnia Zauber: We have several events happening that week…
[2011/12/09 08:50] Zinnia Zauber: Sunday, December 11, 2011 2:00-4:00pm SLT Opening Social Party with music provided by Avantgarde Frequency at the Nonprofit Commons Community Area on Aloft
[2011/12/09 08:50] Zinnia Zauber: Tuesday, December 13, 2011 7:00-9:00 PM SLT Wharf Ratz Tuesday Night Extraordinary Dance Extravaganza at Wharf Ratz
[2011/12/09 08:50] Zinnia Zauber: Thursday, December 15, 2011 5:00-7:00 PM SLT “Magic Wings and Wands” CommonGround at the Nonprofit Commons Community Area on Aloft with DJ DyVerse Steele
[2011/12/09 08:51] Zinnia Zauber: Saturday, December 17, 2011 10 AM-1 PM SLT Snow Globe Building Contest, entries are limited so please be sure to arrive early at the Nonprofit Common Community Area on Aloft
[2011/12/09 08:51] Zinnia Zauber: Saturday, December 17, 2011 6:00-8:00 PM SLT Dance with Live Music at the NonProfit Commons Community Area on Aloft
[2011/12/09 08:51] Zinnia Zauber: In this winter wonderland, among the books, you will find ice skating and gifts.
[2011/12/09 08:51] Zinnia Zauber: Throughout the week we will be having random activities including snowball fights and dog sled races. Please watch for notices and IMs inworld, and join the Google Group to be kept aware of all events throughout the week.
[2011/12/09 08:51] Sarvana Haalan: woot, woot!!!!!
[2011/12/09 08:51] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): ( google group here: http://groups.google.com/group/TechSoup-Second-Life)
[2011/12/09 08:51] Zinnia Zauber: We hope that you will join us and share with visitors information about your orgs.
[2011/12/09 08:52] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): looks amazing!
[2011/12/09 08:52] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): thanks for all the work on this
[2011/12/09 08:52] Gentle Heron: Congrats Zinnia and team. That’s a lot of planning.
[2011/12/09 08:52] Zinnia Zauber: Thank you all for supporting our efforts and being part of this gridwide event.
[2011/12/09 08:52] Buffy Beale: cheering, great job Zinnia and Brena, and Par for the decorating of the sim
[2011/12/09 08:52] Zinnia Zauber: Thank you, thank you! It is a team effort and you are all on this team as well.
[2011/12/09 08:52] Zinnia Zauber: Okay, done being brilliant.
[2011/12/09 08:53] Red (talkwithmarie): Awesome work!
[2011/12/09 08:53] Sarvana Haalan: So excited!!!!
[2011/12/09 08:53] SLOODLE WebIntercom: Sorry soseono001 Resident. You do not have permission to control this object.
[2011/12/09 08:53] SLOODLE WebIntercom: Sorry soseono001 Resident. You do not have permission to control this object.
[2011/12/09 08:53] SLOODLE WebIntercom: Sorry soseono001 Resident. You do not have permission to control this object.
[2011/12/09 08:53] SLOODLE WebIntercom: Sorry soseono001 Resident. You do not have permission to control this object.
[2011/12/09 08:53] SLOODLE WebIntercom: Sorry Calliope Lexington. You do not have permission to control this object.
[2011/12/09 08:53] SLOODLE WebIntercom: Sorry Calliope Lexington. You do not have permission to control this object.
[2011/12/09 08:53] SLOODLE WebIntercom: Sorry Calliope Lexington. You do not have permission to control this object.
[2011/12/09 08:53] Zinnia Zauber: More info will be sent via Google Group and inworld for you to please help with spreading the word.
[2011/12/09 08:53] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): what is that device doing?
[2011/12/09 08:53] Zinnia Zauber: Thank you!
[2011/12/09 08:54] Buffy Beale: it’s trying to talk to us Rik 🙂
[2011/12/09 08:54] SLOODLE WebIntercom: Sorry soseono001 Resident. You do not have permission to control this object.
[2011/12/09 08:54] SLOODLE WebIntercom: Sorry soseono001 Resident. You do not have permission to control this object.
[2011/12/09 08:54] SLOODLE WebIntercom: Sorry soseono001 Resident. You do not have permission to control this object.
[2011/12/09 08:54] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): I’m removing it
[2011/12/09 08:54] Sarvana Haalan: what is it?
[2011/12/09 08:54] Buffy Beale: it’s in the way of the sign
[2011/12/09 08:54] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): something from the sloodle talk I think?
[2011/12/09 08:54] Buffy Beale: yes
[2011/12/09 08:55] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): we’ll start the fulll court media blitz today
[2011/12/09 08:55] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): so we can get the public to come and participate in all of these great events
[2011/12/09 08:55] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): please amplify to your own networks and channels
[2011/12/09 08:56] Zinnia Zauber: There is a notecard in the poster…
[2011/12/09 08:56] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): great
[2011/12/09 08:56] Sarvana Haalan: Placing info on my FB pages, Linkedin, and Twitter
[2011/12/09 08:56] Buffy Beale: hmm, Z it’s not handing it out
[2011/12/09 08:56] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): please havea seat in the audience soseono001
[2011/12/09 08:56] Zinnia Zauber: let me change it to buy for L$0.
[2011/12/09 08:57] Zinnia Zauber: see if that works..
[2011/12/09 08:57] Gentle Heron: Yeah I think it’s missing the “giver script”
[2011/12/09 08:57] Sarvana Haalan: $10

THYNKA LITTLE ON NATIONAL EXTENSION

[2011/12/09 08:57] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): ok lets get started with our main speaker while you fix that
[2011/12/09 08:57] Buffy Beale: lol Sar
[2011/12/09 08:57] Zinnia Zauber: yes I will shout out when it is ready
[2011/12/09 08:57] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Thynka come on down!
[2011/12/09 08:58] Zinnia Zauber: sorry about that, I’ll add a gift too
[2011/12/09 08:58] Buffy Beale: cheering for Thynka 🙂
[2011/12/09 08:58] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): sorry our stools are not very comfortable
[2011/12/09 08:58] Gentle Heron: YAY Thynka!
[2011/12/09 08:58] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): everyone please welcome LuAnn Phillips of National eXtension!
[2011/12/09 08:58] Thynka Little: I’m comfy
[2011/12/09 08:58] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Rik Panganiban smiles
[2011/12/09 08:58] Thynka Little: Thank you for inviting me here today.
[2011/12/09 08:59] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): she is going to brief us on how she has been working to bring a nonformal educational institution to the virtual world
[2011/12/09 08:59] Sarvana Haalan: Welcome LuAnn
[2011/12/09 08:59] Red (talkwithmarie): Welcome LuAnn!!
[2011/12/09 08:59] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): The floor is yours, Thynka
[2011/12/09 08:59] Thynka Little: I am currently working with the National eXtension Initiative to introduce the USA Cooperative Extension System to the use of virtual worlds for education, collaboration, and outreach.
[2011/12/09 08:59] Thynka Little: Working in this capacity has brought me both tremendous opportunity and also enormous challenges. Today I would like to tell you a little bit about what we do, and leave plenty of time to gather your thoughts on how we might be more successful.
[2011/12/09 09:00] Thynka Little: .
[2011/12/09 09:00] lyes (0376): salam
[2011/12/09 09:00] Thynka Little: How many people here are familiar with Cooperative Extension? Type yes or no in chat to respond.
[2011/12/09 09:00] Buffy Beale: no
[2011/12/09 09:00] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): not really
[2011/12/09 09:00] Gentle Heron: YES!!!!!
[2011/12/09 09:00] Kate B (captainflint006): no
[2011/12/09 09:00] Gentle Heron: Both in RL and in SL
[2011/12/09 09:00] Calliope Lexington: no
[2011/12/09 09:00] Amy SO (revslilsis): not really
[2011/12/09 09:00] Thynka Little: ok
[2011/12/09 09:00] Thynka Little: To understand the opportunities and challenges, you’ll need some background about both Cooperative Extension and eXtension.
[2011/12/09 09:01] Thynka Little: Cooperative Extension is a non-formal educational program implemented in the United States designed to help people use research-based knowledge to improve their lives. It is supported and administered in a partnership between the US Department of Agriculture and each state’s designated “land-grant” universities.
[2011/12/09 09:01] Thynka Little: .
[2011/12/09 09:01] Thynka Little: n most states the educational offerings are in the areas of agriculture and food, home and family, the environment, community economic development, and 4-H youth programs.
[2011/12/09 09:01] Thynka Little: I think 4-H is our most known brand
[2011/12/09 09:02] Thynka Little: The services are provided by the state’s land-grant universities, through a network of county offices and local educators, who teach educational programs developed by specialists located at the universities.
[2011/12/09 09:02] Thynka Little: The Cooperative Extension System will be 100 years old in 2014. In 1914, more than 50% of the population lived in rural areas and 30% worked in farming. Extension was established at a time when most people did not go to college, and scientific information was hard to come by.
[2011/12/09 09:02] masa Morani: hi
[2011/12/09 09:02] Thynka Little: It was designed to bring land-grant university expertise to the local level. In communities across the nation, extension agents went into the barns, crop fields, and homes of the nation’s farms, working one-on-one to teach practical application of research-based knowledge.
[2011/12/09 09:03] Thynka Little: Over time, Cooperative Extension programming has adapted to changing demographics. Today only 17% of Americans live in rural areas and 2% work in farming.
[2011/12/09 09:03] Thynka Little: Extension programming has broadened to include topics of interest to suburban and urban audiences as well. Cooperative Extension remains the largest community education program in the world, with over 3000 county and regional offices, and more than 10,000 educators and staff.
[2011/12/09 09:04] Thynka Little: really, it is HUGE
[2011/12/09 09:04] Thynka Little: 🙂
[2011/12/09 09:04] Thynka Little: But, of course, the way that people access information and create knowledge has also changed
[2011/12/09 09:04] Thynka Little: Extension’s educational methodology of
experts teaching in the field one-on one is no longer practical.
[2011/12/09 09:04] Thynka Little: Information is easy to come by, and learners want to construct their own knowledge from a plethora of resources.
[2011/12/09 09:05] Thynka Little: Sending educators out to teach one-on-one is not cost effective, and, indeed, staffing has been cut back in response to budgetary constraints.
[2011/12/09 09:05] Thynka Little: So , in 2007, the eXtension (pronounced E-extension) was launched, eXtension is a catalyst for transformation of the Cooperative Extension System of the Land Grant Universities nationwide using Internet technology.
[2011/12/09 09:05] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): (neat!)
[2011/12/09 09:05] Thynka Little: The initial focus of eXtension has been the creation of a public website (http://www.extension.org/) and the formation Communities of Practice around various topics of study. More recently, social media and virtual worlds have been added to the mix.
[2011/12/09 09:06] Second Life: Avatar ejected.
[2011/12/09 09:06] Thynka Little: go ahead and open that website in your external browser and take a look
[2011/12/09 09:06] Thynka Little: The initiative is a big huge deal
[2011/12/09 09:06] Thynka Little: and
[2011/12/09 09:06] Thynka Little: Virtual Worlds are a small bit of it
[2011/12/09 09:06] Thynka Little: I joined eXtension in 2007, when I was asked to create a Second Life mixed reality event for the formal launch of eXtension. We created the Virtual State Fair as the venue for the event, which was coordinated with the launch activities in Washington, DC.
[2011/12/09 09:07] Thynka Little: How many people have been to the Virtual State Fair?
[2011/12/09 09:07] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Rik Panganiban raises hand
[2011/12/09 09:07] Thynka Little: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Morrill/130/66/24
[2011/12/09 09:07] Thynka Little: that is the location
[2011/12/09 09:07] Thynka Little: and
[2011/12/09 09:07] Buffy Beale: I was there
[2011/12/09 09:07] Gentle Heron: oh yes, Virtual State Fair is lots of fun
[2011/12/09 09:07] Thynka Little: it remains the hub of all of our activities
[2011/12/09 09:08] Thynka Little: After that, the decision was made to have me continue to serve as the coordinator of eXtension’s Second Life activities, including professional development about virtual worlds, raising awareness and use of Second Life, exploration of virtual worlds for teaching, and facilitation of educator projects in Second Life.
[2011/12/09 09:08] Sarvana Haalan: great!
[2011/12/09 09:08] Thynka Little: Here is a poster that illustrates what the rationale and roadmap looked like.
[2011/12/09 09:09] Thynka Little: I made this for my poster session at the Federal Consortium of Virtual worlds
[2011/12/09 09:09] Thynka Little: 🙂
[2011/12/09 09:09] Zinnia Zauber: Wonderful!
[2011/12/09 09:09] Thynka Little: the concept was
[2011/12/09 09:09] Thynka Little: to have the various eXtension communities of practice create learning landscapes
[2011/12/09 09:09] Thynka Little: about their subject area
[2011/12/09 09:10] Thynka Little: and then
[2011/12/09 09:10] Thynka Little: share this virtual environment for use by educators everywhere
[2011/12/09 09:10] Thynka Little: and also to use SL as a place to meet and collaborate
[2011/12/09 09:10] Thynka Little: The opportunities as I see them are:
Enhancement, not replacement, of existing programs
Reaching new, even global, audiences
Saving money on travel
Staying true to the model of hands-on experiential learning
Sharing learning environments makes it a cost effective strategy
[2011/12/09 09:10] Sarvana Haalan: Is this on your website as well?
[2011/12/09 09:10] Thynka Little: hmm no
[2011/12/09 09:11] Thynka Little: good thought though
[2011/12/09 09:11] Thynka Little: This all began at the peak of the Second Life “hype-cycle” and the outlook seemed positive. And, over the past few years, we’ve had a steady stream of educators exploring Second Life.
[2011/12/09 09:11] Thynka Little: .
[2011/12/09 09:11] Thynka Little: Several projects were developed and launched, including the Virtual Health Inspector, The Life Cycle of the Japanese Beetle, and The LiveAbility House. The fair itself remains and attracts about 100 visitors a week unless we have a special event.
[2011/12/09 09:11] Thynka Little: then it is more
[2011/12/09 09:11] Thynka Little: but mostly people are there to ride and dance
[2011/12/09 09:11] Sarvana Haalan: great way to show folks the awesome work that you are doing in SL
[2011/12/09 09:12] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): nice combination of serious and fun!
[2011/12/09 09:12] Thynka Little: I hope that some incidental learning takes place while the explore there
[2011/12/09 09:12] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): just like a real state fair
[2011/12/09 09:12] Thynka Little: but as far as a teaching environment for the educators to use, not so much
[2011/12/09 09:12] Thynka Little: and
[2011/12/09 09:12] Thynka Little: really people in SL are not coming in here with the mindset of learning
[2011/12/09 09:12] Thynka Little: for the most part anyway
[2011/12/09 09:12] Sarvana Haalan: adding it to my Destination List
[2011/12/09 09:12] Zinnia Zauber: We are working on that!
[2011/12/09 09:13] Thynka Little: Meetings were held in SL each month, we put on an annual State Fair event, I travelled to conferences to speak about the potential for a new kind of “experiential learning.
[2011/12/09 09:13] Thynka Little: We held two mixed reality conferences with nationally prominent speakers such as Clay Shirky and Howard Rheingold. Our land has increased from one region to 5 in SL, and a 4 region mini grid being developed in Open Sim.
[2011/12/09 09:13] Thynka Little: I brought a video made recently, about Cooperative Extension Education in Second Life. You can watch it here in parcel media or in your browswer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6bkQcgMV7M
[2011/12/09 09:14] Thynka Little: it is about 3 minutes long, and i will wait while you watch it.
[2011/12/09 09:14] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): I just enabled it on the parcel
[2011/12/09 09:14] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): but youtube might load quicker
[2011/12/09 09:15] Buffy Beale: wow this is a great video, nice job!
[2011/12/09 09:16] Thynka Little: It all looks pretty exciting, yes? I’m a “glass half full” kind of a person. And yes, there have been some successes, but not enough.
[2011/12/09 09:17] Thynka Little: .
[2011/12/09 09:17] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): really well produced video
[2011/12/09 09:17] Thynka Little: thanks Buffy!
[2011/12/09 09:17] Thynka Little: Thanks Rik
[2011/12/09 09:17] Thynka Little: Second Life has remained a tiny bit of the overall eXtension Initiative.
[2011/12/09 09:18] Sarvana Haalan: Am awesome video… great job
[2011/12/09 09:18] Thynka Little: In contrast, the extension.org public website has millions of visitors. The communities of practice have grown in number to more than 50. There are
[2011/12/09 09:18] Thynka Little: several successful social media initiatives through Twitter, Facebook, and blogging. Mobile apps are being developed.
[2011/12/09 09:18] Thynka Little: But the number of educators interested in exploring the use of virtual worlds has dwindled.
[2011/12/09 09:18] Thynka Little: The early adopters lost interest
[2011/12/09 09:19] Thynka Little: and New people are slow to come on board
[2011/12/09 09:19] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): So what would be your vision for what a successful virtual world implementation of Extension would look like?
[2011/12/09 09:19] Thynka Little: The original idea was for each eXtension “Community of Practice” to create a learning environment in Second Life. So far 5 have, and they are not well utilized.
[2011/12/09 09:19] Thynka Little: There are over 50 CoPs now
[2011/12/09 09:19] Zinnia Zauber: How can we support you? As an educator in SL, I would love to help.
[2011/12/09 09:19] Thynka Little: ranging from blueberries to Child Care
[2011/12/09 09:19] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): what kind of scale would you like to reach?
[2011/12/09 09:19] Thynka Little: Feral Hogs to Wild Fires
[2011/12/09 09:19] Thynka Little: that is an interestting question
[2011/12/09 09:20] Thynka Little: SL is not a place to reach millions, like a website
[2011/12/09 09:20] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): clearly SL is better for small groups of people to go deep, not large broadbasts to thousands or millions
[2011/12/09 09:20] Thynka Little: exactly
[2011/12/09 09:20] Thynka Little: but
[2011/12/09 09:20] Sarvana Haalan: I am a multi-platform promoter, I could help to promote it in rl and sl
[2011/12/09 09:20] Thynka Little: how do we reach our audience?
[2011/12/09 09:20] Gentle Heron: Correct Thynka, it’s about depth of contact, not breadth…. that’s what makes it actually so GOOD for educators.
[2011/12/09 09:20] Thynka Little: I would say that our natural audience exists in the SL residents
[2011/12/09 09:20] Thynka Little: not bringing in new residents
[2011/12/09 09:21] Thynka Little: it is a lot different than a university classroom
[2011/12/09 09:21] Thynka Little: where the professor requires the students to come to SL
[2011/12/09 09:21] Zinnia Zauber: I teach a lot of people to get into SL for education, it is important that we can direct them to your resources.
[2011/12/09 09:21] Thynka Little: The problems as I see them are:
[2011/12/09 09:21] Thynka Little: Second Life is not low-hanging fruit. It takes a large investment of time to learn to teach here.
[2011/12/09 09:21] Thynka Little: The general public does not come into SL looking for educational experiences.
[2011/12/09 09:21] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Rik Panganiban nods
[2011/12/09 09:22] Thynka Little: Linden Lab shifted support away from education.
[2011/12/09 09:22] Thynka Little: Virtual Worlds remain a niche environment, and mainstream adoption is far in the future, if ever.
[2011/12/09 09:22] Sarvana Haalan: have you approach schools, local state fair folks, and 4-H groups,
[2011/12/09 09:22] Buffy Beale: that is a shame, they forget we bring in the students who stay…
[2011/12/09 09:22] Thynka Little: Cooperative Extension’s range of topics is so broad, that creating a “community of interest” in virtual worlds is difficult.
[2011/12/09 09:22] Thynka Little: I think that last one is my biggest obstacle
[2011/12/09 09:22] Thynka Little: it is hard to create one community around Cooperative Extension
[2011/12/09 09:22] Thynka Little: there is such a range of topics
[2011/12/09 09:23] Sarvana Haalan: mini-communities
[2011/12/09 09:23] Thynka Little: i think creating community here is essential
[2011/12/09 09:23] Thynka Little: you guys do a great job of it here at NPC
[2011/12/09 09:23] Gentle Heron: YES! Community and communication.
[2011/12/09 09:23] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): aww thanks
[2011/12/09 09:23] Thynka Little: So where do virtual worlds fit in at this point? Is community-based education viable in Second Life or other virtual worlds? Is there a way to do Extension work in SL? Is this technology too advanced for our organization? What are your thoughts?
[2011/12/09 09:23] Sarvana Haalan: the girl scouts have badge program… create your own incentive program
[2011/12/09 09:23] Zinnia Zauber: We love to support that and I would be very happy to talk more on the side about how we are connecting with the University of Washington.
[2011/12/09 09:23] Thynka Little: the individual educators are the Subject Matter Experts
[2011/12/09 09:23] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): I would say you are definitely asking the right questions
[2011/12/09 09:24] Thynka Little: but
[2011/12/09 09:24] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): nd you have identified some of the key stumbling blocks
[2011/12/09 09:24] Sarvana Haalan: connected to something in rl…
[2011/12/09 09:24] Thynka Little: they are not engaged here
[2011/12/09 09:24] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): So that’s a good start
[2011/12/09 09:24] Zinnia Zauber: We want to build more connections and support community.
[2011/12/09 09:24] Thynka Little: just like if they use a blog or twitter as a strategy, they need an identity here
[2011/12/09 09:24] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): sounds like you need to build capacity with a cre group of educators to really be involved here
[2011/12/09 09:24] Thynka Little: a lot of the programs have to do with ag topics
[2011/12/09 09:24] Thynka Little: industry things
[2011/12/09 09:24] Thynka Little: like manure management
[2011/12/09 09:24] Thynka Little: lol
[2011/12/09 09:25] Thynka Little: I dont think we can do much with a topic like that here
[2011/12/09 09:25] Thynka Little: but parenting
[2011/12/09 09:25] Thynka Little: surely
[2011/12/09 09:25] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): and then narrow in on topics that will draw people: fashion, music, games creation, architecture, deisgn come to mind
[2011/12/09 09:25] Thynka Little: so what i would ask you guys is
[2011/12/09 09:25] Thynka Little: take a look sometime at extension.org
[2011/12/09 09:25] Thynka Little: at the topics that extension covers there
[2011/12/09 09:25] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): and make it easy for people to drop in
[2011/12/09 09:25] Sarvana Haalan: prefect… some many folks do not understand th enuts and bolts of things such as “where do tomatoes come from?”
[2011/12/09 09:25] Thynka Little: and see if any align with what you do
[2011/12/09 09:26] Thynka Little: if any of that subject matter resonates with you and your community
[2011/12/09 09:26] Zinnia Zauber: Knowing that these resources are out there, it is great because I live in a remote location that people ARE interested in manure.
[2011/12/09 09:26] Thynka Little: and let me know
[2011/12/09 09:26] Thynka Little: if I can convey to the organization that there is interest here
[2011/12/09 09:26] Thynka Little: in particular topics
[2011/12/09 09:26] Sarvana Haalan: I am between urban and rural communities in my work
[2011/12/09 09:26] Thynka Little: that might help me get some momentum going
[2011/12/09 09:27] Thynka Little: extension is really a resource for other organizations too
[2011/12/09 09:27] Thynka Little: so, let me know how I can connect you with experts in your field
[2011/12/09 09:27] Thynka Little: here in SL
[2011/12/09 09:27] Thynka Little: ok?
[2011/12/09 09:27] Thynka Little: I’ll bring them!
[2011/12/09 09:27] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): also partnering with successful education groups like Rockcliffe or NMC might be worht exploring
[2011/12/09 09:27] Zinnia Zauber: Yes!
[2011/12/09 09:27] Thynka Little: everyone is so busy
[2011/12/09 09:28] Sarvana Haalan: there are some horse groups here… I think
[2011/12/09 09:28] Thynka Little: they tend to think of SL as way low on the priority list
[2011/12/09 09:28] Thynka Little: yes!
[2011/12/09 09:28] Thynka Little: i would consider it a big success if we could convert virtual horse riders to real horse riders
[2011/12/09 09:28] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Thynka, great idea!
[2011/12/09 09:28] Thynka Little: 🙂
[2011/12/09 09:28] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): or virtual chicken farmers
[2011/12/09 09:28] Zinnia Zauber: SL is high for several of us. And, happy to support and be part of your community.
[2011/12/09 09:29] Thynka Little: ok, I will hope to hear from some of you as time goes on
[2011/12/09 09:29] Thynka Little: thank you so much for listening today
[2011/12/09 09:29] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Thynka, thanks for sharing the great work you are doing and the challenges you are facing
[2011/12/09 09:29] Thynka Little: my email is luann.phillips@extension.org
[2011/12/09 09:29] Thynka Little: Thanks Rik!
[2011/12/09 09:29] Gentle Heron: Thynka, thanks for coming to visit us today, and for sharing where to look up your excellent resources.
[2011/12/09 09:29] Buffy Beale: Cheering, great presentation Thynka, thanks!
[2011/12/09 09:29] Kate B (captainflint006): ty
[2011/12/09 09:30] CarynTopia Silvercloud: thanks
[2011/12/09 09:30] Zinnia Zauber: Thank you so much Thynka!
[2011/12/09 09:30] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): feel free to come back t ous to promote stuff and post to our google group
[2011/12/09 09:30] Angelle Marquette: Thanks, Thynka !
[2011/12/09 09:30] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): I personally learned a lot
[2011/12/09 09:30] Sarvana Haalan: wooot…, Kudos to LuAnn
[2011/12/09 09:30] Thynka Little: great, Rik, I will

OPEN MIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

[2011/12/09 09:30] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): ok quick streatch as we close out our meeting

[2011/12/09 09:30] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): everyone jump up and down for a sec

[2011/12/09 09:31] Sarvana Haalan: lol, lol

[2011/12/09 09:31] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): serious that waas just me and saravana

[2011/12/09 09:31] Buffy Beale: lol Rik

[2011/12/09 09:31] Zazoom Zimminy: Zazoom Zimminy extends his arms to the sky
[2011/12/09 09:32] Buffy Beale: lol Zaz
[2011/12/09 09:32] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): next time I’m leading yoga posses
[2011/12/09 09:32] Sarvana Haalan: raised by military folks… I follow directions to well… lol, lol
[2011/12/09 09:32] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): ok who has an announcement for the open mic?
[2011/12/09 09:32] Buffy Beale: hand up
[2011/12/09 09:32] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): raise your paw
[2011/12/09 09:32] Zinnia Zauber: me
[2011/12/09 09:32] Sarvana Haalan: I Do yoga… it gets my vote
[2011/12/09 09:32] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Rik Panganiban raises claw
[2011/12/09 09:33] Sarvana Haalan: have no paw… smile
[2011/12/09 09:33] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): go ahead buffy
[2011/12/09 09:33] Buffy Beale: thanks Rk
[2011/12/09 09:33] Buffy Beale: er Rik
[2011/12/09 09:33] Buffy Beale: Bridges are creating job descriptions for the technical staff, supporting our web site and online programs
[2011/12/09 09:34] Buffy Beale: and I wondered if anyone had a resource for generic job descriptions?
[2011/12/09 09:34] Buffy Beale: and secondly, please do join us after a short break for our mentor gathering
[2011/12/09 09:34] Buffy Beale: if you need help or have any questions, we’re here for you
[2011/12/09 09:34] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): TechSoup forums has a place for job notices
[2011/12/09 09:35] Buffy Beale: that’s it, unless anyone has a recommendation for a job desctiption site
[2011/12/09 09:35] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): you can see a bunc hthere
[2011/12/09 09:35] Buffy Beale: not hiring, we’re writing up officially what they do, since most just evolved into the role
[2011/12/09 09:35] Buffy Beale: but I’ll post the question on TechSoup’s forum too, thanks Rik, no sense reinventing the wheel 🙂
[2011/12/09 09:36] Buffy Beale: back to you
[2011/12/09 09:36] Sarvana Haalan: gouing for my tea… brb
[2011/12/09 09:36] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): yeah that’s the best way to get a bunch of responses
[2011/12/09 09:36] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): ok zinna?
[2011/12/09 09:36] Buffy Beale: ok
[2011/12/09 09:36] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): or zinnia
[2011/12/09 09:36] Zazoom Zimminy: idealist?
[2011/12/09 09:36] Zinnia Zauber: A reminder about the Rockcliffe University Consortium celebration of 5 years in Second Life.
[2011/12/09 09:36] Zinnia Zauber: Dec 10, 9:30AM – 9PM SL/PST Rockcliffe Celebrates 5 Years in Second Life: Open House “Past, Present & Futures of Virtual Worlds”
[2011/12/09 09:36] Zinnia Zauber: http://www.urockcliffe.com/events/
[2011/12/09 09:37] Zinnia Zauber: Several of our NPC Peeps are going to be sharing tomorrow.
[2011/12/09 09:37] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): nice
[2011/12/09 09:37] Zinnia Zauber: Including Gentle, Draxtor, Pooky, and myself.
[2011/12/09 09:37] Gentle Heron: Coughran!!!!
[2011/12/09 09:37] Zinnia Zauber: Please check out the list of events!
[2011/12/09 09:37] Zinnia Zauber: oh yes
[2011/12/09 09:37] Buffy Beale: yay!
[2011/12/09 09:37] Zinnia Zauber: I am only on my first cup of coffee
[2011/12/09 09:37] Buffy Beale: wow hared to believe it’s been 5 years for Rockcliffe
[2011/12/09 09:37] Zinnia Zauber: how could I forget C!
[2011/12/09 09:38] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): btw I posted the transcript of Phelan’s talk about Rockcliffe to http://nonprofitcommons.org
[2011/12/09 09:38] Zinnia Zauber: I am so so sorry.
[2011/12/09 09:38] Sarvana Haalan: Thynka, hope that you can attend tomorrow… it should be an fascinating discussion
[2011/12/09 09:38] Zinnia Zauber: http://www.urockcliffe.com/events/
[2011/12/09 09:38] Thynka Little: I hope to!
[2011/12/09 09:38] Zinnia Zauber: Dig it and be part of the celebration!
[2011/12/09 09:38] Zinnia Zauber: Thank you!
[2011/12/09 09:38] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): my turn
[2011/12/09 09:39] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Also tomorrow, some nice kids at Rutgers U ( a land grant university), are holding a fundraiser for Project Jason
[2011/12/09 09:39] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): they are featuring acoustic music on he Aloft Nonprofit Commons starting at 7pm PT
[2011/12/09 09:39] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): http://nonprofitcommons.org/content/help-wanted-benefit-concert-project-…
[2011/12/09 09:39] Thynka Little: Rutgers has moved most of their virtual world activity to Open Sim
[2011/12/09 09:40] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): come out an support if you can
[2011/12/09 09:40] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): its their first foray into SL
[2011/12/09 09:40] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): or at least “like” their FB group
[2011/12/09 09:40] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): https://www.facebook.com/events/168916949873937/
[2011/12/09 09:41] Thynka Little: what is Project Jason?
[2011/12/09 09:41] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): They focus on missing children
[2011/12/09 09:41] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): raising awareness and support
[2011/12/09 09:41] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): very good group
[2011/12/09 09:41] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): also a member of the NPC
[2011/12/09 09:41] Ronnie Rhode: Missing adults too
[2011/12/09 09:41] Buffy Beale: Ronnie Rhodes can tell you more Thynka, and they have an office here at the NPC
[2011/12/09 09:42] Thynka Little: ok thanks
[2011/12/09 09:42] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): ah yes, missing persons
[2011/12/09 09:42] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): any other announcements before I let you go?
[2011/12/09 09:42] Ronnie Rhode: Thanks for the shoutout on the event 🙂
[2011/12/09 09:42] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): sure Ronnie!
[2011/12/09 09:42] Thynka Little: I should mention that we still have our Land Grant University Expo up at Morrill4, 15 universities showing what they do in Second Life with teleports to their home locations.
[2011/12/09 09:43] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): nice
[2011/12/09 09:43] Buffy Beale: oh, that’s interesting Thynka thanks
[2011/12/09 09:43] Thynka Little: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Morrill4/126/108/24
[2011/12/09 09:43] Thynka Little: It iwil be up for a few more weeks
[2011/12/09 09:43] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): we’ll inclde that in the transcxript
[2011/12/09 09:43] Thynka Little: it is a nice way to get to a lot of good edu content quickly
[2011/12/09 09:43] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): ok with that I’m closing the meeting for today.
[2011/12/09 09:43] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Thanks everyone for coming
[2011/12/09 09:43] Buffy Beale: thanks Rik, another great meeting
[2011/12/09 09:43] Thynka Little: Thanks again!
[2011/12/09 09:44] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): And special thanks to our guest Thnka Little of National eXtension
[2011/12/09 09:44] Buffy Beale: Mentors will meet in about 5 min
[2011/12/09 09:44] Calliope Lexington: thanks rik
[2011/12/09 09:44] Buffy Beale: cheering for Thynka 🙂
[2011/12/09 09:44] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): stick around for Mentors meeting if you need help with anything
[2011/12/09 09:44] Thynka Little: Thynka Little blushes
[2011/12/09 09:44] Thynka Little: bye all
[2011/12/09 09:44] Buffy Beale: have a delightful week all
[2011/12/09 09:44] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): otherwise have a great day and a restful weekend
[2011/12/09 09:44] LovePhillyChick: ty

