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2010 AECT SecondLife Archives
October 2010 - Convention Highlights
The DDL (Division of Distance Learning) will be holding their division meeting in the Cloud-9 Meeting Rooms during the 2010 Convention. Attendees should use the following link, prepare for meetings first to assist you in attending meetings in the Cloud-9 building.
AECT-SL Library Dedication - Please join us for a brief dedication to announce the new AECT-SL Library on CAVE Island to support research and teaching in virtual worlds.
Time: Thursday, 10/28, 11:45-11:55 am (PST/SLT)
Location: In front of the AECT-SL Demo near the registration area, http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/CAVE/151/211/30
Please help spread the word to see these wonderful resources and BRING YOUR VIRTUAL FRIENDS!!!
CAVE Island will be hosting 6 multi-cast sessions (in SL and in person) at the October 2010 Conference in Anaheim, CA. See the Scheduled listing to the left for details, Session names, presenters and times. Select the SL Life Guide link for more information about the convention and a tutorial to get you started now.
| 2010 Pre-Conference Sessions |
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AECT_SL Affiliate News!
Boise State University (BSU) Ed Tech department maintains an active SL calendar with sessions on teaching and learning in SecondLife. Please visit EdTech Island at, http://slurl.com/secondlife/EdTech/110/129/24.
Colorado Community Colleges Online (CCCOnline) and sister college Otero Junior College (OJC) has launched an Early Childhood holodeck for their online and hybrid courses. Early Childhood Education (ECE) students need hands-on practice with revised ECE rules and regulations required across the state of Colorado that were introduced in 2010. CCCOnline is interested in finding volunteer teachers and/or student teachers to volunteer time to help develop training curriculum and teach in SL for CCCS faculty. For more information IM Ize Mesmer in SL (a.k.a. Cheryl Comstock@cccs.edu) or visit Colorado EduIsland, http://slurl.com/secondlife/Colorado%20EduIsland/132/110/22.
Does your college or university have something to share with AECT members about SecondLife or another virtual space you use? Please contact Cheryl.Comstock@cccs.edu or IM Ize Mesmer in SL to have your information presented and in the AECT headlines today!
Mike Spector, AECT President Elect, Speaks About SecondLife Experience
The AECT February Board meeting was held on February 17th at the AECT site in Second Life
"Thanks to Tom Atkinson and the Virtual Worlds Committee to helping make the arrangements. While Second Life might not be the optimal environment for a conference call, there were unique affordances available (e.g., online chat and avatar gesturing … one board member’s avatar was dancing on the virtual board room table at the end of the meeting), and we have now demonstrated that a meeting can be successfully conducted in Second Life. We used the AECT tele-conference line for support and for those unable to participate via Second Life (which was my situation as I was at a rural school in Florida with no option other than the conference call line). We encourage other AECT groups to take advantage of Second Life for meetings and activities (including Webinars). Be sure to check with Larry Vernon (lvernon@aect.org) if you need to reserve a time to use the AECT tele-conferencing line, and contact Tom Atkinson (atkinson@aect.org) if you need help arranging activities in Second Life" (Spector, 2010).
Resource:
Spector, M. (2010, February 22). Voting, AECT 2010, membership, and lots more. AECT President's Newsletter. Message posted to Members@lists.aect.org
Februrary 17th Board Meeting
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The AECT Virtual Worlds Committee hosted the AECT Board meeting CAVE Island intermittent days, February 12th through 17th. This opportunity was of great essence to the group and AECT as organization. The AECT_SL now serves the AECT community by providing meeting facilities in Second Life.
The AECT Board members events and the orientation sessions were all hosted in the AECT_SL Board Room. SL was very stable and no one reported that they couldn't get into the meeting session. As a fail-safe plan, a conference line was patched into the audio-feed. Mike and Phil did the majority of the speaking using this feature, so a few participants used their phone to speak and listen from, while still watching the meeting in-world from their computers. As it turned out, this was an excellent fall-back plan for the meeting as a whole, for those who may not have been able to attend via computer.
Only one main issue was reported by participants, some of the attendees used a built-in computer mic to speak while having their speakers turned up, this caused some feedback and the inability for other's to hear at times (a better choice is to wear a mic headset, costing about $20-$40).
In-total, there was a reported ten in world participants and and another projected five to seven attendees, who used conference phone line. Originally, there was about twenty participants expected to attend, so the seventeen who did attend. So in the end the total number of participants for this first-time Board meeting was very satisfactory to the AECT_SL group. As an aside, one avatar attended with a ghostly face and another showed up as a cigar smokin' monkey! That just goes to show that you can have diversity in the workplace, and still great things are accomplished!
After the meeting concluded, the local chat was emailed out to all of the Board members plus a few snapshots from the event (seen below). This information included some voting responses and discussion. All in all our host, Tom Atkinson felt everyone was pleased with the experience, and knowing that there could have been more technical and user issues, but weren't, it was clearly a success!
The AECT Board announced plans to hold its February 17th meeting in Second Life. |
The VWC has posted the attached FAQ document on the AECT website to assist new members. For access to all areas and features, it is recommend participants join the AECT_SL group in Second Life. (Once an account is created in SL, users can search under the "Groups" tab from the "Search" button at the bottom of their screen, to locate the AECT_SL group.) The SLURLs listed below, will take avatars directly to the CAVE island meeting rooms, this allows members ease of access to each area without any assistance, similar to more familiar conferencing systems in our real world. Link to Frequently Asked Questions (PDF) Link to Getting Started in SL Step-by-Step Instructions (Flash) Getting to CAVE Island in Second Life is now easier than ever. Use the following SLURL's or links, to quickly access areas and events on CAVE island. AECT at CAVE Welcome Area Main building |
The AECT Virtual Worlds Committee will be hosting the AECT Board meeting CAVE Island next month. We are all very excited about the opportunity of what this means to us as a group, and as an organization. It is a great opportunity to serve the AECT community by providing meeting facilities in Second Life. All events and the orientation sessions for the Board members meet in the AECT_SL Board Room. Times are as follows: