Welcome from Fleep

[Fleep]

Hello all,

Welcome to the CCK08SL - Connectivism in Second Life Cohort!

I wanted to wait a few days to give everyone time to accept the two invitations to the googlegroup and to the Chilbo Community Building Project group in Second Life before sending something out.  If you're receiving this email then you're already in the googlegroup, but if you haven't yet logged into Second Life, be sure to check your notices carefully (blue windows in the upper right corner) and accept the invitation to join the Chilbo group.

I should also note upfront that I am not an instructor in this course - I am a student just like you!  I hope to facilitate the Second Life component of the course and help organize our activities, but I have no special knowledge about connectivism or how the Connectivism & Connective Knowledge course will play out.  I mentioned the idea of a Second Life cohort to George and he was supportive of the idea, but beyond that, I'm in the same boat as you regarding the overall course layout and format.  I assume we'll make sense of things as we go along.  =)

This message should answer some questions you may have about how the Second Life cohort is going to work, so apologies for the length in advance.  If I miss a question, feel free to post to the group! 

How many people are in the SL Cohort?

As of this morning 103 people are in the group, and it looks like we are from all over the world.  We have a truly international group!

When is the Cohort meeting in Second Life?

We haven't picked the days/times for synchronous meetings yet!  Please visit the Doodle schedule-maker and enter your preferred days and times at:
http://www.doodle.ch/participation.html?pollId=vphf6g7x4yziyaau

Due to the size of the group and our real world locations in many time zones, we may have more than one weekly meeting time for synchronous activities.  Though some aspects of the SL Cohort will likely be enjoyable asynchronously, too, the goal of the SL Cohort is to provide some "face time" with other students in the Connectivism course, so hopefully we will all eventually meet each other in-world.

What are we going to DO in Second Life?

Second Life as a platform has many limitations, but there are some things that it is exceptionally well-suited for, including:  Holding discussions and meetings in text chat or voice; building and creating 3D collaborative objects, projects, spaces, and models; roleplaying and simulations; and more.

We will certainly take advantage of the sense of "co-presence" one feels when meeting people in Second Life to hold weekly discussions about the Connectivism course and construct the Connectivism Village where members of the cohort can "live, learn, and play" in Second Life.  What else we do is up to the group, but we may:

- Hold group or individual conversations in voice chat (you will need a headset/microphone to participate, they can be purchased at any electronics store for between $30-$50USD.  I strongly encourage you to pick one up as voice conversations can cover much more ground than text conversations - especially for slow typists!)

- Submit builds, objects, models or other projects as assignments for the Connectivism course

- Invite other members of the Connectivism course to come visit our location in Second Life

Who knows what else may happen - that's up to us!

What is Chilbo and what does it have to do with the Connectivism course?

Chilbo is a town in the virtual world of Second Life.  It was founded in 2006 and has about 100 residents from around the world who share a common belief that our activities, relationships, and experiences in virtual worlds can have a positive impact on our real lives.  It includes educators, artists, parents, students, hobbyists and all sorts of people with all sorts of goals and projects in Second Life.  You can read more about the community at our blog:  http://chilbo.org.

The Chilbo community is hosting the land and space in Second Life where the SL Cohort of the Connectivism course will be held.  When the Chilbo Summer Fair wraps up at the end of August, the fairgrounds will be torn down to make way for the construction of the Connectivism Village.  You will have the opportunity to help with this construction and for those who are new to Second Life or do not have an existing home or office, we hope to offer you space to create one in Chilbo.

The residents of Chilbo are excited about hosting this course and hope to meet the people involved.  They are a friendly bunch and encourage you to explore the town and public spaces, and they can help answer questions you might have about Second Life or about being a part of a virtual community in the metaverse.  My goal on a personal level was to situate the course within an existing community to help the SL Cohort see informal connectivism in action - Chilbo residents work, learn, and play together, using the affordances of the Second Life platform to advance their various goals.  When the course ends, you are welcome to stay and join the community if you find that it suits you, but primarily the residents wanted to host an interesting experiment.

As a member of the Chilbo Community Building Project group, you may receive communications and notices from the community about other events and activities taking place in Chilbo.  These are not necessarily part of the Connectivism course, but you are welcome to participate fully in any Chilbo activities - Chilbo is a very public place.

