Value Added

I think that my focus in SL has evolved over the past year and a half to the point that I will continue to explore SL --but have committed to managing the Texas A&M Student Group that has now grown to 60+ members and are very diverse in abilities and interests.

This past weekend, I experienced the thrill of the Relay for Life (RFL) Finale of events. The RFL effort in SL has raised over $200,000 USD for the American Cancer Society to fight cancer. I was changed forever coming virtually face-to-face with Cancer Survivors and Caregivers. They were so very appreciative of all the efforts that the Aggie Team and other teams gave them to support them in their plight. I read many of their stories and how Second Life affords them the opportunity to participate in the Relay--when their health and schedules would have otherwise eliminated that chance.

With rising energy and living costs, a virtual environment like Second Life offers a flexible learning space for collaboration, training, and human resource development. I feel my time is well spent in SL as I research the best ways for virtual learning, research and interventions.
Please stay with me as I continue on my journey in Second Life. Please add comments or email me at: RachelleMunro@gmail.com.

Google Lively

World2Worlds had a great discussion last Saturday, July 12th to discuss the new beta version of Google Lively that was released last week. See their blog:

http://www.world2worlds.com/index.php/component/content/article/99

The pros seem to be that it runs on a web browser and can be embedded in Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites. The downside seems to be that it does not run on Macs and Linux platform systems for now.

But, it certainly does have the potential to get alot more people involved in virtual meetings with a "presence" (by creating an avatar) and getting used to this concept as a tool for dialogue.

--Rachelle

Celebrating Cancer Survivor's Day in SL!

Here's the link: http://slurl.com/secondlife/HalfwayThere%204/78/12/27

$91,000 US dollars raised already in Second Life to benefit the American Cancer Society through the Relay for Life (RFL) fundraising campaign.

Today is the RFL Halfway There Fair.....50 days to the end of RFL '08

I saw lots of fun activities! Come by and take a look!

--Rachelle

Virtual-Aggie Muster

Softly Call the Muster.....


Tonite was an awesome night to be an Aggie in SL! We had a solemn, but informative "Muster" program for Aggies and guests. We learned about the history of the Aggie Muster and we held our candles high and remembered those who left us this past year.


Following Muster, we had a "Celebrate Life" dance at the new Aggie property...I filled in as DJ. We had lots of great music and dancing....and we raised another 5000+ Lindens tonite for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life (RFL) as the Texas Aggie RFL team.

Click the link above to see the great pictures that the Relay for Life photographer put in Flickr also!

--Rachelle

Mexico Tourism

Thinking about travelling today....

I set out to explore the "Visit Mexico" tourism site:

~Chichen Itza~Archeologic, Visit Mexico (173, 123, 37)

As I arrived, I was given a Mayan Princess outfit, climbed and explored a Mayan Pyramid, and then rode a gorgeous blue butterfly for a tour of the sim. A whole new way to promote tourism!

Memorials

At the Aggie Chat (a weekly meeting of grad students, faculty & friends) last night, we toured the memorials set up to remember the victims of Virginia Tech and the soldiers who died in the Vietnam War. They were both thoughtfully done.

But, I have to say, the most disturbing of all, was the thought that there was much more land to build on at both places--telling me that we have not seen an end to violence or death by wars we must fight.

Second Life has a unique way of combining graphics, video, and sound to experience events in a way that you have not before. And, you have a presence in that experience and you will remember it.

ASTD--American Society for Training & Development

Happy Easter!

I wanted to share a few thoughts with you about training in Second Life. First, I attended a great session last week at Train for Success. Thanks to Anders Wildcat (Anders Gronstedt, Ph.D in "real life"--RL--see: http://www.prsaokc.com/swdc/speaker.html), I was able to hear Anthony Allen from ASTD talk about the unveiling of their new sim island in SL.

http://www.astd.org/resources/secondlife

According to Anders: "The American Society for Training & Development, ASTD, just unveiled its island in Second Life. Meet Anthony Allen, director of digital media for ASTD, this Thursday at Train for Success, to learn how the world's largest association dedicated to workplace learning and performance professionals views virtual worlds and how it plans to use its Second Life presence"

I decided to teleport to the ASTD island and have a look around. I found 5 main areas including a welcome area, orientation training for newbies, a large meeting area, several break off areas and even a campfire area. It's great to see that an organization as large as ASTD is getting on board!

I learned from the presentation that SL is considered just one of many virtual worlds termed the "Metaverse" that 0rganizations are looking at for training and conducting business. One of the boards on their island told it all:

"Second Life is one of many 3D virtual worlds that can improve communication, learning and understanding between people that would otherwise be separated by geography, personality type, or work title. ASTD acknowledges that 3D communication tools offer the potential for richer communication than 2D tools such as email, instant messaging, and blogs. Virtual environments and relationships will almost certainly be part of learning in the future"

ASTD "gets it"....they see that Web 2.0 is now becoming 3.0 and virtual worlds and environments are becoming more robust spaces for connecting, learning, and training!

Wearing of the Green

It was a fine night at the St. Patrick's Day Party at the Aggie Beach House...friends stopped by to donate to the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life (RFL) fundraising campaign. Dona was spinning some good ole' Rock & Roll tunes!

To blog, or not to blog

Sorry--I haven't spent time blogging lately.....But, these past few weeks have been very exciting in Second Life! I have been conducting research in this medium and it has been such a learning experience as I have interviewed 30+ participants to capture their thoughts around adult learning in a virtual environment.

