Catching Up

Spring always seems to be such a busy time of year, but it’s the *good* kind of busy. The kind of busy where you feel creative, energized, and full of new ideas. It’s as though when the flowers start to push through the ground, we awaken as well and this feeling of newness spreads over everyone.

There are lots of exciting things going on at work these days, not the least of which is having the entire third floor of our current building move into a brand-new building and then have the rest of our staff move around into newly renovated areas in the current building. We currently have several people telecommuting and this change will mean that all of our team will be together again in our own dedicated space and I am personally very excited about it. I’m one of the telecommuters and I love working from home – I really do. There are, however, things I miss about working outside the office, too. I miss laughing and joking around with co-workers. I miss the energy and fun, I miss looking at photos of people’s families on their desks and I miss the spontaneous “meetings” with friends. I am very much looking forward to this summer when we’ll all be together and in the office again. I love change and this is exciting stuff.

We’ve also purchased another Second Life island and I’ve been hard at work there creating additional spaces to represent the university, spaces for students, and spaces for ‘fun’. We’re planning on a ‘beach party’ on the last day of classes as a way to celebrate the end of the semester and give our students a fun way to connect and meet each other.

We’re also in the process of developing a student blog, and talking about ways to use podcasts for our students. I’m personally excited about using video in a more personal way as well.

Lots of really exciting things happening and hopefully lots to share in the near future!

Officially Open

You may (or may not) have heard that last Wednesday was the official opening of the PSU World Campus island in the virtual world of Second Life. We’re using this space to give our online students their own ‘campus experience’ just like students on Penn State’s other campuses. If you ask undergraduate students the one thing they’ll always remember about Penn State, you’d have trouble finding a student on a physical campus that would mention anything at all about their courses, classwork, or ANGEL. They all mention things like The Diner, the creamery, and football games. The things they take with them from Penn State, are the social/outside the classroom things where they connect and meet other students. Using a virtual space like Second Life gives us a way to provide those sort of experiences for our students, too.

On Wednesday we spent a little over 12 hours meeting with students, colleagues and co-workers in Second Life. There were students from the US, Spain, and France, all ‘meeting’ each other for the first time.  Two of our students actually learned that they live very close to each other in Virginia and had no idea!  It was a wonderful time and really helped the students feel like a part of World Campus and a part of Penn State.  They said things like, “It is incredible the way a student can be involved with this university”, “I think it is an incredible environment ..I can interact with many people that live hundred of kilometers away from me”, and “I’ve been to several colleges over the years (including another major university in Ga Tech) and they always made me feel like just a number even when I was actually living on campus…Penn State feels more like a big extended family”.

The Penn State World Campus space in Second Life is a space for all of us – not just our students.  If we think about our co-workers in extension, located all over the state, or our telecommuters working outside the Outreach Building, or colleagues located all over campus, meeting in Second Life is an incredibly convenient, inexpensive way to connect with each other.  Having a community of Outreach employees, students, and even Penn State alumni having conversations and learning about each other starts to build a community of people that truly care about their experience and about Penn State.

All University Day – A “Virtually” Fantastic Event

Penn State University recently celebrated “All University Day”.  This day brings together students from all of Penn State’s campuses and recognizes those students and campuses during the halftime celebration of a Penn State football game.  Penn State World Campus participated in this event and ten of our amazing students traveled from their homes in Texas, California, South Carolina, Virginia and Pennsylvania to spend the weekend with us here at University Park campus.

Our students arrived on Friday afternoon and evening and we welcomed them with a tailgate featuring local BBQ, great conversation, and the opportunity to mingle and meet World Campus staff members and the Nittany Lion himself.  Saturday’s events consisted of a rehearsal for the halftime celebration, a tailgate for all the participants, and a fantastic football game between Penn State and Illinois that evening.

This year’s event also featured something else – a virtual component. For the first time, All University Day was also celebrated in a virtual world.  Penn State World Campus now has a private area in the virtual world of Second Life and the All University Day celebration there consisted of a virtual tailgate, guided tours, a live musical performance from a former World Campus student, and the opportunity for students, staff and faculty to meet and mingle with each other.  Throughout the course of the day, visitors included Penn State faculty members, staff members, World Campus students, prospective students who were considering attending Penn State, and Penn State graduates. It was truly an amazing day and wonderful experience.  Hours after the “official” event concluded in Second Life, several staff members and students remained watching the Penn State vs. Illinois football game online while discussing the game with others in Second Life.