[2011/12/09 09:44] LovePhillyChick: bye all
[2011/12/09 09:45] Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): great stuff, Thynka

Written by: rikomatic

We got the word that a group of students at Rutgers University are holding a virtual concert in Second Life this Saturday, December 10 as a benefit for the nonprofit Project Jason.  Project Jason, founded in 2003, is dedicated to creating public awareness of missing persons through outreach and educational activities.

The students are quite new to Second Life, so they are requesting help with setting up their equipment to stream in an acoustic music set into Second Life, as well as outreach and marketing help.  Any musicians or producers who would like to help should contact Joe Zorzi at joezorzi@ gmail.com or contact them through their Facebook page.

The concert will take place on December 10 from 7-8pm PT on the Aloft Nonprofit Commons at this teleport link.  

Written by: rikomatic

Tomorrow, December 7, is the next Online Community Meetup, a monthly gathering that happens both at the San Francisco offices of TechSoup Global and in Second Life. This month we are featuring, well, ourselves! That’s right, the online community and social media team at TechSoup will be revealing some of their secrets to promote deeper and stronger community engagement through our various activities.  It’s a rare opportunity to hear from our stellar social media staff, including:

• Susan Tenby, Online Community Director
• Evonne Heyning, Interactive Producer
• Rik Panganiban, Nonprofit Commons Online Community Manager
• Michael DeLong, Online Community Manager
• Kristy Graves, Social Media & Online Community Team
• and Ale Bezdikian, Online Community Coordinator

You don’t want to miss this one!

That’s tomorrow, December 7, starting at 7pm PT.  In San Francisco it will take place at TechSoup Global 525 Brannan Street while in Second Life it will be at the Plush Nonprofit Commons amphitheater at this teleport link.

See you then!

[Image by Susan Chavez.]

Written by: rikomatic

We had a really live and stimulating Nonprofit Commons meeting last Friday, December 2, featuring Kevin Feenan, CEO of Rockcliffe University Consortium. Please see below for the full chatlog transcript of the meeting.

Thanks everyone for your presence and participation, and especially Kevin for his insights and ideas.

NONPROFIT COMMONS MEETING

December 2, 2011

at the Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

AGENDA

8:30am Introductions
8:40am TechSoup Announcements
8:45am Mentors Corner
8:55am Kevin Feenan, CEO of Rockcliffe University Consortium
9:30am OpenMic/ Announcements

INTRODUCTIONS

[08:31] Glitteractica Cookie: Welcome Evverybody! Could you please say your RL name, nonprfit org affiliation, location in the physical world, URL and twitter handle, if you tweet?
[08:31] HB Eternal: Harold W Becker, The Love Foundation, Florida, http://www.thelovefoundation.com , @lovefoundation
[08:31] DJ Earnshaw: Don Singleton, Tulsa, OK (DJ Earnshaw, Professor Viper) HelpingTulsa and APCUG, http://snipurl.com/tk41d @donsingleton
[08:31] Zinnia Zauber: Renne Emiko Brock-Richmond, Sequim Humanities and Arts Alliance, Sequim, Washington. http://www.sequimartsalliance.org http://www.facebook.com/sequimartsalliance @renneemiko
[08:31] Gentle Heron: Virtual Ability, Inc. www.virtualability.org
[08:31] Astra Toki: Daria Ng, Global Kids, New York City, http://www.globalkids.org, @wocildocil
[08:31] Buffy Beale: Buffy Bye, Bridges for Women, Victoria BC Canada, http://www.bridgesforwomen.ca @buffyb
[08:31] In Kenzo: Awesome. Good morning! Introductions time. I am Evonne Heyning @amoration – I work with @TechSoup as Interactive Producer for live, streaming, presentations and other multimedia fun, currently in Los Angeles
[08:31] Nany Kayo: Nancy McDonald, Virtual Native Lands
[08:32] JANLyssa Serenity: Lyssa Rowan, Job Accommodation Network, Morgantown WV http://AskJAN.org @JANatJAN
[08:32] Buffy Beale: welcome Astra!
[08:32] Bathsheba Darkfold: Bathsheba Darkfold Researcher and American Foundation for the Blind
[08:32] Chad Mikado: Chad Gobert, National Service Inclusion Project, UMASS Boston; www.serviceandinclusion.org
[08:32] Astra Toki: thank you
[08:32] Brena Benoir: Brenda Bryan, Preferred Family Healthcare, Kirksville, Missouri, www.pfh.org, @brenabenoir
[08:32] Panny Bakerly: Jeanne Booth, Freeport Historical Society, Freeport, NY www.freeporthistorymuseum.org
[08:32] carlicann: Carl Icann, Guest Faculty, Humane Educator, Rockcliffe U, http://carlicann.wordpress.com
[08:33] In Kenzo: Welcome Carl – glad you can join us here today
[08:34] In Kenzo: Other introductions here?
[08:34] Glitteractica Cookie: If you haven’t done so already, please introduce yourslef to the commuity
[08:34] Dancers Yao: Kara Bennett, Elder Voices, Health Care and Human Rights
[08:35] SLOODLE WebIntercom: Sorry Gentle Heron. You do not have permission to control this object.
[08:35] Glitteractica Cookie: Any more introductions?
[08:36] In Kenzo: It’s great to see you all again, and glad we all made it here today to talk virtual education!
[08:36] Glitteractica Cookie: Last call for introductions
[08:37] Glitteractica Cookie: OK, well, I guess we are ready to hear the TechSoup Announcements… Bulaklak, are you here?
[08:37] Glitteractica Cookie: Michael ..?
[08:37] Glitteractica Cookie: oh, there he is!
[08:38] In Kenzo: Hi Bukalak!
[08:38] Glitteractica Cookie: Bulaklak… I was just announcing that you are ready to give the techsoup announcements
[08:38] Glitteractica Cookie: SO, i hope you are
[08:38] In Kenzo: (sorry my spelling is terrible today – come on up here)
[08:38] CarynTopia Silvercloud: Caryn Heilman, Topia arts Center, Adams, MA in the Berkhsires, www.TopiaArts.org, @topiaartscenter
[08:38] Adalace Jewell: @adalace RoSa Library Brussels, Belgium www.rosadoc.be
[08:38] Francesca Barnes: Mary-Frances O’Connor, UCLA
[08:39] Glitteractica Cookie: You ready Bulaklak
[08:39] TammySM: Tammy USMWF http://www.usmwf.org KY
[08:39] talkwithmarie: Marie C.-talkwithmarie, aka Red., Greater Boston, Girls project/Girl TV/Talk!withmarie, http://youtube.com/girltvlive, http://youtube.com/talkwithmarie, @talkwithmarie
[08:39] In Kenzo: Welcome everyone – thanks for sharing your introductions
[08:39] Glitteractica Cookie: I think Bulaklak is having chat issues

MENTORS CORNER

[08:40] Glitteractica Cookie: while he is sorting this out, can the mentors do their update?
[08:40] Zinnia Zauber: We can give you and update!
[08:41] Brena Benoir: Good Morning everyone
[08:41] Brena Benoir: Zinnia and I will give a quick update on Winterfest
[08:41] Zinnia Zauber: I have the dates for our community event…
[08:42] Zinnia Zauber: Dec 11 Opening and Ice Skating with Random Snowball Fights
[08:42] Zinnia Zauber: Dec 13 Wharf Ratz Tuesday Night Extraordinary Dance Extravaganza – 7 PM to 9 PM SLT
[08:42] Zinnia Zauber: Dec 15 Magic Wand and Wings CommonGround – 5 PM to 7 PM SLT
[08:42] Zinnia Zauber: Dec 17 Snowglobe Building Contest – 10 AM SLT
[08:42] Zinnia Zauber: Dec 17 Dance with Live Music – 6 PM to 8 PM SLT
[08:42] Buffy Beale: Yay Brena and Zinnia for organizing this!
[08:43] Brena Benoir: Buffy has coordinated music for the opening social on Sunday
[08:43] Zinnia Zauber: Dec 18 Don’t Break the Ice Closing
[08:43] Buffy Beale: Avantguarde Frequency, one of SL’s finest musicians
[08:43] Brena Benoir: We will be working diligently on the books this week.
[08:43] Zinnia Zauber: Please remember that all media from the orgs needs to be emailed.
[08:44] Zinnia Zauber: Thank you everyone for your support of this grid wide event!
[08:44] jacmacaire Humby: Hi everyone
[08:44] In Kenzo: Thanks for hosting!
[08:44] Brena Benoir: I intended to send out the schedule holiday, however due to Thanksgiving holiday and a personal health issue this was delayed. We will get that sent out via listserv and sent in to TS if someone can kick it out to tenant emails please
[08:45] Brena Benoir: prior^
[08:45] In Kenzo: Brena, will ask Rik on this for you 🙂
[08:45] jacmacaire Humby: Jacques Macaire Humanbe http://www.humanbe.com ACTION TANK and Council on Sustainable Development France and International @Humanbe
[08:45] Brena Benoir: Thank you
[08:45] Zinnia Zauber: If you have any questions, please contact the Wishes Granted Team – Brena, Buffy, Par & Zinnia
[08:45] In Kenzo: beautiful – fairy godmothers of sorts!
[08:45] In Kenzo: wishes granted.
[08:45] Zinnia Zauber: That is right!

TECHSOUP ANNOUNCEMENTS

[08:45] In Kenzo: I will do Bulaklak’s update since he’s having tech issues this morning
[08:46] In Kenzo: We have OCTRIBE on Wednesday at 7PM
[08:46] In Kenzo: this week
[08:46] In Kenzo: with all of the TechSoup community team speaking!
[08:46] Glitteractica Cookie: Ok, and if anyone has the links of other ways to connect with us online, please post them in chat now
[08:46] Lloud Laffer: sorry about this rez, moving as soon as I am able…
[08:46] In Kenzo: You get to see us on the stream together – Susan, Michael, Ale, Kristy, Susan Chavez and myself will be there sharing our work from the inside out on community development – and Rik will be talking about all of you!
[08:46] In Kenzo: so you can join us here to watch along and ask questions
[08:47] Glitteractica Cookie: Wednesday 7pm SLT
[08:47] In Kenzo: http://bit.ly/sU8qMC
[08:47] In Kenzo: at this same location
[08:47] In Kenzo: Also we have webinars coming up 12/8
[08:47] Buffy Beale: glad to hear it and this time please all line up for the photo 🙂
[08:47] In Kenzo: “Training an Invisible Audience”
[08:47] In Kenzo: 12/8 http://bit.ly/sPVCRS
[08:48] Lloud Laffer takes a seat at last
[08:48] In Kenzo: We’d love for you to watch the archives of NPlive – we hosted our show this week on user generated content and will be back in January leading up to TSDigs 2012 – http://bit.ly/spYmWP for those archives
[08:48] Glitteractica Cookie: NP live is our interactive webinar talk show hosted In Kenzo
[08:49] Glitteractica Cookie: And TSDIGS, fo rthose of you who don’t know is the TechSOup Digital Storytelling Challenge, our month long event in the spring
[08:50] Glitteractica Cookie: Any more updates on the TechSoup end of things, In Kenzo?
[08:50] In Kenzo: live Q&A with amazing guests – and TSDigs will be opening again in the 1st quarter of 2012 and we’ll be talking more about video production in the coming weeks and months. That’s all, thanks!
[08:50] Buffy Beale: That is great news, I love the TSDigs contest
[08:50] Glitteractica Cookie: Thanks and I hope many NPC avatars make cool digital stories and machinima for the contest
[08:51] Glitteractica Cookie: great prizes, like an IPad and Video cameras
[08:51] Glitteractica Cookie: And I hope you all take a moment to look at our TechSoup Slideshare channel, so you can see what we are working on
[08:51] Glitteractica Cookie: we post all of our slides there
[08:52] Glitteractica Cookie: OK, can anyone post the links or drop them on me so we can share the outside ways to find us online, btw SL meetings?
[08:52] Glitteractica Cookie: I don’t have the current updated one
[08:52] Buffy Beale: looking I think I do
[08:53] Buffy Beale: [08:38] Rik Riel: Here are the many ways to can get involved with the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life:

