I enjoy the thoughts in the thread conversation that is launched by David, rising with whom we are conversing in the virtual word. I would say the building of trust id already established by the muvenation community. Once, you are in SL, you feel a friendly atmosphere. You feel that you are there to learn or cascade the knowledge. You feel that you do not want to quit or leave while the other person is need of comfort or assistance. Personally, I felt that they are high skilled, motivated and outstanding teachers willing to sacrifice their time, effort and money for the sake of learning and teaching. Therefore, we do trust our community to be engaged in this professional development.
Socializing is another key factor in this second life. Second life, particularly muvenation land is not populated. We need somebody to keep company, if there is no activity that should be done. At the beginning, I was reluctant to speak to some avatars in SL because of their appearance, but once I associate their avatar with I would be the one who initiate the conversation. Even, all the participants have a tag that adds distinctive features, sometimes. Our common interest is encouraging guidance to further continue the process of education.

I like the way Nergiz has voiced her opinion stressing the kind of students we are dealing with. Only two students needed their real names to be printed in the certificate while they other are not interested because they were, may be, involved in learning skills for their own use and not for other organizations.

David also raised the issue of assessment in the virtual world. I think using avatar would help teachers give reasonable feedback not based on the real persona’s acquaintance, but it would be on the contributions and effective presentations by the alter ego. Again, the learning styles differ from person to another. Here, the issue raised how much academic or non-academic involvement should be associated to promote individuals?

Step farther!

It was a wonderful memory to recall back when I submitted my subscription through an email. I was informed through the Web-head 2002 forum to which I subscribed a couple of years ago. I was trilled to get back a confirmation email from Margarita saying that there will be a selection of participants and that they would include non-European participants.

From the first day, I received the email I tried hard to explore Second life and click on everything that I can see on the screen. I could not remember how many times my computer crashed. However, I decided never to quit walking around.

I have visited several landmarks using search tool. Sometimes, it would be a welcoming place where feel at ease chatting and benefiting from the people around, but from time to time they would be inhospitable as they are not educator landmarks.
I also tried to see tutorial video from You-tube or use the given links in the forums.

Now, my questions so far how can I make use of Second life tool to enhance learning and coax my students to be more involved? What action should do to have a multiply effect on my colleagues and the educational environment I am surrounded by?

How can I promote positive aspects of learning among reluctant students and teachers who are lagging behind refusing any innovation changes regardless its benefits?

It was a slow beginning in exploring Second life. There was an unpleasant fright that I experience at the beginning. I was afraid to move or make a slight mistake. I was scared to get drown in the ocean. I felt a terrible panic inside when I was in the open desert surrounded by sand and few trees.

It was little by little I was introduced to the second life. Nergiz tried to coax me in this adventure. But I was afraid to start. She gave me friendship; she suggested the Casablanca which I hesitated to discover because of my ignorance. Sometimes, I would log in, and then log out immediately for a fair to get lost. I would report to my family I was lost in an ocean of Sahara. I was afraid to die in the second life.

I had to adjust my desk computer and laptop for second life, using the “Dxdiag” method. I formatted my desk computer to provide more space for second life. I had to make sure that my graphic card suits effectively this new tool. Also, I doubled the debit of internet connection.

At the beginning, I would ask my friend, Nowhereman, about SL. I would say it is second language. As days passed by, I discovered the real meaning of this virtual environment when I figure out it is used for teaching and creating an alter ego. It is a sort of psychological relief. You have the right to choose even your name to belong to a biog family. You can choose your garments, skin, color…

My smooth introduction was done first by Bon Bon and second by Viki who taught me a lot of things such as editing my appearance, moving, using my inventory, and editing my navigation bar. Since the, I have visited many places as New York, Turkey, second life sites….I have taken many pictures and changed my avatar…
I hope I have completed all my assignments.

Wow, I cannot quit anymore

Meeting Bombon Breavehearth

It has been a great night as I have learned a lot today from Bonbon Breavehearth. She was really helpful to show me how to change my appearance. She gave a lot things, including shoes, jackets, and socks… I had only one shoe on before I had met her in SL. Now, I am wearing a good sport shoes. Also I have changed my jacket. My daughter was setting besides me laughing about having only one shoe. But, later, she was surprised seeing me wear those sneakers.
We had a good chat. However, I could not continue using the audio

I am sure that I will learn as quick as possible. I do not know if there are any hat?

I can see only an open space. There are no building and siteseeing in the munenation. Is that our projects.

At least we are learning step by step. There will be a differentce...

time to sleep, bye.

Forwards/Backwards

I do not know whether they are steps forwards or backwards. I was completely lost in vast land surrounded by the sea, mountainous area and some green spaces. I tried to get help from whoever I come across; unfortunately none seemed to be able to help or give me direction.
I have learned how to fly, to walk, run. Whenever, I felt hopeless, I would sit down or my computer would crash because of the many clicks I would do.
I have learned how to open a local shut, make search and use the camera

Nevertheless, I do not know what tasks I have accomplish while navigating this tool. I know I could chat using audio, video or writing format to communicate with other people.

Further steps in Second life 1

Thursday 6th November

It was a national holiday. I devoted the whole day to explore boot my knowledge. I read and reread all the emails related to this course, especially I opted to receive digest one, which I did not like. I prefer to receive emails the moment it is written. I went through the activities step by step. I do not want to be left behind. I watch some tutorial vides and learnt how to discover second life including: Moving & flying, looking around with camera controls, Chatting, Creating and joining a group, Friendships, and Searching.
I updated some accounts such as Twitter: http://twitter.com/samiz; Flicker and delicious: zouitabdu200. Also I created netvibes account:
http://www.netvibes.com/muvenation#General

I have asked permission to get to the flicker group. Also, I have offered help with the PBwiki tool.

It was amazing watching the Second life tutorials. They have made my task very easy to explore and know about the basics of this prodigious tool. It is certainly the most developed means of virtual world which makes easy and handle the teaching and learning of students. Second life is a resource that engages students to learn more because they are fully involved in the process of learning. Think over the following Chinese proverb:
“Tell me I forget, write to me, I will remember, and involve me, I will learn”

First hours: Second life

I was first introduced to second life by Nergiz through her inspiring questions and the offer she provided me with. The first time, I was puzzled when I succeeded to get inside second life, I immediately noticed a chat box, then I begun to write “finally, I made it”. But the window crashed. I could not open the window that day for fear I will lose all my data. I read all the frequent asked questions to discover how to deal with this new tool and know

Another night, I returned from a short visit to my parents-in-law intending to sleep as I was supposed to go to work in the morning. However, I opened Second life to find other people chatting, flying, walking and singing… Luckily, there was someone who suggested helping me. (Sorry) I could not remember the name. There were other avatar chatting. I tried to chat with them, but standing confused not knowing what to do. What was astonishing was most of the people in the room could not do anything or endeavor to put forward any idea to move forward. I was asked whether I was an educator, where I was from and about objectives of using second life. I felt that I was making fun of myself, thus I quitted my navigation.