Second Life and education have been hand-in-hand for years and this environment certainly provides us with the opportunity to learn and experience our learning in ways not possible in the physical world.  These virtual spaces are not limited to classes, however, and Penn State World Campus plans to use Second Life as a way to provide our students with a way to connect with their education in a very different way.  Online students face different challenges than resident students not the least of which is developing a sense of belonging and pride in their campus experience.  Creating a virtual campus space for our students is the first step in personalizing online education, unlocking the power of informal learning and connections, and building a community of learners.  We’re looking forward to meeting you there.

[cross-posted to Terra Incognita]

Learning about Learning Spaces

Today was the second day of the ELI Fall Focus session on Learning Spaces. Today was great because we got to hear a lot about how to think about designing spaces that facilitate learning, what’s on the horizon, what’s happening in Second Life and there was great discussion among everyone.  Focus sessions that are limited in size are, I’m sure, disappointing for the folks that weren’t able to register before it closed, but for the attendees it’s a really wonderful thing because you can have small intimate discussions and really have a chance to meet and talk with colleagues. It’s been a wonderful experience.

Because I’m not a faculty member, IT professional, librarian, learning designer, administrator, computer programmer, or web designer, I sit in a very unique position. I can listen to conversations about many areas and then try to put myself in a situation to examine, evaluate and experiment with how those things can translate into virtual spaces or communities. More often than not, it’s easily adaptable and perfectly appropriate and having the opportunity to be sort of the “center of the wheel” allows me to talk with people in all different areas of learning and learning design and experiment with scads of fantastic tools.  I love being in that position. I adore being the girl who tries the new technologies and experiments with new tools. Don’t get me wrong, diamonds are definitely this girl’s best friend, but a new Macbook Pro runs a close second place for me.

I found myself having some really interesting one-on-one discussions today with many people but the one that really resounded with me was when someone came up to me and thanked me for presenting Second Life in the way that I did. He mentioned that he’s heard of Second Life many times before and understands that you can “do anything” in that space including have a classroom in the sky, but just the very thought of that was too overwhelming and kept him from thinking about Second Life as something he could truly use in his teaching.  He said that by simply talking about Second Life as another “tool” for communication in much the same way we use email to communicate, it helped him to feel less anxious and overwhelmed by it.  I wonder how many others feel this way and how many other people we could engage by just changing the way we talk about things or present things.

I certainly know that people are passionate about things they love. I am passionate about Second Life and virtual community and I think that is evident when I speak about it. I think the audience can tell I love these things, but I wonder now, how many times I maybe missed an opportunity to connect with someone or engage them in the conversation because I was *too* passionate about it and left little room for them to begin to envision how they might make these spaces their own, in their own way.

I had a discussion a few days ago about Second Life and the statement was made by someone that they had no idea why anyone would want a traditional office in Second Life- they said it was “beyond them”.  I explained in that discussion that some people need, want, and feel comfortable in those ‘traditional’ spaces. Do I think that it’s a great idea to take a class into Second Life plop them down in a virtual classroom and show them powerpoint slides the entire semester? Absolutely not. I do, however, think that when we’re talking about and introducing these technologies, we need to remember, always, that nine times out of ten we are ahead of the curve on these things and we need to slow down, take a step back and think about what we could do to make these new tools less overwhelming and show people how they can potentially use the tool for their own needs.

I think another reason that those ‘traditional’ spaces are important in Second Life is because that’s what people are used to and I think those can be a fantastic ‘entry’ point for people just starting to use the technology. We need people to feel comfortable in a space before we can expect them to really use it and enjoy being there – this is exactly what we’re talking about in designing physical learning spaces so why would we want anything different in a virtual one?

One speaker yesterday used a quote that I loved. The quote was from Henry Ford and he said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.” I think sometimes people have no idea what they want, because they don’t know about the tools. We can teach them about the tools but what’s just as important is helping them feel comfortable learning them.  We can do that too.

SLCC Wrap-Up

Free wireless at the Tampa airport is a beautiful thing. I’m sitting here now reflecting on the weekend and what I am taking with me from the Second Life Community Convention.  As is typically the case at conferences and conventions, I feel like the most valuable discussions happened outside the sessions and I met so many amazing people with such passion this weekend that I am truly quite depressed at the though of leaving.