Nonprofit Commons blog: http://nonprofitcommons.org
Wiki: http://npsl.wikispaces.com

Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/TechSoup-Second-Life
Google Calendar: http://bit.ly/2tMEYh

About TechSoup:
http://www.techsoup.org/tools/howtousetechsoup/
http://flavors.me/techsoup
http://flavors.me/nonprofitcommons

Weekly Networking Event: Wharf Ratz, Aloft, Tuesdays, 7-9pm SLT
Aloft Nonprofit Commons (168,223,23)

Monthly Networking Event (1st Thursday):
Common Ground, Plush, 5PM-7PM SLT
Plush Nonprofit Commons (128,229,26)

NPC Promo Video http://bit.ly/draxtorNPCvid
[08:53] Buffy Beale: 🙂
[08:53] Glitteractica Cookie: Thanks Buffy
[08:54] Buffy Beale: anytime
[08:54] Glitteractica Cookie: I recommend that you all really take a moment and visit those locations, since SL is one star of a constellation that is this community

KEVIN FEENAN, ROCKCLIFFE UNIVERSITY CONSORTIUM

[08:54] Glitteractica Cookie: And now I’
[08:55] Glitteractica Cookie: I’d like to introduce our guest of honor today
[08:55] Glitteractica Cookie: Nonprofit Commons* welcomes Kevin Feenan, the
dean and CEO of the *Rockcliffe University Consortium* (
http://www.urockcliffe.com/), which recently celebrated five years in
Second Life. We will discuss with Kevin how his educational nonprofit has
made it this far, how they have expanded to other virtual worlds, and what the future holds.
[08:55] Glitteractica Cookie: Kevin, I’m hosting on behalf of Rik, so I wasn’t given your avatar name, but if you are here, COME ON DOWN!
[08:56] Glitteractica Cookie: Kevin, I am hoping you are here
[08:56] carlicann: PHALEN CORRIMAL
[08:57] carlicann: is the name of Kev’s avi
[08:57] Glitteractica Cookie: Is that Kevin’s avatar name?
[08:57] carlicann: not online… unless he’s using an alt today
[08:57] Glitteractica Cookie: Ok, so… Phalen, should be here
[08:57] Gentle Heron: He’s not online now.
[08:58] Buffy Beale: darn, that happens sometimes
[08:58] Glitteractica Cookie: I know Rik arranged for him to come, so I’m wondering if he was just planning to show up at 9
[08:58] Glitteractica Cookie: which is in two mins
[08:58] Buffy Beale: let’s talk about TSDigs then
[08:58] Glitteractica Cookie: Does anyonehave his contact info (skype) here?
[08:58] In Kenzo: We can take a minute to check in with everyone here – I’m working on a new video about TSDigs today and am getting very excited!
[08:59] Buffy Beale: I think it’s such a perfect way to learn something useful for our orgs
[08:59] DJ Earnshaw: no I know him from VWBPE but only contact here
[08:59] Buffy Beale: by making a quick video, what was the time limit… 90 seconds?
[09:00] Glitteractica Cookie: one minute video
[09:00] Zinnia Zauber: Welcome Phelan!
[09:00] In Kenzo: 60 seconds of organizational wonder
[09:00] Gentle Heron: YAY Phelan.
[09:00] Phelan Corrimal: hi all my apologies – I had this down on my calendar for 11:30 – I got my timezones all mixed up
[09:01] In Kenzo: Great calls to action – we encourage all of you to be thinking about great ways to tell your stories. Welcome Phelan!
[09:01] Glitteractica Cookie: Yay Phelan, we were worried you were not going to show up, but you just came in for your portion, i get it
[09:01] Phelan Corrimal: I feel like such a noob
[09:01] Lloud Laffer: W00t for timezonez
[09:01] Glitteractica Cookie: Well, we were stalling, waiting for you, so please take one of the seats at the front and go for it!
[09:01] Glitteractica Cookie: I already introduced you!
[09:02] Buffy Beale: yay Phelan!
[09:02] Phelan Corrimal: oh cool – okay – 1 sec
[09:02] Phelan Corrimal: Thank-you all for having me here
[09:02] Glitteractica Cookie: Thanks you for coming
[09:02] Phelan Corrimal: I very much appreciate the opportunity to speak to you all here today
[09:02] Phelan Corrimal: Rockcliffe University Consortium is an online non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of education and science in 3D virtual environments.
[09:02] Phelan Corrimal: Our purpose is to SERVE the education and research community. That is, our mission is to provide Service, Education, and Research into Virtual Environments
[09:03] Phelan Corrimal: The idea of Rockcliffe started in the Fall of 2006 as I was working on my Doctorate with the University of Phoenix.
[09:03] Phelan Corrimal: I held the first class on December 9, 2006. We experienced a lot of growth in the first 6 months resulting in our first region purchase in April 2007
[09:03] Phelan Corrimal: In April 2008 we officially incorporated as a non-profit.
[09:03] Phelan Corrimal: Unfortunately our application as a 501c3 was turned down last December.
[09:03] Phelan Corrimal: There were several reasons for this – some of the many reasons given by the IRS (please hold onto your cookies):
[09:03] Phelan Corrimal: 1. We provide services to other educational organizations (501c3s and the like) to support their education and awareness of virtual environments
[09:04] Phelan Corrimal: 2. We provide commerical activities (such as FREE open-source/open-access based education, forums, conference, and workshops)
[09:04] Phelan Corrimal: 3. We collect sponsorships in support of FREE conferences for education providers
[09:04] Phelan Corrimal: 4. The papers our faculty have researched, written, and had published in formal peer review academic literature apparently do not quality as “scientific research”
[09:04] Phelan Corrimal: 5. Since more than 70% of our service offerings are currently run out of Second Life we were deemed to be set-up for the purposes of promotion and marketing of Linden Lab
[09:04] Phelan Corrimal: 6. Second Life is a for-profit business, not a community
[09:04] Phelan Corrimal: 7. Educators, as a generic social group, are apparently not a recognized “charitable class” and are therefore not entitled to exemption
[09:05] Phelan Corrimal: We took the process as far as we could over the course of 2 1/2 years short of a legal challenge before the courts which was our next step.
[09:05] Gentle Heron: That makes me upset to hear these “reasons” Phelan. I think you simply got a bad IRS reviewer.
[09:05] DJ Earnshaw: IRS is stupid
[09:05] Adalace Jewell: Pfffff
[09:05] Phelan Corrimal: yep – I’m pretty sure they didn’t understand the business model and therefore just rejected us out of hand
[09:05] Lloud Laffer: so sorry to hear this
[09:05] Phelan Corrimal: Unfortunately, a formal legal challenge to a was going to be far too costly for us to absorb and it was already apparent the IRS was going to use every and any reason not to approve us.
[09:06] Glitteractica Cookie: I wonder if your affiliation with the Nonprofit Commons would help (since TechSoup is the organization behind this community)
[09:06] Phelan Corrimal: Despite this we are continuing to be organized and run as a non-profit.
[09:06] Phelan Corrimal: Glitter – I’m not sure it would – we made the mistake of being completely open and transparent about EVERYTHING we were doing
[09:06] Gentle Heron: Kevin, if it makes you feel better, they turned down the SL Bar Association’s 501(c) application as well, I understand.
[09:06] Calliope Lexington: good evening all
[09:06] Phelan Corrimal: Including the fact that I’m from Canada and we have BOD members based in euripe
[09:07] Glitteractica Cookie: Well, TechSoup still serves the social benefit sector, regardless of tax status. Only the software doantion program is restricted to 501C3s
[09:07] Phelan Corrimal: europe
[09:07] Phelan Corrimal: lol
[09:07] Gentle Heron: They said to the SL Bar Association that their function was purely social. Another stupid and inaccurate reason.
[09:07] Phelan Corrimal: yep – lots of stupidity in government 🙂
[09:07] DJ Earnshaw: How about a new non rofit that avoids some of the others, and hav it transition later
[09:07] Phelan Corrimal: Currently Rockcliffe has 9 regions in Second Life and is preparing to establish campuses using OpenSim, SpotOn3D, and Unity3D
[09:07] In Kenzo: excelent
[09:08] Phelan Corrimal: To some extent – this may be a blessing in disguise
[09:08] Zinnia Zauber: I wonder if you could be a 501 C 6.
[09:08] Phelan Corrimal: As part of Rockcliffe I want to develop a hybrid organizational model and a 501c3 would probably have been too restrictive in the long term if we had gotten it
[09:09] Phelan Corrimal: ppotentially – we are looking at other options for later once we get out of diapers 🙂
[09:09] In Kenzo: more like a social benefit corp, depending on the state. good luck!
[09:09] Phelan Corrimal: hehe – yep
[09:09] Phelan Corrimal: We have regions in Reaction Grid and SpotOn currently for testing purposes right now
[09:09] Phelan Corrimal: We also have guilds set-up in World of Warcraft in support of our World of Teachcraft program.
[09:09] Phelan Corrimal: Rockcliffe supports a number of other groups in Second Life including Dreams and NCI.
[09:09] Gentle Heron: love the name!
[09:09] Zinnia Zauber: We are thankful you shared what you went through and pushing forward on awesomeness!
[09:09] Phelan Corrimal: We make our campus available for in-world events and conferences upon request
[09:10] Phelan Corrimal: We manage the coordination function of the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference (March 15-18, 2012 www.vwbpe.org)
[09:10] Phelan Corrimal: In 2012 we are planning on doing more integration work between cloud-based technologies and virtual worlds including introduction of Rockcliffe TV and Rockcliffe FM
[09:10] Phelan Corrimal: Financially, we have managed to accomplish this through the services side of our overall offerings to the education community
[09:10] Phelan Corrimal: We have done projects with a number of different universities helping them to establish pilot and research projects in second life.
[09:11] Phelan Corrimal: Rockcliffe is not supported by any federal, state, or municipal government nor are we financailly supported by any higher-educational institutions.
[09:11] Glitteractica Cookie: Can you speak a little more to the integration piece you mentioned?
[09:11] Phelan Corrimal: Where we have had shortfalls in financing I’ve been personally coving the difference out of pocket
[09:11] Phelan Corrimal: Yep –
[09:11] Glitteractica Cookie: Sorry, not meaning to interrupt yr preso
[09:11] Phelan Corrimal: hehe – is okay – I pre-wrote some items 🙂
[09:11] Phelan Corrimal: Gentle will be shocked at that one 😛
[09:11] Glitteractica Cookie: pre-written is key to success in presenting inworld
[09:12] Gentle Heron: Gentle is so proud of you Phelan!
[09:12] In Kenzo: 🙂
[09:12] Phelan Corrimal: One of the things that we know is that integration of technologies is key to being virtual
[09:12] Phelan Corrimal: So second life / opensim / unity – these are just simply tools in a toolkit
[09:12] Phelan Corrimal: what mattters is the connection people have to the technology and their ease of use
[09:13] Glitteractica Cookie: How do you do that cloud based integration? Are you taalking about saving assets externally (wouldn’t that be amazing, but I think it’s impossible)
[09:13] Phelan Corrimal: VW hasn’t really taken off because everyone is focused on mobile right now – that is where ease of use is focused
[09:14] Phelan Corrimal: well – that is the thing – there are new technologies coming on-stream over the next four years which are designed to move content from the desktop to “the cloud”
[09:14] Glitteractica Cookie: OK, so you are talking more specifically about using VW as a piece of the pie of your org’s communications. That is what you meant by integration in that context?
[09:14] Phelan Corrimal: GoogleChrome pads – iPads – etc..
[09:14] Phelan Corrimal: yep – VW is an extremely dynamic component but the back-end tools are mature enough yet to overcome the ease of use issue
[09:15] Phelan Corrimal: So things like mobile apps – and cloud computing need to sort of come first
[09:15] Glitteractica Cookie: So, can you tell us a little more about your programming, and why you think you have remained a viable community over the years?
[09:15] Phelan Corrimal: but LL has gotten out of the integration game which is what made it such a success originally
[09:15] Glitteractica Cookie: agree
[09:16] Phelan Corrimal: One word on that one Glitter – Stability – We are still here despite a million reasons why we shouldn’t be
[09:16] Phelan Corrimal: When I made the formal committment to Rockcliffe I had reached an understanding in my life that all the things that people are well know for have taken years of work
[09:16] Phelan Corrimal: They didn’t receive their success overnight
[09:17] Phelan Corrimal: they picked one thing and choose to work at it until they got it right
[09:17] Phelan Corrimal: The accolades for, in some cases, decades of work came later
[09:17] Phelan Corrimal: You have to pick those things in life that you love to do – and then just go do them
[09:17] Francesca Barnes: so true…
[09:17] Phelan Corrimal: And not worry about what everyone else is doing
[09:18] Buffy Beale: that’s a great thing to say Phelan
[09:18] Gentle Heron: Stability and Passion, Phelan.
[09:18] Lloud Laffer: very true!
[09:18] Calliope Lexington: i agrre
[09:18] Calliope Lexington: agree
[09:18] Phelan Corrimal: SL has been a really good example of this – there have been lots of educational groups come and go in SL
[09:18] Nany Kayo: inspring presentation
[09:18] Phelan Corrimal: But the ones that inspire others are the ones that have staying power becasue they love what they do
[09:18] Buffy Beale: nods
[09:18] Glitteractica Cookie: Are you familiar with Pierre Khawand’s in-world courses, People on the Go?
[09:18] Bathsheba Darkfold: yes, great presentation. Thanks!
[09:19] Phelan Corrimal: Rockcliffe – Dreams – NCI – Virtual Abilities – All of you folks here at NPC
[09:19] Phelan Corrimal: Not withstanding – for our 2011 year end we expecting to break even on costs for the first time since we started in 2006.
[09:19] Phelan Corrimal: Breaking even and being sustainable however are two different things
[09:19] Gentle Heron: BIG sigh!
[09:19] Phelan Corrimal: We are planning on introducing new revenue streams for Rockcliffe to get us to a point of sustainablility by the end of 2012.
[09:20] Phelan Corrimal: One of my personal goals for the next 5 years is to be able to have a team of 15-20 people working full time at Rockcliffe
[09:20] Phelan Corrimal: We are not planning on giving up on the open-access models which are part of Rockcliffe’s roots
[09:20] Buffy Beale: cheering for that!
[09:20] Phelan Corrimal: We still believe that education should be open and accessible and will carry those principle forward
[09:20] Glitteractica Cookie: Is the programming free?
[09:20] Phelan Corrimal: If that means we remain as a principly volunteer run organization for some time to come then so be it
[09:20] Phelan Corrimal: Yep
[09:20] Glitteractica Cookie: and can you talk to the programming
[09:20] Phelan Corrimal: It is part of the ethic and morals we bring to both the educational and business fronts in trying to develop a hybrid organizational model
[09:21] Phelan Corrimal: Hopefully this may serve as a blueprint for other virtual organizations to follow in the future.
[09:21] Phelan Corrimal: yes –
[09:21] Phelan Corrimal: Instructors come to Rockcliffe because they need a supportive environment to teach classes in
[09:21] Phelan Corrimal: In general we provide some limited guidiance on that – mostly through mentoring
[09:21] Nany Kayo: don’t people expect to pay for some kinds of training?
[09:22] Nany Kayo: I do
[09:22] Phelan Corrimal: The reason is that we want people to experiment with different learning models rather than always doing tried and true
[09:22] Glitteractica Cookie: What are the courses taught?
[09:22] Phelan Corrimal: Some do – but where we have put a price tag on things sometimes the classes have been empty
[09:23] Phelan Corrimal: Most of the classes and forums we have – have centered around law, business, project management, and building
[09:23] Phelan Corrimal: we’ve had some other classes taught as one-offs but they come and go
[09:23] Glitteractica Cookie: so, you offer a free project management course?
[09:23] Nany Kayo: I’m spending $900 per quater for a class in SL right now.
[09:23] Phelan Corrimal: In general it depends on which volunteers are available and what their interests are at the time
[09:23] Glitteractica Cookie: $900 USD or Lindens?
[09:24] Nany Kayo: USD
[09:24] Phelan Corrimal: we have forums on project management and agile training
[09:24] Glitteractica Cookie: JEEZ!
[09:24] Glitteractica Cookie: Where can we find more information on the upcoming classes?
[09:24] Glitteractica Cookie: can you post links?
[09:25] Phelan Corrimal: This is one of the challenges in SL – pricing – people think nothing of spending $20USD for a 1 hour class at their local community center – Ask for $4000L thou and people think you are trying to rob them blind
[09:25] Phelan Corrimal: yep – one sec – let me grab the URL
[09:25] carlicann: http://www.urockcliffe.com/events/calendar-of-events/
[09:25] Glitteractica Cookie: and twitter handle?
[09:25] Phelan Corrimal: lol –
[09:25] Glitteractica Cookie: So we can tweet from the NPSL account
[09:25] Bevan Whitfield: URockcliffe
[09:25] Bevan Whitfield: @
[09:25] Phelan Corrimal: Carl beat me to it –
[09:25] Buffy Beale: true enough about the L$ Phelan
[09:26] Phelan Corrimal: Value propositions in SL are skewed – so rather than trying to fight that battle we are eventually going to take it outside of SL once we are ready to introduce tuition based classes
[09:26] Phelan Corrimal: Everything offered in-world thou is free for anyone to take and come and go as the need
[09:27] Zinnia Zauber: It is wonderful that you are looking at all worlds.
[09:27] In Kenzo: wow
[09:27] Phelan Corrimal: Somewhere there is a hybrid that will allow for a combiniation of both open access and sustainability – we think we have the formula for it but we are in the process of developing that currently with plans to announce later in 2012
[09:28] Beta Test UDP HUD 1.0a whispers: Warning! Transfer permissions are set on dialog!
[09:28] Beta Test UDP HUD 1.0a whispers: Warning! Modify permissions are set on dialog!
[09:28] Phelan Corrimal: you have to look beyond just SL I think to survive
[09:28] Zinnia Zauber: Regardless of media, your content and substance remains the same. Inspired.
[09:28] Glitteractica Cookie: Pierre Khwand and you have a similar model, inworld education. We should have an event here, featuring the few education sims that are successful
[09:28] Phelan Corrimal: opensim has some interesting options but then so does venuegen, IMUV, WOW,
[09:28] Glitteractica Cookie: including NMC, we could see the differences in approach
[09:29] Bevan Whitfield: that’s a wonderful idea Glitteractica
[09:29] Mcalice123: oi tem algum gtainho querendo ser meu namorado ai?
[09:29] Phelan Corrimal: There are a lot of folks in SL who are dedicated to education and the community for very unselfish reasons – quite often they go along quitely in the background
[09:29] Bathsheba Darkfold: I wonder if WOW could be a useful place to do some teambuilding and leadership work? A giuld could focus on discussing those kinds of issues and actually practice them?
[09:30] Phelan Corrimal: So every so often its good to see them get a boost so they know they are apprecaited
[09:30] In Kenzo: there’s quite a bit of research on that Bathsheba, yes.
[09:30] Glitteractica Cookie: Bevan– I will connect with Rik, after this meeting, and tell him to investigate this
[09:30] Phelan Corrimal: That is what we were using it for – Psychology, Leadership, Teambuilding
[09:30] Buffy Beale: yay Bevy!
[09:30] Bevan Whitfield: great!
[09:30] Bevan Whitfield: hi BB!
[09:30] Buffy Beale: 🙂
[09:30] Phelan Corrimal: A few were using it for Financial analysis – the Auction house there works very similar to a standard stock market exchange
[09:30] Glitteractica Cookie: OK, so we are nearing the time when we open it up to open mic announcemetns. So, if you have any closing remarks, Phelan, you should get there soon
[09:31] Glitteractica Cookie: or now, really..
[09:31] Phelan Corrimal: That was about all I had – I think the major thing really is to position your organization at that point where you know you can sustain it and don’t try to grow yourself fast than your finances will allow
[09:32] Gentle Heron: Amen to that!
[09:32] Phelan Corrimal: that is how we’re managed to stay afloat all this time – growth with financial accountability
[09:32] Bevan Whitfield: I hope you can join us for our Dec 10 Open House – I’ll be blogging and pinging the schedule later ….
[09:32] Glitteractica Cookie: Bevan, you are with Phelan at the University?
[09:32] Bevan Whitfield: yes 🙂
[09:32] Glitteractica Cookie: Sorry, I missed that
[09:32] Phelan Corrimal: Thank-you all very much for having me here today
[09:33] Nany Kayo: Thank you!
[09:33] Bathsheba Darkfold: Thank you!
[09:33] Phelan Corrimal: Bevan is on our board of directors
[09:33] Zinnia Zauber: Rah Phelan! Thank you so much for sharing with us!
[09:33] Glitteractica Cookie: Thanks to you and Bevan, and please post the information about your open house to our google group too
[09:33] Gentle Heron: Thanks Phelan. So glad you shared your philosophy of action with us.
[09:33] Glitteractica Cookie: Great job! And thanks for the great work you do
[09:33] Buffy Beale: Cheering, great persentation Phelan! and a great organization too
[09:33] Bevan Whitfield: oh wonderful, I certainly will and thank you !
[09:33] carlicann: Applause! Well Done Phelan!
[09:33] Glitteractica Cookie: Thanks again

