I’ve been putting the final touches on my Second Life workshop for DevLearn08. This will be a great opportunity for anyone looking to get started with Second Life as a corporate learning environment.

The workshop will be an all hands-on event where participants will have the opportunity to create personalized environments they can take back to their own organizations.

I’ll post an outline over the weekend but here’s a quick overview of the workshop:

Building Basics: 3D does not have to be difficult. In fact, Second Life offers one of the easier environments for learning 3D.

In this module, participants will learn to:

• Rez, create and select basic shapes
• Move, rotate, resize and link prims
• Build simple learning environments to host live training sessions

Texture Basics: Textures are a great way to create personalized environments with your organization’s branding. Simple prims come alive after your logos, branding and training content is applied.

In this module, participants will learn to:

• Create and upload textures
• Use textures to create galleries and custom branding
• Create and edit transparent textures

Training Scripts: Second Life offers a lot of ways to create meaningful interactions. While these are limited in some ways compared to the types of functionality offered by the Internet and Flash, it is important to understand what’s available and how to configure them.

Some of the learning scripts participants will learn to use and configure are:

• Notecard Giver – share notes, host scavenger hunts, provide lesson plans, tutorials and so much more.
• Floating Text – used for navigation, labeling and general identification of objects
• LoadURL – one of the best ways to blend your Second Life learning environment with more content-rich environments on the web.
• Chat Logger – record learning conversations to post on the web. This is a great way to provide continued learning and support after the main event.
• Teleport Script – Essential for navigating larger sims and builds. Learners will customize teleport scripts to use in their own builds.

Video and Audio: Did you know you can convert your existing Flash-based elearning courseware to video that can be brought into Second Life? That’s right!

In this module, participants will learn how to:

• Configure video players
• Convert Flash-based courseware to QuickTime video to use in Second Life

Training Aids and Presentations: Whiteboards, slide shows and presentation tools are a great way to enhance synchronous and self-paced learning in Second Life. Regardless of one’s pedagogical views on using such tools in the virtual world, it’s helpful to at least understand the available tools, how they work and how to configure them.

In this module, participants will build upon their texturing and scripting knowledge to:

• Configure image slide and presentation tools
• Upload images (textures) to image and presentation tools

Bonus:

To make this an even more meaningful workshop, I’m offering some additional support for participants:

• Video Training DVD: All participants will receive a training DVD covering all lessons presented in this workshop.
• One month of free land: The Multimedia Learning/DevLearn08 sim will remain open for one month after the conference. Participants are encouraged to leave their builds on the land and continue working on them.
• Free Support: Participants will continue to receive support after the workshop. I’ll be available in-world for one month after the conference to provide additional support for workshop builds.

This workshop is designed is to provide the necessary hands-on training and support for participants to begin designing their own virtual spaces.

If you’re interested in learning more, please drop me a note or contact Elearning Guild.

Heading to Las Vegas next week for the AICPA Tech+ conference.

Focus for this conference is on AICPA’s 2008 Top Technology Initiatives.

While Second Life didn’t quite make it to that list, the session should still prove valuable for CPAs interested in learning more about how people are using, learning and working in Second Life.

Some screengrabs from the Second Life build I put together for my presentation: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oque/tags/aicpa/

Our move to Dallas continues to get better!

Montse was just offered an exciting opportunity as Team Leader/Project Manager for Dallas County Community College’s Second Life initiative.

Working with DCCCD, Montse will support the development and integration of Second Life into the Dallas County’s seven colleges.

Dallas County Community College District plans to use Second Life to facilitate experiential learning through role playing, modeling and program building, enabling faculty and students to create simulations related to their areas of academic interest.

DCCCD Island, the location in virtual space where these activities will occur, opened on Thursday, April 3, with a virtual groundbreaking. 

In Second Life, DCCCD is co-locating with the University of Texas at Dallas. DCCCD Island residents can travel to UTD’s School of Management Island and its Arts/Technology Island without teleporting, which is the normal mode of travel in Second Life.

If you’re interested in participating or learning more, contact Montse or visit DCCCDs web site for more information.