Greetings!

Hello! This is Asif Gausman, and I will be posting the progress of the Second Life Team. Our whole team is finally set up in Second Life and we are friends on the teen grid.

So far we have blueprints of our media center. The center will be made to recreate the old villa that Dubai American Academy was based in. Our team members have learnt basic building and have been exploring the depths of SL and the uses of Second Life as a medium. Meanwhile, our Tech Connections section of the team has successfully promoted SL during tech connections. Their objectives were:

· Generating a list of materials for the booth
· Using the SL movies to Promote Second Life
· Creating a tutorial for logging in, selecting appearance, basic skills in SL, building a cube, etc.
· Making a banner to promote the SL environment
· Producing a list of tips/links/resources useful for further investigation

Our Second Life team is currently working on:

· Creating a list of elements
· Sketching center on paper
· Building a model on sketch-up
· Collecting electronic resources
· Exploring SL as a medium

Our next steps are to start a solid layout for the media center as well as learning advanced building. This includes our current exercise, which is building a platform that drops a ball on a chain of dominoes.

Hope to see you on the grid, Asif.

Assignments - February 25 to March 1

Before class on February 27th:

1. Create a Gmail account to use with Blogger and the Second Life Moodle course. You cannot use any other email service with our Moodle setup. This is to avoid spam.
2. Get set up at Blogger.com.
3. Login to the SL Moodle course at http://www.dacademy.net.
4. Browse Moodle to become familiar with the interface.
5. Explore the teen grid. Look at different builds and how SL is being used in other sims.

By the end of class on February 27th:

1. Complete the domino set practice build together.
2. Complete the Google Sketchup model of the media center.

Assignments - All classes

1. Spend 2 hours in-world outside of regular class time.
2. Only use your avatar's name when blogging.
3. One student will post to the blog after each class. The rest must comment after each class. Asif will post first followed by Fadiddle, Jordan, Greg, Dre, Ro and Lordi.
4. Introduce yourself if it is your first post. See the blog rubric in Moodle for examples.
5. Read the blog regularly and be prepared to comment with a response to questions and readings from Myracles Zsigmond or myself.
6. Share resources, textures, scripts, tutorials and miscellaneous SL items through the Moodle course.
7. Please access the blog rubric through Moodle to learn more aboout the blog criteria and expectations.

Your first build: The Giant Domino Set

As a group, determine who is going to build each component to create a giant set of dominoes. Consider the following:

1. Create a group for yourselves.
2. Share object modification rights with your group.
3. Assign specific tasks to each person.
4. Communicate with each other in-world, even if you are sitting in the same lab.
5. Keep a copy of an object in your inventory to keep separate from a build where you are linking objects together. This gives you more options in the future without unlinking.
6. Rename each of your objects appropriately and keep your inventory folders well-organized.
7. Partner with another avatar to back up your inventory with them.
8. Comment to this post about what is/is not working well for you.
9. You can use the above image for inspiration but the design of the build is entirely up to you and your peers.

Project Overview: DAA TeenSL Media Center

Dubai American Academy has grown phenomenally since its inception in 1997, mirroring the growth of the emirate of Dubai. The original campus was a 10 room villa in Umm Suqqiem and housed between 40 and 60 students during its 2 years of operation. During the summer of 2000, the school moved to its current campus of 20 acres in Al Barsha, next to Mall of the Emirates. We now have a pre-K to grade 12 student body of over 1700 students representing 78 different nationalities. Most of us were not here at the beginning. We have the opportunity to recapture some of our history by rebuilding the original campus in Teen Second Life and using it in new ways.

The purposes of our pilot project are:

• For students and teachers to develop their understanding of emerging digital media
• To promote interactivity, collaboration and global connectedness among students and teachers
• Identify innovative ways to use Second Life as pedagogical tool to meet the existing Digital Media Studies curriculum
• To establish ourselves in the TSL and SL educational communities
• To document the educational value of using Second Life as a digital media tool in and out of the classroom
• To evaluate and report on SL's ease of use for students and teachers new to the medium
• To explore network issues and solutions
• To identify solutions to problems that will inevitably arise during a pilot program
• To explore alternative background check processes with Linden Lab that are feasible for international teachers and maintain the integrity of the teen grid.

The goal of Digital Media Studies students is to develop functionality in the 3D virtual environment of Teen Second Life and through their interactions and work, demonstrate an understanding of the unique qualities of this new medium. They will:

1. Learn to interact, move around and use their inventories


2. Gain basic building skills through a simple collaborative exercise


3. Analyze existing builds and ways in which the medium is currently being exploited.


4. Recreate the original DAA villa campus


5. Develop the villa as a virtual media center on TeenSL. IT related resources created by HS students will be available to facilitate tech-integration and the creation of media artifacts.
   
6. Exhibit a variety of student-created media from KG to grade 12.


7. Have a special focus on IB (International Baccalaureate) Art students' portfolios.


8. Work with individual IB Art students to custom design a studio in which to display their portfolio work.


9. Develop a collaborative build that utilizes the unique qualities if the 3D medium.


10. Record virtual world experiences in the blog as well as hand in assignments and share resources through the Teen SL Moodle course

Building the villa will be a collaborative effort and, with the exception of scripting, be entirely done by students. The orginal villa had 10 rooms, a garden and a separate building used as an indoor gymansium, cafeteria and auditorium. The villa does need to have a similar general appearance to the original real life villa. However, the building may need to be larger in order to house the IB student studios along with the general DAA community. Some artistic license will be required!

We expect to have at least one teacher with an avatar on the teen grid by the first of April, 2007. Linden Lab's stringent background check covering the last ten years of residence has been a significant hurdle to starting up. Our teaching community is typical of all overseas American international schools. We are highly mobile international teachers who have lived in multiple developing countries over the last ten years. Most of us move to a new country every three to six years so the Ascertain fee becomes a significant, recurring expense to the school.