Key Locations in Chilbo for the SL Cohort:

Weekly discussions will be held in the Shrubbery Amphitheatre & Park in Chilbo, though other areas of the community have resources that may be of interest to participants. The Connectivism Village will provide a "neighborhood" and sandbox area for participants in the course. Please note that the Chilbo community is holding a summer fair through August 31, 2008 in the area where the Connectivism Village will be constructed - if you visit early, enjoy the fairgrounds!

Shrubbery Amphitheatre & Park: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Chilbo/167/129/109

Connectivism Village: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Madhupak/24/81/65

Chilbo Town Hall: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Chilbo/112/230/121

Why is the CCK08SL Googlegroup invite only/private/separate from the main Connectivism group?

Public googlegroups are vulnerable to spam and email address harvesting, and cleaning out spam and bogus accounts is very time consuming for the administrators.  In addition, there are likely to be many discussions about our activities in Second Life that will be of limited interest to the 1400 some folks in the larger Connectivism group.  My hope is that general questions/thoughts/discussion about the Connectivism course will be posted to the larger group, and specific discussion about our Second Life activities will take place in this group.  You should be enrolled in both and can choose which venue is most appropriate.   The current settings for this group are:

- Anyone can view group content (public)
- Only members can view the group members list
- People can request an invitation to join
- Only members can post messages, edit/create pages, and upload files

If other members/subgroups of the larger Connectivism course are interested in reading or participating in our discussions, they can read the content at any time and can request an invite to participate in the conversations.

Where on the web will we aggregate content for the SL Cohort?

With so many people and so many websites, I think this is something we'll have to discuss and figure out for the group.  As a beginning, however, there are three pages on the Chilbo wiki (where you signed up for the cohort) that will serve as a main starting point for the SL Cohort activities.  Feel free to join the Chilbo wikispaces area to add your own contributions to the SL Cohort Members, Meetings & Transcripts, and SL Cohort Activities pages at http://chilbo.wikispaces.com - if you are new to using wikis and need help, post to the group and I'm sure someone will help you walk through the process of posting your bio.


I think that's a good start and hopefully has answered some of your questions.  The course officially begins on September 7th, but if everyone can indicate their preferred times on the Doodle scheduler, I hope we can have at least one "meet n greet" prior to the official course launch.

Thank you again for participating in the SL Cohort of the Connectivism course and I look forward to learning with you!

Warmest regards,

- Chris/Fleep


Chris M. Collins (SL: Fleep Tuque)
University of Cincinnati Second Life Learning Community
Second Life Ambassador, Ohio Learning Network
Co-Chair, Second Life Education Community Conference 2008
UCit Instructional & Research Computing
University of Cincinnati
303G Zimmer Hall
PO Box 210088
Cincinnati, OH 45221-0088
(513)556-3018
chris....@uc.edu
fleep...@gmail.com

UC Second Life:  http://homepages.uc.edu/secondlife
OLN Second Life: http://www.oln.org/emerging_technologies/emtech.php
SLEDcc 2008:  http://sledcc.wikispaces.com

[KS]

I'm getting an "Appl. has crashed" window in my PC every time I'm
trying to Teleport. I'll see what I can do - can be difficult as I
mainly work/study distance at moment and am not going to spend all too
much time trying to make SL appl. work on my PC. If I'll manage to
Teleport at my Uni - will try to participate at least some of our SL
meeting(s). Kyllikki S.

[KS]

Just correcting the message chain topic. Changed it by accident...

[Mark Childs]

As a Chilbo resident of about a year now I could add in what I feel
about being part of the community.

I literally just fell into Chilbo - a group I work with had a skybox
above the area and I walked off the edge of it. I'd put that moment
down as the first point of feeling a connection with SL. Rather than a
place to wander around aimlessly, I had a home and a focus. The home
is useful for working on presentations and modelling, but it's also
important for having a sense of a single place you can always go, a
place from which you can venture out and then return. Connecting is
easier, and I think more meaningful, with a stronger sense of your own
role, and the self-assurance that comes with that. I don't spend a lot
of time with the group, like Blanche I struggle with balancing the
various commitments of RL and SL, but when I am there, and a neighbour
pops in to say "hi" or there's a buzz around because of an event like
the fair, or just having one place to keep your stuff (while being
careful of the prim count) then this does deepen the feeling of
immersion, that Chilbo/Madhupak is another home.