Part of what is so interesting about The Second Life Community Convention is right in the name – “community”. It’s not the Second Life Education Convention, or the Second Life Business convention, it’s all about everyone. It’s about the community, coming together to celebrate just that – being a community.

I sat in sessions about how folks are teaching science in Second Life, I learned about some of the challenges of getting businesses to understand that new and disruptive technologies are really what’s driving innovation, and I heard some pretty great keynotes that touched on a few things that I’m incredibly passionate about – community and spaces in SL. Robert Bloomfield today in his keynote mentioned that spaces themselves in Second Life can really be used to foster relationships and create emotional connections. He talked about how important those connections to the space can be and how it’s those connections that can truly make people feel as though they are part of a community.  He showed examples of a space on the Cornell campus that everyone enjoys spending time in and then showed the replication of that space in SL.  This is exactly what I’m working on for our campus so I was pretty psyched to hear that he thought it was powerful too.

I also listened to a discussion about the “inSL” logo and the use of the logo which was really interesting and something I knew nothing about.

The best part though, was meeting new people outside the realm of ‘education’ and just spending time listening to them and their perspectives. I listened to live musicians perform to the audience at SLCC, but also for the audience in Second Life. I saw a work of art being created while the music was being performed – the art was inspired by the music and community in attendance. I watched people get dressed for the “masquerade ball” and heard the stories of all the fun that happened there.

I did feel at times that there were people in attendance at SLCC that came for their one focus and in essence kept blinders on the entire time. I saw folks at times throughout the weekend, always with the same people, always in the same sessions and I wondered if they were really experiencing the entire convention and all that was happening. As I said yesterday, I think we all need to listen and learn from everyone else. If we always talk to the same people and hear the same information, are we really learning or are we just continuing to pat ourselves on the back?

I met people this weekend at SLCC that I would never have met if I just stayed in one track of the conference and sat in on every session.  I would have never known that people were disappointed there wasn’t more ’social’ focus this year. I would not have been part of the conversations on how terribly important that ’social’ component is to creating community and I would never have met some of the people in person that I’ve admired and worked with in Second LIfe.  The value of these gatherings is not in the sessions, but in the people. I can’t wait to hop back in-world and continue the discussions that were started this weekend in Tampa and I look forward to next year at SLCC where the social and creative aspects of community will hopefully take on a track of their own.

We Should Really Talk More

So I arrived at Tampa today around noon and was able to attend the keynote session, but I think the discussions that I had with people individually today proved to be the most beneficial thing I’ve done so far, and I have no doubt that over the course of the weekend that will continue to be the case.

Just based on the few conversations I’ve had today with folks from other universities and businesses using Second Life, I really feel like all of us.. and I mean *ALL* of us need to spend some quality time together. Talking. Listening. Learning.

My position is unique in that while I’m the social networks adviser for the online campus of a large public university, I am not tasked with figuring out how those tools would work in a classroom setting. I don’t have to base decisions on pedagogy, curriculum, or evaluations. I have the freedom to use and explore new technologies with the goal of learning if and how they can be used to build a stronger community of online students, faculty and staff.  While this freedom is something I certainly am beyond thankful for, it does make conferences like SLCC a bit challenging because I feel as though I am here representing an educational institution and therefore the educational track is where I should be, but at the same time so much of what is being talked about in the educational track is based on instruction and courses and getting buy-in to teach courses in SL that I really don’t feel it’s solely where I belong.  Don’t get me wrong, I am so thrilled that so many people are using SL in education and that so many more keep learning about it and making efforts to pave those roads and start using this really powerful tool to help us rethink what a classroom might be – I applaud each and every person taking that step. It’s not easy to be the first person on a campus trying a new technology, learning how to use it and making it happen with limited resources and even more limited support from administrators.  Having workshops and sessions related to getting started and ‘best practices’ are invaluable and providing them is something we have to do.  In my position, though, I’m not sure I get the most benefit from these sessions and so I find myself perusing the scheduled sessions for this weekend and thinking that perhaps the session in the community track on Open Source would be a better fit, or perhaps a session on how to create machinima to better promote our Second Life projects might be something I could learn a lot from.  So I think that this weekend I will pick and choose from all three tracks and meet some new people, learn some new things, and have a different perspective when I return.