OPEN MIC/ ANNOUNCEMENTS

[09:33] Glitteractica Cookie: And now, we are at the point of open mic announcements.
[09:34] Buffy Beale: hand up
[09:34] Phelan Corrimal: I most appreciate the invite and I do apologize about the timezone mixup
[09:34] Glitteractica Cookie: I have an announcement
[09:34] Lloud Laffer: Claps Very Loudly!!!!
[09:34] Lloud Laffer: clap
[09:34] Phelan Corrimal: I had 11:30 on the brain for some reason and then mixed up PST and EST
[09:34] Glitteractica Cookie: And then I will get Buffy and whomever else puts their hand up
[09:34] Glitteractica Cookie: No worries, phelan. it happens
[09:34] Glitteractica Cookie: SO, my announcement was that I went to the Linden Lab offices in SF this week
[09:35] Buffy Beale: oooo
[09:35] Glitteractica Cookie: And it’s a whole new group there, most of the old team has left the company
[09:35] Glitteractica Cookie: and they didn’t really get NPC as much as I’d hoped
[09:35] Gentle Heron: They are advertising a LOT of open positions now too.
[09:35] Phelan Corrimal: 🙁
[09:35] Glitteractica Cookie: But Viale Linden (who mentioned you Gentle, and how great you are) and the senior marketing team was in the room with me
[09:36] Phelan Corrimal: There is a new mindset at LL – We are all going to need to adapt I think
[09:36] Gentle Heron raises an eyebrow!
[09:36] Zinnia Zauber: Interesting.
[09:36] Glitteractica Cookie: And the bottom line is, that they are much more about monetization of the productthan the old crew (which is sensible, right? We need to keep the product afloat)
[09:37] Glitteractica Cookie: So, in order for them to amplify what we are doing, they requested that we do more big scale events
[09:37] Glitteractica Cookie: with Guests that they can write about that will draw.
[09:37] Buffy Beale: does WInterfest that we’re doing count?
[09:37] Glitteractica Cookie: So, I’m fine with that, and I think having a VW education panel, is a good start in that direction
[09:38] Glitteractica Cookie: And they were also interested in Nonprofit Gaming as a focus, but it would be better for us, if we focused on producing one larger scale event than several small ones
[09:38] Glitteractica Cookie: (if we want them to point to us in their communications)
[09:39] Glitteractica Cookie: So, that’s all I want to say on it now, b/c of the time, but I wanted to let you all know that
[09:39] Buffy Beale: the fact we connect nonprofits from around the world and meet every week isn’t enough?
[09:39] Glitteractica Cookie: Nope, sadly not anymore
[09:39] Glitteractica Cookie: In fact one person in the room actually told me that almost verbatim
[09:40] Namaara MacMoragh: seems to me that moves us away from a community-based model or am I missing something?
[09:40] Glitteractica Cookie: so there you have it. I’m deflated a bit, but I’m no stranger to heartache or rejection. 🙂
[09:40] Buffy Beale: what they forget is the education and nonprofit sectors bring in a lot of people
[09:40] Glitteractica Cookie: Namara, not so much…
[09:40] Bevan Whitfield: and Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education is coming up in March – good to start up some forums between now and then …
[09:40] Buffy Beale: good idea Bevan
[09:40] Glitteractica Cookie: But we can get them excited about us, if we give them something innovative to talk about
[09:41] Glitteractica Cookie: Perfect idea Bevan
[09:41] Glitteractica Cookie: Can you follow up with an email to nonprofitcommons@techsoup.org
[09:41] carlicann: Question: How will LL help us create “big events”?
[09:41] Glitteractica Cookie: and is someone grabbing today’s chat, so I can send it to Rik?
[09:41] Glitteractica Cookie: and email it to nonprofitcommons@techsoup.org
[09:41] Bathsheba Darkfold: What do they mean by non profit gaming?
[09:42] Buffy Beale: I can do that Glitter
[09:42] Glitteractica Cookie: Carl, as I said, they want us to come up with the idea and then if they think it’s big enough, they will point to it
[09:42] CarynTopia Silvercloud: let me know if having high profile artists perform here would help
[09:42] Glitteractica Cookie: Bathsheba, I can go more into that but you can learn more at nonprofitgames.org
[09:42] Melchizedek Blauvelt: great example of nonprofit gaming http://fold.it/portal/
[09:43] Glitteractica Cookie: OK, Buffy you are up (and sorry my announcement was so long. I just wanted to update you all)
[09:43] Buffy Beale: hey Mel! thanks
[09:43] Bevan Whitfield: thanks Mel –
[09:43] Buffy Beale: thanks Glitter
[09:43] Bathsheba Darkfold: ok sure no problem…I will just look there…I think I understand
[09:43] Melchizedek Blauvelt: waves
[09:43] Bevan Whitfield: waves back!
[09:43] Buffy Beale: As always the mentors meet following a short break, so
[09:43] Buffy Beale: if you have any questions or need any help or just want to hang out please do join us
[09:43] Bathsheba Darkfold: THanks Melchizedek
[09:44] Glitteractica Cookie: Can you explain a bit about the mentors (in one sentence?)
[09:44] Buffy Beale: and thanks to Brena and Zinnia for taking the corner today
[09:44] Buffy Beale: sure
[09:44] Buffy Beale: welcome new folks to the NPC
[09:44] Buffy Beale: the mentors are volunteers who are here to help anyone who needs it
[09:44] Buffy Beale: we have 10 min at the beginning of each meeting and try
[09:45] Glitteractica Cookie: Cool, thanks Buffy.
[09:45] Buffy Beale: to talk about interesting things or how-to sorts of activities
[09:45] Glitteractica Cookie: Other announcements?
[09:45] Buffy Beale: and we help organize events
[09:45] carlicann: i have one
[09:45] Buffy Beale: over to you Glitter 🙂
[09:45] In Kenzo: Come for OCTRIBE this Wednesday 7PM here!
[09:45] Glitteractica Cookie: sorry . i thought you were done. ;-P
[09:45] In Kenzo: I can’t wait to see you from the stream 🙂
[09:45] Buffy Beale: lol I was
[09:45] Glitteractica Cookie: ok, lol
[09:45] Glitteractica Cookie: any more announcement s for the larger community?
[09:45] carlicann: i have one
[09:46] Buffy Beale: this time Glitter will you please gather everyone in front of the screen for the group pic of RL and SL
[09:46] In Kenzo: Buffy, you will get us on screen for the whole hour
[09:46] Buffy Beale: ooooo
[09:46] Buffy Beale: I’ll be sure to get your best side then Ink
[09:46] Glitteractica Cookie: OCTRIBE, fo rthose of you who don’t know our internal acronyms is the online community meetup, and things about social media, so that may make you want to go more than the name OCTRIBE
[09:46] Glitteractica Cookie: Go ahead Carl
[09:46] carlicann: Info Request to NPCers –
Have you heard of “Humane Education”?
Do you teach it?
RU interested?
If so, p[lease IM me
and watch this introductory video… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5HEV96dIuY Thank You!
[09:47] carlicann: that’s it! thx!
[09:47] Glitteractica Cookie: Thanks
[09:47] In Kenzo: http://meetup.com/octribe has more info on this regular meetup if you are in the SF/Bay area and want to join us in person.
[09:47] Glitteractica Cookie: Anyone else?
[09:47] Buffy Beale: hey carlicann welcome!
[09:47] Buffy Beale: one more thing Glitter
[09:47] Glitteractica Cookie: yes?
[09:47] Buffy Beale: had a thought today
[09:47] Buffy Beale: when we intro ourselves, would it be ok to add our facebook link?
[09:47] Glitteractica Cookie: of course
[09:47] Buffy Beale: or does that make it too long
[09:47] Buffy Beale: oh
[09:47] Glitteractica Cookie: it makes sense
[09:47] Buffy Beale: ok great
[09:47] Glitteractica Cookie: great idea
[09:48] Buffy Beale: so at the end after our twitter then
[09:48] Glitteractica Cookie: Yes, include any URLS you want. last call for announcements..
[09:48] Buffy Beale: kk ty
[09:48] Buffy Beale: out
[09:48] Zinnia Zauber: Me!
[09:48] Glitteractica Cookie: OK, you’re up Z
[09:48] Buffy Beale: oooooo snuck it in Z!
[09:48] Zinnia Zauber: CommonGround is not the first Thursday this month.
[09:49] Zinnia Zauber: It will be during our Wishes Granted instead.
[09:49] Zinnia Zauber: Thank you!
[09:49] Buffy Beale: thanks Z
[09:49] Glitteractica Cookie: Thanks! And tahnks to all of you for your creativity and volunteerism
[09:49] Zinnia Zauber: Dec 15, sorry laggy.
[09:49] Lloud Laffer: adios everybody – RL calls.
[09:49] Glitteractica Cookie: We’ve also been around for many years now, and it’s because of you
[09:49] Buffy Beale: bye Lloud 🙂
[09:49] Glitteractica Cookie: SO, see you all next week, and thanks for helping us grow
[09:50] Glitteractica Cookie: And stick around for the mentor’s meeting if you have time
[09:50] Buffy Beale: thanks to you and Ink and Bulaklak and Rik and Techsoup too
[09:50] Sarvana Haalan: Hello I am here… Sally Cherry, Http://Facebook.com/CherryNetwork
[09:50] Sarvana Haalan: better late than never
[09:50] Bevan Whitfield: Thanks everyone and I hope to come next week but must hop now – must herd cats and blog and ping for Dec 10
[09:50] Buffy Beale: take care Bevy, warm hugs
[09:50] In Kenzo: 🙂 thanks
[09:50] Brena Benoir: bye Bevan
[09:50] Bathsheba Darkfold: Thanks for the great meeting!
[09:50] Zinnia Zauber: Thank you Bevan!
[09:50] Glitteractica Cookie: Bye all, and thanks again to buffy for posting chat and sending it to us
[09:51] In Kenzo: Appreciate your input and contributions here!
[09:51] Buffy Beale: ok Mentors, see you in about 5 minutes
[09:51] Glitteractica Cookie: bye!
[09:51] In Kenzo: keep the good tweets and FB posts coming too

Written by: rikomatic

Since November 28, our Second Life neighbors at OneClimate.net have been doing admirable work sharing information on “COP17” the latest round of climate change government negotiations taking place in Durban, South Africa.  Set to conclude on Friday, December 9, the negotiations have been covered in great detail by the OneClimate environmental activists via live blogging and video simulcasting and reportage.  