Rudi asked wouldn't the whole Second Life World be just one big
community? It actually feels very fragmented,with most of these
communities seeming very closed to newcomers. This can feel like an
alienating experience, unless there is one community to whom you do
feel you belong. Again having that self-assurance of belonging in one
place can prepare you for the sometimes difficult experience of
exploring places where you don't.

KS's reminder of George's question triggered these thoughts about how
being in Chilbo helps me connect. In parallel with the "skill of
strengthening one’s own self-confidence through widening one’s own
world view" there's also the widening one’s own world view through
strengthening one’s own self-confidence. I'm currently trying to do a
PhD - and I'm trying not to limit the fields I'm exploring. That makes
managing the amount of information and multiple contexts difficult.
However as I become more sure of the area I'm looking at, I can sift
through information and find the connections I want to make much more
quickly. The danger then, though, is that I may only find the things I
am looking for, so may discount the things that could challenge the
knowledge I've already acquired. I hope not, I'll stick by my metaphor
that having a home gives you more of the confidence to go into
stranger places to make connections - developing my own thoughts is
hopefully giving me more confidence to go out and engage with other
people's ideas and make those connections. "The latitude of a sure
mind" maybe?

[Blanche Maynard]

Hi Mark,

I find your comment very enlightening and bang on with respect to my
own feeling and experience. I think I would feel much more secure if I
felt I belonged to a community. Right now I don't. I have connected
with a few people - through SL seminars and conferences, but not on an
ongoing basis. I feel like a migrant far away from home, who doesn't
always understand the language and the culture, with no close friends
or relatives around to support my emotional needs. I am still looking
for a home, for a sense of belonging. I hope I'll find it here.

[Barbara Dieu]

Thank you for the warm welcome, Fleep and hope to explore and contribute to Chilbo. I have participated in some activities in environments here and there but I am not a frequent user and like Blanche, feel more of a nomad, a homeless migrant who pops in and out of places, meeting, talking and  interacting with different people along the way. It is not easy to connect with strangers and  it seems to me that SL is very silent and empty when there is no event, happening or some scheduled institutional project or research going on. It is however, a fascinating environment and I am sure there are many creative/reflective opportunities for us to engage in.
Warm regards,
Bee


--
Barbara Dieu (a.k.a. Bee Kerouac)
http://dekita.org
http://beespace.net

[Frances Bell]

I have had similar experiences, interesting events but no ongoing presence. It has amused that I feel the need to have a place to be when I am not 'there' i.e. logged out. I have picked a quiet roof garden, and never meet anyone there but return there before I log out. I feel a bit like a doll in a cupboard, put away until it's time to play again.

Frances Bell, (Fleur Rousselot)
Learning Technology Fellow for Faculty of Business, Law and the Built Environment
Salford Business School,
University of Salford, M5 4WT
http://www.business.salford.ac.uk/staff/francesbell <http://www.business.salford.ac.uk/staff/francesbell>

LT Fellow blog at http://www.edu.salford.ac.uk/blogs/blbe/ <http://www.edu.salford.ac.uk/blogs/blbe/>
Co-Editor, ALT-J Research in Learning Technology http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/09687769.asp <http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/09687769.asp>

________________________________

http://dekita.org <http://dekita.org/>
http://beespace.net <http://beespace.net/>

[CDB Barkley]

On Aug 27, 2:04 am, "Frances Bell" <F.B...@salford.ac.uk> wrote:
> I have had similar experiences, interesting events but no ongoing presence.  It has amused that I feel the need to have a place to be when I am not 'there' i.e. logged out.

and Bee wrote:

> Thank you for the warm welcome, Fleep and hope to explore and contribute to Chilbo. I have participated in some activities in environments here and there but I am not a frequent user and like Blanche, feel more of a nomad, a homeless migrant who pops in and out of places, meeting, talking and  interacting with different people along the way. It is not easy to connect with strangers and  it seems to me that SL is very silent and empty when there is no event, happening or some scheduled institutional project or research going on. It is however, a fascinating environment and I am sure there are many creative/reflective opportunities for us to engage in.

These are very common experiences; in the 2007 NMC Survey of Educators
in Second Life, under the question of negative experiences was a
significant number categorized as "loneliness".

It's almost as if (and I am not projecting onto Frances or Bee's
persona) and expectation that the environment will readily provide a
high state of "connectedness". It also parallels the common lament I
hear when talking to groups about SL is the "steep learning curve".

It *should* be steep -its a *world*, not an app, not a game, not a
tool.

I agree that the curve is steep- but ought to be. This *is* a complex
world, not a word processor. I usually try to say something about that
it took is 18, sometimes 25...30. years to become fully functioning
adults in the real world-- yet there is again an expectation that one
can "master" a world in 10 minutes? It takes time. In life (1.0) we
had to learn to walk, talk, smile, find our way, learn who we can
trust.... and a virtual world like Second Life, we have a learning
path... ah, but we have no parents! So we are orphans? It's this
complexity that makes it interesting (IMHO).

And I too have experienced the loneliness of wandering. Yet I have had
similar experiences say, of say being in New York City near Wall
Street on a Sunday. Nothing is open, and there are almost no people
out and about. My experience in SL is similar, and I usually resort to
taking photos of weird things ;-)

To me, it means we have to learn to find the people if we seek social
connectedness; they are not necessarily going to find us. You need to
learn where to find events, or use the maps to seek out the green
dots. And Bee, as a card carrying real world introvert, I find it is
very easy in SL to "talk" to strangers-- some amazing things happen
just by opening up the chat and typing in two letters.

"Hi"

They may dash off (another person afraid of strangers? hello mirror)
or not respond -- often when you "see" someone, they may really be
away (in a boring meeting, went to get coffee, in another window of
their computer reading email), but often a simple "hi" starts a
connection.

There is also the value of building up your friends list, so when you
enter, someone does notice and IMs or you do the same.

To me, the value of SL is the social connectivity, but it doesn't
happen to you passively or by default. You seek it out, experiment.

alan / cdb

[Fleep Tuque]

Hi all,

Have been out of town for a bit and am just getting caught up on
emails..

Thanks to Mark/Gann and others for your initial thoughts, and Gann I
had forgotten about how you came to Chilbo - that's such a great
story! =)

Like Frances, my initial impulse for a "home" came from that same
feeling of needing a place to "put myself" even when I wasn't there in
the world. And yet I've met many others who have been in Second Life
for a long time and remain nomads and appear to be just fine with that
arrangement. It's fascinating to me how many different ways people
engage with this environment.

I'd also echo CDB's thoughts about the nature of Second Life. To me,
it is truly another world, with all of the complexity, variety, and
confusion that you would expect of a "world" created by the
imaginations and activities of hundreds of thousands of people. I
find those who come into Second Life thinking it is a game or simply a
"virtual environment" have the biggest disconnect and disorientation.
The interface itself is a bit complicated to learn, but it takes more
time to acclimate to the people, cultures, and social norms than it
does to learn which buttons to push.

In any case, I hope that the Connectivism Village in Chilbo will be a
good starting place both for our discussions and activities in the
Connectivism course, and as a home base for your forays out into the
rest of the Second Life world. We are fortunate to have many very
experienced Second Lifers in this group, and I'm sure we'll all do our
best to answer questions as those of you who are new to Second Life
get your virtual sea legs.

As a reminder, there are truly thousands of web pages, tutorials,
videos and "how to" guides about Second Life on the web. A couple of
places to get started include:

New Media Consortium Orientation - If it's been a while since you did
the initial orientation tutorial, or you want to brush up on the
basics of moving and getting around in Second Life, the New Media
Consortium has a terrific walk through, self-paced orientation
tutorial. They also have great freebies and lots of information in a
San Francisco themed area.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/NMC%20Orientation/69/107/32/

Second Life Video Tutorials - Created by Linden Lab, these short
videos cover the basic interface controls for using Second Life
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Video_Tutorials

Keyboard Shortcuts in Second Life - This handy print out has a list of
keyboard shortcuts to make your Second Life easier.
http://hippasus.com/resources/secondlife/SL_Keyboard_Shortcuts.pdf

Educational Uses of Second Life - This is an overview of some of ways
Second Life can be use for educational purposes.
http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/educationaluses


All the best,

- Chris/Fleep

[Frances Bell]