Background checks with Ascertain cost us approximately $580 USD (Alpine), $880 USD (Myracles), and $295 USD (Ryuu). We are actively pursuing a reasonable alternative procedure with Claudia Linden that will allow overseas American, UK and other international schools to participate in Second Life.

See you in-world soon!

Alpine

A Quick Reference Guide to Building in Second Life

Building in Second Life is done by reshaping and combining geometric shapes called 'prims'. Prims are the basic building blocks of everything in Second Life. They are the thirteen basic shapes that can be resized, twisted, skewed, hollowed, dimpled, cut and modified in many other ways. This is a guide to the ways you can modify the basic shapes.

The picture above was taken at the Dreams sandbox. You will find versions of it at most sandboxes. Save a copy for yourself as a reference.

You can also modify shapes by adding physical properties, making shapes phantom, flexible (subject to wind and gravity), changing the texture (an image applied to the shape) and the color. Be sure to name each of your objects when it is complete and set permissions for group sharing.

When you have combined shapes, link them together. Do this by selecting one object to edit, hold your shift key down and click on each object you wish to link. The selected objects should appear in yellow. Press cntrl-L to lock them together. They can be unlinked later, if necessary, by selecting the linked object then on your menu, Tools>Unlink.

Complicated builds will require preplanning of what shapes to use, dimensions, modifications and combinations. Expert builders use as few prims as possible. High numbers of prims slow down a sim (region in SL). Each piece of land has a limited number of prims allowed within it.

This is a creative endeavor. Check out the Video Tutorials Wiki. Practice and have fun!

Welcome to DAA Digital Media Studies in Second Life!

Welcome to DAA Digital Media Studies in Second Life!

I’m looking forward to an exciting second semester as we work through the virtual homesteading process together. You will be working in a 3D, persistent, immersive virtual world that is created and owned by its residents. It allows for synchronous, collaborative work and play while merging aspects of the 2D WWW with a 3D environment. In other words, it will be a lot of fun dreaming up new ways to use this medium!

My avatar's name in Alpine Tendaze. Your other teachers' avatars are Myracles Zsigmond, Ryuu Dinzeo, Kiber Phlox and Zena Lasally. Right now, we are all on the main grid and will let you know when we get uploaded to the teen grid.

You will make an ‘avatar’ to operate in this 3D environment. The avatar is a graphical representation of your in-world presence. You have full-control over the appearance and dress. This includes, shape size, color, hairstyle and customization of nearly every body feature to make your avatar unique. You can also make your avatar into an animal, called a ‘furry’, a robot, space alien, a Kool-Aid pitcher or anything else you can imagine!

No story or narrative is superimposed in this world called Second Life (SL). This is a significant departure from other virtual worlds, such as World of Warcraft, in which you may have gained some experience. This lack of narrative provides great freedom; anything is possible in Second Life. However, your in-world actions, choices, vocabulary, dress and general behavior are bound by the same expectations we have of you on our RL campus. In-world behavior is strictly monitored. We'll discuss ground rules in RL class.

Those of you who are under 17 will work on a ‘grid’ called Teen Second Life (TSL). This teen grid (TG) is a separate set of servers, effectively a different virtual world, from the main grid (MG) for those who are over 18. Those of you who are over 18 will be working with me on the main grid.

Steps to get started:

Speak to your parents about the project; share your in-world work and this blog with them. Your parents are most welcome to visit us at school for more information and perhaps a tour highlighting the educational potential of Second Life.

Have your parents help you create an account if you are between ages 13 and 17. You will need them to verify your age through the use of their credit card. This allows Linden Lab, the company behind Second Life, to track down people who cause problems or who are not supposed to be on the teen grid. There is no charge and Linden lab is very well-established, respected, trustworthy and secure. It is one way they maintain security in-world. I also advise those of you who are over 18 to include your parents in the account creation process.

Be prepared to choose a name for your avatar. Linden Lab will have a long list of last names from which to choose. You can choose any first name you like so long as that combination of names is not already in use and it is appropriate for school. Note that you cannot change your avatar’s name later. Choose your name wisely and make it something you can live with. People have found that once they develop relationships and establish a reputation, they have difficulty changing their avatar’s name without having to rebuild their social network.

After choosing your avatar’s name and completing your account setup, you will be prompted to download the SL client program. This is about 30MB. You’ll need a broadband connection of 128 (if available) to 256 (most common in Dubai) or higher at home to use it.

Your avatar will begin on Orientation Island whether you are on the TG or MG. Visit each tutorial station to learn how to move, fly, move objects, edit your appearance, use your inventory and talk to others. Do not fly or teleport away until you are comfortable here. There are tutorials in other locations but you cannot return to Orientation Island once you have left.
Visit Help Island next for a more in-depth look at building skills, using textures and scripting. There are many freebie items ranging from clothing and hair to vehicles, houses and free scripts. Pick up as much as you can. Your inventory can store an enormous amount of stuff.

Word to the wise: keep your inventory organized! It can spiral out of control really quickly unless you keep your inventory folders organized. Spend as much time in-world as you can. You are required to spend two hours in-world outside of class time each week.

At least one person will post to this blog (http://daateensecondlife.blogspot.com/) after every class. Be sure to use avatar names, not real life names, when posting to maintain privacy. Make comments as well. This is a class requirement and a significant part of your assessment. I’ll be updating it regularly to review what we have accomplished and guide you with next steps for upcoming lessons. Once you are functional in the environment, you’ll be able to do a lot of the work at home.

See you in-world soon!

Alpine Tendaze