In addition, they have also been bringing their coverage to their island in Second Life, “OneClimate” island, where you can sit with other avatars to watch the proceedings on a giant screen.  Click the link below to teleport to their island in Second Life.

Written by: rikomatic

Ellie Brewster shares the news that November 25 is the first day of the annual “16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence” an international campaign started by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership in 1991.  There are a wide range of activities being planned, from a march in Yerevan, Armenia, focusing on violence against women; a quilt exhibition in Alice Springs, Australia; student trainings and dialogues with media outlets in Lagos, Nigeria; and a military fashion show at Rutgers University in New Jersey, USA.

Meanwhile, the 16 Days campaign in Second Life kicks off, as these sorts of things often do, with a virtual concert on November 27, starting at 11am PT. The performers line up at publication time includes:

• 11am – Cindy Ecksol: American Folk
• 12pm – AM Forte: Rock and Blues
• 1pm – Prowess Rayna: solo piano
• 2pm – SonyaJevette Charisma
• 3pm – The Choo Choo Chicks : jazz and blues

Looks like a really fun and eclectic mix of music to begin the virtual campaign.

But Second Life is not the only virtual space where actions will be taking place.

This year, the Center for Women’s Global Leadership is partnering with the teen-oriented social network site Stardoll to bring the 16 Days Campaign to the site’s 130 million teenage users. Stardoll users can create their own 16 Days designs, learn about the Campaign and participating organizations, and post questions to activists including economist Radhika Balakrishnan, human rights lawyer Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda and media activist Sharon Bhagwan Rolls.

For more information about the SL concert and other events planned during the 16 Days, see their website and calendar.  And see the Stardoll site for details on 16 Days activities there.

Written by: rikomatic

Here’s a neat video profile of TechSoup Global and Nonprofit Commons member “Protect Yourself 1.”  In the video, PY1 director  Monique Richert describes the various ways that her organization has benefited from being involved with TechSoup Global.  Software from Intuit and Microsoft keeps things organized, Adobe products help create effective marketing campaigns, and the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life provides a dynamic way to engage youth and adults in HIV prevention.

For more information on how you can get support, software, and technical knowledge for your nonprofit, head to http://techsoupglobal.org.

Written by: rikomatic

On Friday, November 18, at the Nonprofit Commons, learn about SLOODLE a popular virtual learning management system and how it has helped educators around the world integrate their Second Life projects with a web-based learning system. Two prominent developers in the SLOODLE community, Fire Centaur and Edmund Edgar, will be speaking with us about what SLOODLE can offer for you and your students or other constituents. All that plus our regular updates, announcements and news relevant to nonprofits and virtual worlds.

See you on Friday November 18, starting at 8:30am PT.

UPDATE: the transcript of Fire Centaur’s talk follows after the jump…

 

SLOODLE NEWS WITH FIRE CENTAUR

[2011/11/18 09:03]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): So our featured presentation is on the SLOODLE virtual learning platform

[2011/11/18 09:04]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): And who better to speak about it than Fire Centaur?

[2011/11/18 09:04]  Buffy Beale: cheering for Fire!

[2011/11/18 09:04]  Fire Centaur: Thanks everyone!

[2011/11/18 09:04]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Since 2006, he has been providing free tools for educators. And he’s going to give you a quick intro to SLOODLE for those new to it, and show off some of what you can do with this platform. The floor is yours Fire.

[2011/11/18 09:05]  Zinnia Zauber: Rah Fire!

[2011/11/18 09:05]  Fire Centaur: Hellow Everyone!

[2011/11/18 09:05]  Fire Centaur: very nice to meet you.

[2011/11/18 09:05]  bulaklak: Hi, Fire! Welcome.

[2011/11/18 09:05]  Fire Centaur: First of all, thanks Rik for inviting me today.

[2011/11/18 09:05]  Fire Centaur: Aweome to be here!!!

[2011/11/18 09:05]  Fire Centaur: I had to use this chair – because this tiny avatar doesnt sit well on most chairs! 🙂

[2011/11/18 09:06]  Fire Centaur: I am sorry Edmund Edgar couldn’t join us. He is on an early flight to Korea tomorrow

[2011/11/18 09:06]  Fire Centaur: My name is Paul Preibisch, I am from Vancouver Canada, but am currently living in Tokyo, Japan!

[2011/11/18 09:06]  Fire Centaur: I am an elearning developer specializing in Sloodle connecting your Moodle to Second Life and Opensim! I have been in Second Life

[2011/11/18 09:06]  Buffy Beale: ooo Fire close to me

[2011/11/18 09:06]  Fire Centaur: since 2006, and breath LSL code… I love it! – please view my Youtube Channel here: http://youtube.com/user/fire2006

[2011/11/18 09:06]  Buffy Beale: Vancouver…

[2011/11/18 09:06]  Fire Centaur: 🙂

[2011/11/18 09:06]  Fire Centaur: thanks buffy!

[2011/11/18 09:06]  Fire Centaur: I have my own island English Village, where I invite educators to join me to explore educational technologies. Currently, English Village is a testbed for the Avatar Classroom (www.avatarclassroom.com) which is a commercial version of Sloodle which provides educators with a turnkey Sloodle Website, hosted on AvatarClassroom.com, and a prefabricated classroom which automatically connects to their Sloodle Site (More information Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbXvnMuWzP0).

[2011/11/18 09:07]  Fire Centaur: (We are launching it this week in Korea – thats why Edmund is flying here)

[2011/11/18 09:07]  Fire Centaur: I flew here last week to see old friends!

[2011/11/18 09:07]  Fire Centaur: I love Korea (lived here for 5 years!)

[2011/11/18 09:07]  Fire Centaur: Today, I have something SUPER awesome to show you! This year, Sloodle has undergone a lot of GREAT user interface changes. Traditionally Sloodle has been quite difficult to configure.  Once installed as a module inside your moodle, you had to deal with complicated configuration steps, using notecards, or text chat.  But we have totally simplified it…

[2011/11/18 09:08]  Fire Centaur: before I continue though I should ask… how many of you are familiar with Sloodle? Or have an idea of what it is?

[2011/11/18 09:08]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Rik Panganiban raises hand

[2011/11/18 09:08]  Panny Bakerly: I haven’t

[2011/11/18 09:08]  bulaklak: I am not. But am looking forward to learning!

[2011/11/18 09:08]  Buffy Beale: raises hand

[2011/11/18 09:09]  Fire Centaur: cool

[2011/11/18 09:09]  Oronoque Westland: raises hand

[2011/11/18 09:09]  Fire Centaur: we have some sloodlers! Great

[2011/11/18 09:09]  Fire Centaur: SLOODLE is a free and open source project which integrates the multi-user virtual environments of Second Life¬Æ and/or OpenSim with the Moodle¬Æ learning-management system.  an opensource project that was started by Daniel Livingstone and Jeremy Kemp

[2011/11/18 09:09]  Jen (jenelle.levenque): No Clue here

[2011/11/18 09:09]  Fire Centaur: – Basically… once it is installed in your Moodle website, your Moodle activities such as quizes etc… can be connected and represented in SL! that means your students can take quizes IN SL that you entered on your MOODLE and have them tracked in an LMS!  cool?

[2011/11/18 09:10]  Buffy Beale: very!

[2011/11/18 09:10]  Fire Centaur: So, we have connected the Moodle Quiz,  Moodle Chat — very cool and great for teaching inworld, Moodle Assignments, the Moodle Choice all to Second Life

[2011/11/18 09:10]  Fire Centaur: but… there is more.

[2011/11/18 09:10]  Fire Centaur: since Moodle has a database connected to it we can connect our objectsin Second Life to the Moodle database as well .. that means, we can make super cool learning tools

[2011/11/18 09:11]  Fire Centaur: Now… why is Sloodle 2.0 such an Awesome improvement over old Sloodle?well, haha.. that wasnt supposed to be a question.

[2011/11/18 09:12]  Fire Centaur: many of you who have used it were probably about to say that sloodle was SUPER hard to install. and… you would be correct…

[2011/11/18 09:12]  Fire Centaur: installing the module isn’t difficult.  if you had an FTP program, and access to your server, that was the easy part…

[2011/11/18 09:13]  Fire Centaur: the part that got most people stuck, was having to configure each object using notecards. To be honest, it wasn

[2011/11/18 09:13]  Fire Centaur: SO this year with the Advent of Shared Media  and HTTPIN Edmund and I have totally redesigned the interface

[2011/11/18 09:14]  Fire Centaur: SO.. it NOW has…

[2011/11/18 09:14]  Fire Centaur: …

[2011/11/18 09:14]  Fire Centaur: ,,

[2011/11/18 09:14]  Fire Centaur: wait for it…

[2011/11/18 09:14]  Fire Centaur: …

[2011/11/18 09:14]  Fire Centaur: ..

[2011/11/18 09:14]  Fire Centaur: An iphone like interface on shared media

[2011/11/18 09:14]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): sweet!

[2011/11/18 09:14]  Buffy Beale: wow

[2011/11/18 09:14]  bulaklak: Very cool!

[2011/11/18 09:14]  Fire Centaur: Now, all configuration of all objects is now done on a shared media surface, which can even be open up in your browser.

[2011/11/18 09:14]  Zinnia Zauber: Cool!

[2011/11/18 09:14]  Mimi Muircastle: wow – kids will love that!

[2011/11/18 09:14]  Fire Centaur: NO MORE NOTECARDS.  NONE. they are gone.

[2011/11/18 09:15]  Fire Centaur: But… now comes the cool part. We have added the ability  for educators to create “Scenes”

[2011/11/18 09:15]  Fire Centaur: let me bring out a few slides. ok.  do you see this grey sphere here?

[2011/11/18 09:16]  Buffy Beale: yes

[2011/11/18 09:16]  Fire Centaur: That is the rezzer

[2011/11/18 09:16]  Fire Centaur: since it is on shared media, our view of the surface will not be sychronized. so, to see what I am seeing check out my slides.

[2011/11/18 09:17]  Fire Centaur: on this first slide, you will see something called a controller. this is a moodle activity that you must add to your site.  once a “controller” is added, this rezzer will be able to connect with your moodle course.  when you click on the controller on the shared media scene,  it iphone-slides over to the scene page

[2011/11/18 09:18]  Fire Centaur: here it will list all the scenes you created. on this slide  you can see, I have 5 scenes.  floor 1… to floor 5. then a quiz scene

[2011/11/18 09:18]  Fire Centaur: when I click on the quiz scene…

[2011/11/18 09:18]  Fire Centaur: you will see:

[2011/11/18 09:18]  Fire Centaur: oops

[2011/11/18 09:18]  Fire Centaur: thats floor 1 registration scene

[2011/11/18 09:18]  Fire Centaur: you will see another screen that lists all the objects in that scene

[2011/11/18 09:18]  Fire Centaur: here there is a vending machine, a regenrol booth, front desk etc

[2011/11/18 09:19]  Fire Centaur: there aer a few buttons too. a delete button to delete the scene and a Rez All button

[2011/11/18 09:19]  Fire Centaur: What this

[2011/11/18 09:19]  Fire Centaur: right now

[2011/11/18 09:19]  Fire Centaur: you can see I have 5 quiz chairs

[2011/11/18 09:19]  Fire Centaur: when you press rezz all, those items get…

[2011/11/18 09:19]  Fire Centaur: rezzed!

[2011/11/18 09:19]  SLOODLE Quiz Chair: Starting quiz for Fire Centaur

[2011/11/18 09:19]  SLOODLE Quiz Chair: Fetching quiz data…

[2011/11/18 09:19]  SLOODLE Quiz Chair: Ready to attempt: Avatar Classroom Quiz.

[2011/11/18 09:19]  Fire Centaur: but if I go to the quiz scene I can derez them through the rezzer. watch this.

[2011/11/18 09:20]  Fire Centaur: one moment. i need to iphone-click-through

[2011/11/18 09:20]  Sloodle Rezzer 2.0.10-alpha rev 1 (2011-10-13 2:47): Configuration received

[2011/11/18 09:20]  Sloodle Rezzer 2.0.10-alpha rev 1 (2011-10-13 2:47): Configuration received

[2011/11/18 09:20]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Rik Panganiban totaly wants to host a nonprofit gameshow!

[2011/11/18 09:20]  Fire Centaur: ok

[2011/11/18 09:20]  Fire Centaur: just derezed

[2011/11/18 09:20]  Fire Centaur: now i will re-rez

[2011/11/18 09:20]  Fire Centaur: and… gues what!

[2011/11/18 09:20]  Oronoque Westland: I love quiz chairs…they’re the only way I get high (heehee)

[2011/11/18 09:21]  Fire Centaur: oh wait

[2011/11/18 09:21]  SLOODLE Scoreboard: Configuration received

[2011/11/18 09:21]  SLOODLE Quiz Chair: Configuration received

  Quiz Chair: Configuration received

[2011/11/18 09:21]  SLOODLE Quiz Chair: Configuration received

[2011/11/18 09:21]  SLOODLE Quiz Chair: Configuration received

[2011/11/18 09:21]  SLOODLE Quiz Chair: Configuration received

[2011/11/18 09:21]  Fire Centaur: there we go

[2011/11/18 09:21]  Fire Centaur: that was the httpin

[2011/11/18 09:21]  Buffy Beale: wow

[2011/11/18 09:21]  Fire Centaur: each object has httpin

[2011/11/18 09:21]  Fire Centaur: so the moodle website told each object where to go

[2011/11/18 09:21]  Fire Centaur: and YOU CAN SAVE POSITIONS OF THE OBJECTS

[2011/11/18 09:21]  Fire Centaur: let me move them around

[2011/11/18 09:21]  Fire Centaur: each to its httpin

[2011/11/18 09:21]  Fire Centaur: lets say

[2011/11/18 09:21]  Fire Centaur: i want them here

[2011/11/18 09:21]  Fire Centaur: on the rzzer

[2011/11/18 09:22]  Fire Centaur: i just press “Freeze” button

[2011/11/18 09:22]  Fire Centaur: ok

[2011/11/18 09:22]  Fire Centaur: just pressed freeze

[2011/11/18 09:22]  Fire Centaur: now I will de-rez

[2011/11/18 09:22]  Fire Centaur: jsut to prove to u

[2011/11/18 09:22]  Fire Centaur: that positions are saved

[2011/11/18 09:22]  Fire Centaur: (all on the server IN your scene)

[2011/11/18 09:22]  Fire Centaur: right now, my rezzer is saying

[2011/11/18 09:22]  Fire Centaur: waiting to derez

[2011/11/18 09:22]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): ok Fire, this is a bit in the weeds for this audience

[2011/11/18 09:22]  Fire Centaur: ok

[2011/11/18 09:22]  Fire Centaur: thanks

[2011/11/18 09:23]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): might want to step back a bit

[2011/11/18 09:22]  Fire Centaur: Anyway, the point isThe Rezzer allows you to set up virtual scenes like a holodec

[2011/11/18 09:23]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): wow, nice

[2011/11/18 09:23]  Fire Centaur: The fun part of sloodle

[2011/11/18 09:23]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): I love holodecks

[2011/11/18 09:23]  Fire Centaur: like Rik said

[2011/11/18 09:23]  Fire Centaur: are the quiz chairs

[2011/11/18 09:23]  Fire Centaur: with Sloodle 2, we have added an inworld shared media scoreboard

[2011/11/18 09:23]  SLOODLE Quiz Chair: Starting quiz for Fire Centaur

[2011/11/18 09:23]  SLOODLE Quiz Chair: Fetching quiz data…

[2011/11/18 09:24]  Fire Centaur: so, when you sit on a scoreboard,

[2011/11/18 09:24]  Fire Centaur: oops

[2011/11/18 09:24]  SLOODLE Quiz Chair: ERROR: HTTP request timed out.

[2011/11/18 09:24]  Fire Centaur: when you sit on a quiz chair

[2011/11/18 09:24]  Fire Centaur: you and answer a question correctly.

[2011/11/18 09:24]  Fire Centaur: your score will be displayed on the scoreboard

[2011/11/18 09:24]  btn:Reset: Resetting

[2011/11/18 09:24]  Sloodle Rezzer 2.0.10-alpha rev 1 (2011-10-13 2:47): Configuration received

[2011/11/18 09:25]  Fire Centaur: Let me rez some quiz chairs

[2011/11/18 09:25]  Fire Centaur: would you like to take a quiz?

[2011/11/18 09:25]  Buffy Beale: sure

[2011/11/18 09:25]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): we don’t have time for that now

[2011/11/18 09:25]  Adalace Jewell: yes

[2011/11/18 09:25]  Robo Mirabella: oui!

[2011/11/18 09:25]  Fire Centaur: ok

[2011/11/18 09:25]  Buffy Beale: aww maybe we can stay and take it

[2011/11/18 09:25]  Fire Centaur: let me just log into the rezzer and rez the scene

[2011/11/18 09:25]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): perhaps keep it rezzed out for later

[2011/11/18 09:25]  Fire Centaur: ok

[2011/11/18 09:25]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): and people can play with it afteer

[2011/11/18 09:26]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): (and by “people” I mean me)

[2011/11/18 09:26]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): lol

[2011/11/18 09:26]  Fire Centaur: A last exciting thing I want to share with you is to let you know that on your sloodle website the quiz chairs can be configured not to just give points for correct answers but actually… any currency you choose

[2011/11/18 09:26]  Buffy Beale: wow

[2011/11/18 09:26]  Fire Centaur: you can define your own currencies… ie: magic points, grean leaves,  what ever

[2011/11/18 09:26]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Linden dollars?

[2011/11/18 09:26]  Fire Centaur: all of these go into your moodle website into what I call

[2011/11/18 09:27]  Fire Centaur: the sloodle Backpack

[2011/11/18 09:27]  Mimi Muircastle: gold coins:)

[2011/11/18 09:27]  Buffy Beale: this is such a great tool!

[2011/11/18 09:27]  Fire Centaur: you can define what ever you want

[2011/11/18 09:27]  Fire Centaur: therefore, you can put together real role play simulations on my island using the sloodle api

[2011/11/18 09:27]  Fire Centaur: I programmed for the avatarclassroom attack zombies.  when you kill them, they give you magic points on the scoreboard

[2011/11/18 09:27]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): fun!

[2011/11/18 09:27]  Fire Centaur: which you can use for other activities

[2011/11/18 09:28]  Fire Centaur: There is really a lot more to tell and show you but I guess I am running out of time.

[2011/11/18 09:28]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): I know we could and should do a whole workshop on this

[2011/11/18 09:28]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): for those taht are interested

[2011/11/18 09:28]  Bhob Khaos: Will Sloodle 2.0 work with Moodle 2.*

[2011/11/18 09:28]  Fire Centaur: If you want to try sloodle out

[2011/11/18 09:28]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): or we can go to your island together sometime?

[2011/11/18 09:28]  Fire Centaur: and dont want to install it on your own server, and want a turn key solution

[2011/11/18 09:28]  Mimi Muircastle: Restore Field Trips!!!!

[2011/11/18 09:29]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): so what is the cost of these neat tools that people should know about?

[2011/11/18 09:29]  Fire Centaur: edmund and i have created the Avatar Classroom to autogenerate you a Moodle with Sloodle all connected.

[2011/11/18 09:29]  Zinnia Zauber: Rah Mimi!

[2011/11/18 09:29]  Fire Centaur: Sloodle is opensource

[2011/11/18 09:29]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): are they free?

[2011/11/18 09:29]  Fire Centaur: that means, you can get sloodle rezer for free

[2011/11/18 09:29]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): yay!

[2011/11/18 09:29]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): so cost is just developer time?

[2011/11/18 09:29]  Mimi Muircastle: open source=free:)

[2011/11/18 09:30]  Fire Centaur: if you want a hosting solution and extra cool tools, and dont want to worry about setup, you can use the avatarclassroom.com which is sloodle on our server

[2011/11/18 09:30]  Fire Centaur: I have the sloodle rezzer in this box. you can all have it

[2011/11/18 09:30]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): nice

[2011/11/18 09:30]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): So there are lots of ways nonprofits, educational or not, can take advantage of SLOODLE

[2011/11/18 09:30]  Fire Centaur: ive been chatting up a store

[2011/11/18 09:30]  Fire Centaur: storm

[2011/11/18 09:30]  Bhob Khaos: Does it matter which version of Moodle you are using?

[2011/11/18 09:31]  Fire Centaur: yes, I think it has great power to help motivate intrinsic learning

[2011/11/18 09:31]  Fire Centaur: by getting students using quiz chairs, and setting up role plays

[2011/11/18 09:31]  Fire Centaur: it can be a lot of fun

[2011/11/18 09:32]  Fire Centaur: Good question Bhob, Sloodle supports 1.8,1.9 and 2.0

[2011/11/18 09:32]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): I hired a developer to use SLOODLE to enable high school students in SL to exchange text messages via SMS with an AIDS ofphan in Africa, for xample

[2011/11/18 09:32]  Fire Centaur: oh neat!

[2011/11/18 09:32]  Buffy Beale: great going!

[2011/11/18 09:32]  Bhob Khaos: Great stuff

[2011/11/18 09:32]  Fire Centaur: Have you heard of the Devil Island Mystery?

[2011/11/18 09:33]  Fire Centaur: The Devil Island mystery was a 9 part video series

[2011/11/18 09:33]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): my project: http://www.olpglobalkids.org/2008/09/crossing_the_metaversal_divide.html

[2011/11/18 09:33]  Fire Centaur: of a bunch of students getting trapped on an island

[2011/11/18 09:33]  Fire Centaur: and had to escape… using sloodle powered tools

[2011/11/18 09:33]  Fire Centaur: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh4lN5o3g4k

[2011/11/18 09:33]  Fire Centaur: cool

[2011/11/18 09:33]  Fire Centaur: has anyone else used sloodle, or know some good links?

[2011/11/18 09:34]  Buffy Beale: fun way to learn

[2011/11/18 09:34]  Mimi Muircastle: I would have been a 4.0 student on Sloodle🙂

[2011/11/18 09:34]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): I think sloodle has a lot of untapped potential as an activist tool

[2011/11/18 09:34]  Buffy Beale: I always intended to try it so this is a great motivator

[2011/11/18 09:34]  Chayenn: PY1 has an island of jokaydiagrid for hiv prevention for youth 8 to 12 ; we have a grant to animate our puppets and we will need those chairs for our surveys

[2011/11/18 09:35]  Fire Centaur: Open Sim is our next target to get Sloodle into

[2011/11/18 09:35]  Chayenn: please let me know how to contact you

[2011/11/18 09:35]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): yes please share your info again Fire

[2011/11/18 09:35]  Fire Centaur: by the way, for all of you who attended, I have a few tools I am giving away to NPC guests today

[2011/11/18 09:36]  Fire Centaur: this box has my Puzzle Fun game in it and my Oil Spill simulation, AND the Sloodle Rezzer

[2011/11/18 09:36]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): the oil spill simulation is great

[2011/11/18 09:36]  Zinnia Zauber: Thank you!!!

[2011/11/18 09:36]  Fire Centaur: fire@avatarclassroom.com

[2011/11/18 09:36]  Fire Centaur: twitter: @fire

[2011/11/18 09:36]  Second Life: SLOODLE Vending Machine owned by Fire Centaur gave you ‘Sloodle Rezzer 2.0.10-alpha rev 1 (2011-10-13 2:47)’  ( http://slurl.com/secondlife/Plush%20Nonprofit%20Commons/116/126/26 ).

[2011/11/18 09:36]  Jo Clarrington: Thank you.

[2011/11/18 09:36]  Fire Centaur: http://youtube.com/user/fire2006

[2011/11/18 09:37]  Mimi Muircastle: great project and great preso!

[2011/11/18 09:37]  Bhob Khaos: Thanks

[2011/11/18 09:37]  Fire Centaur: thanks everyone!

[2011/11/18 09:37]  Buffy Beale: cheering, great presentation thanks Fire!

[2011/11/18 09:37]  SLOODLE WebIntercom: Sorry talkwithmarie Resident. You do not have permission to control this object.

[2011/11/18 09:37]  Fire Centaur: And its great rik you are keeping these going!

[2011/11/18 09:37]  Fire Centaur: thanks so much!

[2011/11/18 09:37]  Buffy Beale: lol nice try Talk 🙂

[2011/11/18 09:37]  Zinnia Zauber: Thank you, Fire! Great stuff!

[2011/11/18 09:38]  Robo Mirabella: *applauds*

[2011/11/18 09:38]  bulaklak: Really interesting presentation! And now I know what SLOODLE is.

[2011/11/18 09:38]  Oronoque Westland: Fire, you are so HOT!

[2011/11/18 09:38]  Fire Centaur: hehe

[2011/11/18 09:38]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Who is interested in doing a field trip to Fire’s island to learn more?

[2011/11/18 09:38]  Buffy Beale: lol Oro

[2011/11/18 09:38]  Buffy Beale: I am Rik

[2011/11/18 09:38]  Mimi Muircastle: me!

[2011/11/18 09:38]  HB Eternal: field trip field trip

[2011/11/18 09:38]  Oronoque Westland: me me me

[2011/11/18 09:38]  Chayenn: i am too

[2011/11/18 09:38]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): nice

[2011/11/18 09:38]  Explorer (yousee.starsider): Yes!

[2011/11/18 09:38]  Zinnia Zauber: hand up for field trip!

[2011/11/18 09:38]  Red (talkwithmarie): .-‘`’-. APPLAUSE APPLAUSE .-‘`’-.

[2011/11/18 09:38]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Fire, we’ll coordinate with you and find a time that works

[2011/11/18 09:38]  Jo Clarrington: Sounds like fun!

[2011/11/18 09:38]  Mimi Muircastle: field trips must return!

[2011/11/18 09:38]  Fire Centaur: Please let me know when u do the field trip

[2011/11/18 09:38]  Fire Centaur: and I will set up a tour for you

[2011/11/18 09:39]  Fire Centaur: currently I am making a five part mission

[2011/11/18 09:39]  Calliope Lexington: me too let me know

[2011/11/18 09:39]  Namaara MacMoragh: (love field trips)

[2011/11/18 09:39]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): I know its challenging given the time difference

[2011/11/18 09:39]  Buffy Beale: me too Namaara

[2011/11/18 09:39]  Fire Centaur: however, u might gett attacked by my dangerous floating Jellyfish

[2011/11/18 09:39]  Namaara MacMoragh: 🙂

[2011/11/18 09:39]  Fire Centaur: or sharks

[2011/11/18 09:39]  Yoda: Powerful you have become, the dark side I sense in you.

[2011/11/18 09:39]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): cool, something to look forward too

Written by: rikomatic

On November 11, the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life welcomed Mr. Lucas Gillispie, an Instructional Technology Coordinator in North Carolina, to talk about how he is using the sandbox digital game Minecraft in the classroom.  What follows is a lightly edited transcript of the talk he gave and the resulting conversation.

[09:05]  Rik Panganiban : …we should move on to our featured guest. Newton Apogee please come on down. 

[09:06]  Rik Panganiban : Newton is known in the real world as Lucas Gillispie. Lucas Gillispie is an Instructional Technology Coordinator for Pender County Schools in North Carolina. I met lucas a couple of years ago at some games confreence?

[09:06]  Newton Apogee: Games in Education, I believe.

[09:06]  Rik Panganiban : And I’ve been following what he’s been doing in World of Warcraft with admiration for some time now

[09:07]  Newton Apogee: <grins>

[09:07]  Rik Panganiban : He’s taken that knowledge of how to use an MMO in the classroom to his work now in Minecraft. So I’d love to hear from him how you can use this sandbox game in the classroom, and to accomplish what. Take it away, newton.

[09:08]  Newton Apogee: Thanks!