Thanks for the links Chris - the shortcuts will be very useful.
In the interests of discussion ;-) , I'd like to question (Cogdog?) whether or not SL (and other IVWs) are worlds/tools/channels whatever. I suspect they are different things to different people at different times. Maybe the relative 'newness' of these worlds emphasises their difference, and once they become part of day to day lives they may become a channel of choice in certain situations. In this post I give a reference and a web link to some of Caroline Haythornthwaite's findings from studying student use of channels. They seem to pick what fits their purpose http://francesbell.com/2007/03/04/61/#more-61, whereas their teachers may focus on the communication that takes place within teacher radar. <http://eduspaces.net/francesbell/weblog/156904.html>

Frances Bell,

Learning Technology Fellow for Faculty of Business, Law and the Built Environment
Salford Business School,
University of Salford, M5 4WT
http://www.business.salford.ac.uk/staff/francesbell <http://www.business.salford.ac.uk/staff/francesbell>

LT Fellow blog at http://www.edu.salford.ac.uk/blogs/blbe/ <http://www.edu.salford.ac.uk/blogs/blbe/>
Co-Editor, ALT-J Research in Learning Technology http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/09687769.asp <http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/09687769.asp>

________________________________

From: connect...@googlegroups.com on behalf of Fleep Tuque
Sent: Thu 28/08/2008 02:53
To: CCK08SL - Connectivism in Second Life Cohort
Subject: [CCK08SL] Re: Welcome from Fleep

[CDB Barkley]

On Aug 28, 2:37 am, "Frances Bell" <F.B...@salford.ac.uk> wrote:
> Thanks for the links Chris - the shortcuts will be very useful.

> In the interests of discussion ;-) , I'd like to question (Cogdog?) whether or not SL (and other IVWs) are worlds/tools/channels whatever.  I suspect they are different things to different people at different times.  Maybe the relative 'newness' of these worlds emphasises their difference, and once they become part of day to day lives they may become a channel of choice in certain situations.  In this post I give a reference and a web link to some of Caroline Haythornthwaite's findings from studying student use of channels.  They seem to pick what fits their purposehttp://francesbell.com/2007/03/04/61/#more-61, whereas their teachers may focus on the communication that takes place within teacher radar. <http://eduspaces.net/francesbell/weblog/156904.html>

Questions are more than welcome! I'm not trying to characterize
vworlds as a whole and would wholeheartedly agree that the ways
students view such worlds/tools/channels/thingies are likely divergent
from teachers (different goals, purposes, experiences going in..).

My attempted point is that I see people (mainly teachers I have talked
to) approach a new environment like Sl expecting it to be "learned"
like a piece of software or a piece of classroom equipment- scan some
documents, a read me, a one page handout, a list of "howtos" and be
able to be functional. I submit that a complex world ought not/cannot
reveal its workings so quickly and easy, and the learning curve will
always be extended over a longer time period.

That's not to say we shouldn't have lots of documents, readmes, one
page handouts, tutorials, etc but we should try and diffuse the "I can
learn this in an hour" mindset. And I do think I cosmic makeover of
the SL interface would go a long way in helping new users.

cheers
Alan / cogdog/ cdb / ?

[Birdie Newborn]

Alan, you are so right. After stumbling at first, I started asking anyone whatever was on my mind, usually "how to" questions. And my experience has really opened up my RL, to do the same thing. Some of those chance encounters have led to long-lasting relationships.

I think of it as the experience of going to another country where you don't know the customs --  only in this case, everybody is a visitor. And the ones who've been around a while are usually eager to share.

--
..oooO.........
...(....)...........
....)../...Oooo
...(_/.....(....)..
.............)../....
............(_/.....

If we're facing in the right direction,
all we have to do is keep on walking.

Birdie Newborn
SL: Birdie Newcomb on Belle Isle
www.beachcollege.net

[Rah Rehula]

Birdie. I agree. The only way to really understand is to ask. The day I realized this was when the system went down and I landed in an ocean bed with several other Avatars. Here, I learned about so many new and fun ideas within Second Life just by asking...Of course, I had everyone's undivided attention for they could only log out...teleporting was down ;-) From that moment on, conversation was never shunned. Who knows what the next person you meet will bring...Like the woman from France who passed on a "babbler" so we could speak to each other and hear in our own language...Or the man from Korea who was learning English and wanted me to assist with certain words...It's all just so interesting. Rudi