Last Week, I volunteered to Captain the Virtual Aggie Relay for Life (RFL) team in SL benefiting the American Cancer Society. I was told that over $150,000 was raised for ACS in 2007 by 20+ teams and I'm sure the Aggie Group can do some serious work toward the 2008 goal! Go Aggies! Our first fund raiser is 3/17---with a St. Pat's Day Party at the Aggie Beach House. Come join us! --Rachelle

(RSVP me for access)

NOAA --WEATHER & OCEANIC SITE IN SL

I joined a very interesting tour of the NOAA ---the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration--site in Second Life last Thursday (Feb 7th). It was great to see all of the real-time weather displays as well as learning displays such as the tsumani safety site. According to their website at www.noaa.gov, "These and other virtual adventures are attracting large numbers of "avatars," or virtual selves, to one of the first government-sponsored, Earth-science "islands" in the rapidly growing online world of Second Life."

Roof Astronomy

I really enjoyed riding my magic carpet to the rooftop of a building at Info Island --Second Life Library found at (238, 36, 96). I was able to learn about many different astronomical topics. Take a look and see what you can see in a virtual sky!

Campin' Out

Campin' Out ....waiting to buy tickets for the TU game! It was fun to sleep in a sleeping bag....on hard concrete...its an Aggie tradition!!

Come to the Aggie Beach house and try it for yourself!

CSI in Second Life

It was great to be watching CSI on television---with their story line about a case taking place "in world" and also be simulanteously logged in on my laptop---Two worlds collide!

I even had some fun when I attended a CSI party--met a new friend who asked me to dance!


Before I left, one of the Lindens stopped by to visit. It is great to have a Second Life!

--Rachelle

Showcasing Students Work

My new friend in SL, Metaphor Voom, has a nice gallery to showcase his students' work and also highlight upcoming events.

I even found a photo of my favorite flowers...a field of Texas bluebonnets!

His gallery is located: 55,12,22

Make a visit!!

"It's not about the tools....it's about the people"

Today, I visited the Cisco System's islands on SL. (Cisco is the leading supplier of networking equipment & network management for the Internet with products like routers, hubs and ethernet connections). They have four islands in Second Life highlighting some of their real-life products comprising "the human network".




In my travels on the Cisco Islands, I saw great meeting spaces, their technology on linking people together,






and I even played a round of pool in the Cisco Lounge and was found shooting hoops on their basketball court!!


Go visit: 487, 6, 21 and take a look for yourself.

For more information on Cisco's research on innovations in virtual worlds: http://www.trainingpressreleases.com/newsstory.asp?NewsID=3121

Wedding in Second Life

Lacie has been a good friend I met several

months ago in this virtual world. Tonite I

attended my first wedding in SL.

I loved Lacie's gorgeous invitation...embellished

with animated purple roses.....

It was a beautiful wedding at Love Knot Weddings, Monterrey dAlliez (150,224,2)--complete with bridesmaids and groomsmen. Lacie and Joffa each had a chance to share their vows with one another witnessed by family and friends...then they were pronounced husband and wife (in their Second Life)...and of course the groom kissed the bride!

Later, the reception was held...with lively music, wedding cake, dancing & white doves! What a wonderful night to enjoy a Second Life!

Virtual Centre for Digital Media

Tonite I telported to the Virtual Centre for Digital Media site, University Project (150, 84, 23) OR
http://slurl.com/secondlife/University%20Project/150/84/23

While there, I met three avatars and joined in the discussion. I realized that when you happen upon a link or site in SL, you construct meaning by asking questions and observing others.

I also explored the island with one of my new friends. Of course, it is SL.....we flew on magic carpets!!

The web link to this site said that "The field of media arts and technology continues to grow... employers demand...high level of creative and technical competence". This site highlights the transformation from traditional SL learning spaces such as lecture halls to those of pleasing, student designs.

Come and enjoy!!

--Rachelle

Learn to Build...Build to Learn

Last night I went to my first SecondLife building class---it was on texturing objects. (You can find a listing of classes on the sign-in screen).





The instructor, Golda Stein was wonderful!

We each sat on a pillow and had a white board in front of us that synchronously advanced slides as Golda took us systematically through each step of the building and texturing process.

Golda was a wealth of knowledge....and said that she was able to teach more content to us--because she no longer was spending all of her time typing---thanks to Linden Labs, she was able to speak all of her instructions to us and answer our questions with voice.



Woo hooo! I made a new vase for the beachhouse!




--Rachelle

Surf's Up !!

Today I went exploring the surf in SecondLife. The first place I went was Siggy's Water Works Island (179,24,25). It had a variety of spots to try and seemed to work fairly well with my board.

The second place I explored was Midknight Steel Pier (236,199,20) at Inverloch which also had numerous spots to surf--but the best was alongside a pirate ship and various sea creatures.

BUNDORAN REEF

But, my best discovery was Bundoran Reef (of Ireland fame) located at (40,39,26). Its rocky ridges and beautiful water were a perfect match for its tall surfing waves!

What I didn't expect as I explored the island after my surfing was Project Children--described as a project which "brings Irish Protestant and Catholic kids to the USA during the summer months and these kids get an extraordinary chance to play together, live together, and understand each other. Prejudice is replaced by understanding thus hatred is replaced with love. Poverty is replaced by hope for a better tomorrow." Donations are accepted at this and various other locations. See: http://www.slireland.org/ for more info. on donating to the worthy cause!

sláinte! --Rachelle

Play2Train

Since SL is really slow today while Linden Labs work out some bugs, I thought I would highlight a great Internet site with lots of information on how one university professor and his colleagues from many public agencies use SecondLife to train medical personnel for all types of disasters. Through the use of "disaster scenarios", personnel are trained virtually to prepare by developing "cognitive maps" of plausible future disasters.

See more information (including video clips of the 2 SL sites) at:

http://irhbt.typepad.com/play2train/

I think that this takes T&D to a new height. Well Done!!

--Rachelle