[09:08]  Newton Apogee: Wow… huge crowd. Is it strange that I experience the same jitters I do when presenting to a RL audience? 😛

[09:08]  Newton Apogee: Well, good day, everyone! Thank you for having me. My name is Lucas Gillispie, and I’m an edu-gamer.

[09:08]  Mimi Muircastle: we are real:)

[09:08]  Gentle Heron: actually, we’re a real audience, Newton, we just look virtual.

[09:08]  Newton Apogee: Indeed!!

[09:09]  Peace Furst: and we’re nicer

[09:09]  Rik Panganiban : Rik Panganiban is really a dragon

[09:09]  Newton Apogee: So, how many of you are playing Minecraft?

[09:09]  Mimi Muircastle: me, sometimes but not enough!

[09:09]  Newton Apogee: 🙂

[09:09]  Peace Furst: not me

[09:09]  Namaara MacMoragh: (Nam puts her hand up) with my 14-year old

[09:09]  Newton Apogee: Well, if you aren’t, you definitely should check it out.

[09:10]  Rik Panganiban : its on my list, after I defeat Glitch!

[09:10]  Newton Apogee: @nam – Perfect!! (So important to play WITH your kids!)

[09:10]  Mimi Muircastle: minecraft trumps glitch!

[09:10]  Namaara MacMoragh: 🙂

[09:10]  Newton Apogee: Of course students were the ones who introduced me to this quirky little sandbox game. At first glance, I discounted the game because of its graphics. Really? 3D 8-bit graphics? I play World of Warcraft and Call of Duty.

[09:10]  Newton Apogee: It looked, frankly, cheesy.

[09:11]  Newton Apogee: A few months passed and Minecraft kept working its way into my Twitter stream, so I decided to take another look. This student told me, “Here, just use my account and see what you think.” So, I did… Within ten minutes of game play, I’d purchased my own account. I was immediately sucked in.

[09:11]  Mimi Muircastle: fun cheesy

[09:11]  Newton Apogee: (Fun like Easy Cheese is fun!!!)

[09:11]  Newton Apogee: If you aren’t aware, Minecraft is a game independently developed, originally by a single programmer, Marcus ‚”Notch‚” Perrson in Sweden. It’s essentially a virtual world made of Lego-like blocks that can be broken down and re-configured in many ways.

[09:11]  Newton Apogee: There are a few different ways you can play such as Survival Mode (that includes monsters that emerge in dark places in the world) and Creative Mode (that has no monsters and simply allows you to build freely).

[09:12]  Glitteractica Cookie: Are you affiliated with the MacArthur foundation serious gaming community?

[09:12]  Newton Apogee: @Glitter – Not officially… but I try to follow the work!

[09:12]  Newton Apogee: I lost hours inside the virtual block world and realized something… Even the simplest of game formats, done well, can be as compelling as games developed with multi-million dollar budgets. Notch tapped into the power of play and did so in a powerful way!

[09:12]  Mimi Muircastle: Notch is brilliant

[09:13]  Newton Apogee: Yep!

[09:13]  Newton Apogee: Apparently, I wasn’t the only one to get hooked. To date, the game has over 4,000,000 people worldwide who’ve paid $15-$20+ for the game… And that’s when it’s still in development! It’s quickly become a phenomenon, and demonstrates that the independent game development community is alive and well.

[09:13]  Mimi Muircastle: highly addicting:)

[09:13]  Newton Apogee: If you haven’t seen it, 2PlayerProductions is creating a documentary on the game and its development. In an early scene of the preview, Notch shares his high school experience in which a career counselor asked him about his career goals.

  He said, “I think I’d like to make video games.” She responded, “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

[09:15]  Newton Apogee: I love that!

[09:15]  Mimi Muircastle: love it – the power of a young genious

[09:15]  Newton Apogee: (You can catch that preview here: http://youtu.be/cBF2ugTzXqQ )

[09:15]  Newton Apogee: Me too, Mimi!

[09:15]  Newton Apogee: Also underscores that we should never, ever, ever…. ignore the passion of our learners!

[09:16]  Mimi Muircastle: absolutely!

[09:16]  Newton Apogee: Before long, my six year old and three year old daughters were begging to play. Watching them at work (and how quickly they picked up on the game) really grabbed my attention. It was fascinating!

[09:16]  Newton Apogee: (By the way, do you watch your kids playing games? If not, you are totally missing out!)

[09:17]  Newton Apogee: So, I did what all good edu-gamers do… I put on my teacher glasses (You all have a pair of those, right?) and began to look at the pedagogical implications of the game.

[09:18]  Newton Apogee: It wasn’t tough for me to make those connections (after all, if you can bring World of Warcraft into an 8th grade language arts class, the sky’s the limit!)

[09:18]  Newton Apogee: I approached to administrators of elementary schools in my district and pitched the idea of a Minecraft-based club/elective and both agreed. We worked last year with roughly 22 fifth graders between the two schools. (?)

[09:18]  Mimi Muircastle: and 8th graders love you for it! (?)

[09:19]  Newton Apogee: And I love them, @Mimi – The learning has definitely been a two-way street!!!

[09:19]  Newton Apogee: We hosted our own server, internally (something freely distributed by the game’s developers). It was surprisingly simple. Interestingly enough, we used an older web-filter and re-purposed it to be our district Minecraft server. …a beautiful little irony… >:)

[09:19]  Mimi Muircastle: it always is!

[09:19]  Newton Apogee: Since we were moving into uncharted territory, we took a largely low-structured approach. We simply wanted to see how our learners would respond to the game world, what sort of norms they’d establish, and if they could complete a simple mission: re-create a functional town.

[09:19]  Newton Apogee: We started with a discussion about what were the essential components of a functioning town. Our kids then chose what they’d like to build, sketched a blueprint on graph paper, and set out to construct it in the world.

[09:20]  Newton Apogee: Since I wasn’t sure how things would work from a classroom point-of-view even to a technical point-of-view, I resisted too much structure. As Bronwyn Stuckey says, I decided to simply “Follow the learning.”

[09:21]  Newton Apogee: They worked on these structures for about an hour each Friday for the last half of the school year. I quickly realized that to accomplish some of the things I’d envisioned, we’d need more time, but we made do with what time we were given.

[09:22]  Newton Apogee: Our learners realized this, too! They would have worked all day, every day if we’d let them. They were totally engaged. They begged for more time, even weekends! (They wanted to do a sleepover in the school just to keep playing…)

[09:22]  Newton Apogee: Watching them interact in the virtual space was incredible. Early on, they all agreed we needed to establish rules for the group. We let the kids decide on their own rules…  They came up with:

1.  If it’s not yours, leave it alone.
2.  No griefing.
3.  3. Respect others’ space.

[09:23]  Newton Apogee: (Yes, 5th graders established these rules! Don’t underestimate the depths and understanding of your kids!)

[09:24]  Newton Apogee: I put together a short video one afternoon and uploaded it to YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO_cs1DrbhA . Please check it out when we’re wrapped up. The views have skyrocketed in the last week to over 30,000. (This really excites our kids, by the way.)

[09:24]  Newton Apogee: When you watch it, also check out the comments. If you don’t think we need to change education, the comments of the 100s of kids to this video, might change your mind.

[09:24]  Newton Apogee: Now, what’s really awesome about the idea of using Minecraft in school, is that I’m not the only one who’s made that connection. Other educators are doing the same and seeing equally amazing things:

[09:24]  Newton Apogee: Joel Levin in New York is doing incredible work! Known as @minecraftteacher, he’s running a great blog focused on his work using Minecraft with Second Graders. You can find his blog at:  http://minecraftteacher.net/ . and follow him on Twitter!

[09:25]  Newton Apogee: Likewise, JoKay Wollawong (RL?), Dean Groom, and Bron Stuckey are doing great things at Massively Minecraft: http://bit.ly/mBRSNC in Australia.

[09:25]  Newton Apogee: When giants like these are coming to the same conclusions, you know you’re onto something!

[09:26]  Newton Apogee: So, moving forward this year, we’re running the program again at our elementary schools and I’m excited to say we’re expanding it to a middle school as well.

[09:27]  Mimi Muircastle: middle schoolers LOVE minecraft!

[09:27]  Newton Apogee: I have a wonderful art teacher, Sara, who’s going to incorporate Minecraft into both her art, and is working to create a unique curriculum for 6th-8th graders at her school.

[09:27]  Mimi Muircastle: is that a curr. that can be shared?

[09:27]  Newton Apogee: All of our work will be hosted on a wiki… (I love wikis!) http://minecraftinschool.pbworks.com. There are already some lesson ideas there, and as we create more, we’ll add them.

[09:28]  Rik Panganiban : thats’s great newton!

[09:28]  Newton Apogee: 🙂

[09:28]  Namaara MacMoragh: great!

[09:28]  Namaara MacMoragh: (lessons)

[09:28]  Rik Panganiban : so any other resources and links people should know about?

[09:28]  Newton Apogee: So, that’s where we are… Might I answer any questions for the crowd?

[09:28]  Newton Apogee: Yes!

[09:29]  Newton Apogee: If you are working in a public school and would be interested in purchasing Minecraft for use with students , MinecraftEDU.com just opened. You can purchase accounts for up to 50% off. …and they take P.O.’s! (Believe me, credit card purchases to an overseas company makes finance departments nervous.)

[09:30]  Buffy Beale: Question: Do you think this is the future, having online games for teaching assisting aids?

[09:30]  Mimi Muircastle: yes, Buffy – I do:)

[09:30]  Newton Apogee: @Buffy – Absolutely! Well, a component of a bigger picture of instruction. I think the beauty is when we develop instruction that taps into student creativity.

[09:31]  Mimi Muircastle: a tool to deliver content in a meaningful way for students

[09:31]  Newton Apogee: Holy smokes, people… School does not have to be boring!!

[09:31]  Buffy Beale: me too Newton, thanks, games are a part of the internet, we may as well understand them and use them to our benefit

[09:31]  Buffy Beale: fun is the new way of learning 🙂

[09:31]  Brena Benoir: Yes

[09:31]  Newton Apogee: New? or forgotten?

[09:31]  Mimi Muircastle: YES! Newton and thank heavens for folks like you who get it!

[09:32]  Buffy Beale: lol, yes, forgotten is right 🙂

[09:32]  Mimi Muircastle: forgotten in the midst of testing!

[09:32]  Keeon Naglo: Forgotten

[09:32]  Newton Apogee: I think kids’ brains know fun learning.

[09:32]  Brena Benoir: make learning fun, immersive and engaging, then people want to do it

[09:32]  Gentle Heron: Children and animals have always known that one learns through play.

[09:32]  Newton Apogee: It’s just that completing 1-150, odd, on page 325 just doesn’t cut it.

[09:32]  Mimi Muircastle: kids make learning fun for themselves, we just have to allow them the freedom to do it!

[09:32]  Newton Apogee: @Mimi – Bingo!

[09:33]  Mimi Muircastle: so true, Gentle and some of us never grew out of that sense of fun:)

[09:33]  Zinnia Zauber: Newton, do you have books you might want to recommend for educators who want to become advocates about gaming and eduation?

[09:33]  Glitteractica Cookie: Are some of these educational orgs nonprofits?

[09:33]  Newton Apogee: Our kids, when they go home, know what engagement is… They play at home, they use social media, and have free-flowing information. We too often deprive them of that “oxygen” (as Chris Lehman calls it) when they step across the threshold of a school.

[09:34]  Newton Apogee: @Zinnia – Indeed I do!

[09:34]  Mimi Muircastle: Many charter schools are nonprofits!

[09:34]  Glitteractica Cookie: And are you familiar with the Game4Change community?

[09:34]  Mimi Muircastle: oh yes the oxygen of freedom to pursue your interests

[09:35]  Newton Apogee: @Zinnia – For an easy-to-read starter (great to put into the hands of curious/concerned parents/teachers/admins), I recommend “Don’t Bother Me Mom — I’m Learning by Marc Prensky.

[09:35]  Newton Apogee: @Zinnia – For educators who are looking for a more “pedagogical” read, “What Video Games Have To Teach Us About Learning and Literacy” by James Paul Gee

[09:36]  Zinnia Zauber: Yes, great! I just met him, and he loved that my avatar looks like me. lol

[09:36]  Zinnia Zauber: Marc is great.

[09:36]  Zinnia Zauber: great, thank you.

[09:36]  Mimi Muircastle: very cool, Zinnia!

[09:36]  Newton Apogee: Those are starters!

[09:37]  Zinnia Zauber: Thank you, I think we all need to read up and share how important this is.

[09:37]  Newton Apogee: If you go to the wiki, there’s a huge white paper list, largely compiled by Dean Groom, supporting games in education.

[09:37]  Mimi Muircastle: we do!

[09:37]  Zinnia Zauber: wonderful!

[09:37]  Rik Panganiban : Well for any further questions, how do people get a hold of you?

[09:37]  Newton Apogee: There are a bazillion ways!

• Twitter – @PCSTech
• email: lucas@edurealms.com
• Skype: lucas.gillispie

Those should get you started.

[09:38]  Rik Panganiban : FYI I found Lucas via Google plus!

[09:38]  Zinnia Zauber: Thank you for sharing with us today!!!

[09:38]  Rik Panganiban : thanks so much for joining us, Newton

[09:38]  Newton Apogee: Honored to do so, @Zinnia!

[09:38]  Rik Panganiban : let’s hear it for him!

[09:38]  Newton Apogee: Thanks for having me, Rik!

[09:38]  Keeon Naglo: *applauds*

[09:38]  Mimi Muircastle: yes, I am impressed and enthused and glad you are out there doing great things for kids!

[09:39]  Newton Apogee: @Mimi – Thank you!

[09:39]  Rik Panganiban : you have inspired me to get started plaing Minecraft

[09:39]  Buffy Beale: Gret job Newton, thanks!

[09:39]  Gentle Heron: Thanks for sharing with us Newton.

[09:39]  Newton Apogee: Yay!

[09:39]  Mimi Muircastle: ah, the thanks are to you!

[09:39]  Zinnia Zauber: This is another world to add to the list!

[09:39]  Rik Panganiban : I’m tired of squeezing chickens in Glitch

[09:39]  Newton Apogee: Oh, all of my links and my typed notes for today are at: http://bit.ly/u2acRH

[09:39]  Mimi Muircastle: as I said Rik – Minecraft trumps Glitch and I have played both!

Written by: rikomatic

The Tech Museum announces that they are organizing a conference on the latest interactive technologies on Tuesday, November 15 called “The Tech Test Zone: Interfaces for the New Decade.” The event will bring together “the most innovative developers of new interactive technologies” in The Tech Museum’s newest gallery. Learn about and demo cutting-edge interfaces such as:

• Augmented Reality
• Deformable Surfaces
• Eye Tracking
• Gestural Interfaces
• Gigapixel Images
• Motion Sensing
• Multi-touch
• Natural User Interfaces
• RFID
• Smart Museum Systems
• Tablet Computers
• Ubiquitous Media

You can attend in person at their San Jose, California location or virtually via a number of different web-based and virtual platforms:

Written by: rikomatic