I think that’s what I’ve gained so far in just the few short hours I’ve been here: the realization that we all need to communicate more. Business needs to sit down with education and talk.. REALLY talk about what’s going on with education these days.  Education needs to sit down and talk about how to create community and what that entails and education also needs to listen to business and think about what we can learn from them. I’m not just talking Second Life here, I’m talking big picture.

Big topics in education now are the ideas of open educational resources and the sharing of information. Openness, Innovation, Collaboration – all hot topics and yet I sat here today and listened to corporate people ask me if we’re keeping social networking internal and how we’re going to ‘authenticate’ and basically control the discussion and keep things amongst ourselves.  To me, that’s completely missing the point.  The point is not to keep the discussion among ourselves but to open up our community, discussions and content to the world so that everyone can participate, learn, and contribute.

Our world is changing, slowly.. but it’s getting there. It’s not about keeping things closed, and guarding our secrets. It’s about opening up, sharing, and trusting that doing so will make us a better stronger community with new and creative ideas of how to collaborate.  I heard some doubt and negativity today in discussions of interoperability and the idea of combining virtual worlds with each other and having one truly connected metaverse, but I also sensed hope. People want to dream, but they’re afraid.  We need to stop guarding our secrets and start opening up and dreaming a bit.

Heading to Tampa

In just 16.5 hours I’ll be boarding a plane on my way to Tampa, FL for the Second Life Community Convention (SLCC).  This will be my first trip to SLCC even though I’ve been active in Second Life since 2004 so I’m fairly excited to meet people and be part of this event.

This is the only conference this fall (out of 6) that I’m attending where I am *not* presenting so I’m really looking forward to relaxing and just being able to learn about all of the amazing things other people are doing in Second Life.  There are several tracks to this conference (community, business, and education) and while I think most of my time will be spent attending the educational sessions, I’d also like to catch some of the community track as well because a big part of what I’m using Second Life for is building community among students and I think there’s always value to be gained from hearing a different perspective and seeing examples of what others are doing.

I’m sure I’ll be posting more about the event when I return or over the course of the weekend so stay tuned for more thoughts on the conference.

New Beginnings

Today is the first day of class here on campus and once again, the town is alive.  The little sparks of energy started last week when students began arriving and just carried through to the climax this weekend when thousands of students, parents, and dorm accessories drove into town.

It’s really the same scene we see every year here in our small town, but what I love thinking about is that every year the new students coming in have a slightly different experience and perspective than the class before.  It’s interesting to think about what the freshman class ten years from now will use and expect, but I think that slight change happens every year. It may not be something hugely noticeable or easily perceived but it’s there.

I think that through the community that’s been built at Penn State this past year revolving mostly around twitter and the instantaneous communication it allows between staff members at all of our campus locations, we’re seeing that slight shift as well. Sometimes it’s easy to become really ‘caught up’ in the fast-paced nature of technology and communication but I honestly do think that the changes that will make a real difference happen slowly, one person at a time. It’s the personal experiences and conversations that make the difference and allow someone to join and feel part of a new community.

When new students arrive on campus, we fill their days with hours and hours of orientation activities, convocations and events designed to make them feel like part of our community – like they belong here and we’re thrilled to have them.  I think we need to have this same idea when we’re welcoming people into our online communities as well.

It’s one thing to tell people how great twitter is, or how fantastic the experiences can be in Second Life, but it’s quite another to help them set up an account, find some followers and then engage with them in that venue. We need to work harder to make people feel welcome and show them that we’re thrilled to have them as part of our group.  I think we’re getting there, slowly.. and I think that’s just as it should be.

Big Day for Virtual Worlds

Today was a big day for virtual worlds.

* IBM and Second Life have managed to figure out how to have an avatar move from Second Life to Open Sim.

* Vivaty announces public beta with Facebook and AIM

* Google announces their own virtual world, Lively.

These are all pretty big things.  Interoperability is something that’s been discussed for a while now and the idea of allowing avatars to move freely from one virtual world to another is a pretty sweet thing.  With as scattered as I feel in the social media realm these days, the ability to have just one avatar, one identity, that’s able to move around .. makes me happy.

Vivaty and Lively are virtual worlds that are web-based and they both allow you to create your own ’scenes’ and interact with others. There’s a lot of customization in both – you can change how your room looks, move furniture around, pick new clothes/hair for your avatar.  Vivaty works with Facebook and AIM and Lively is its own thing that you can embed in your own website.  Both very cool, both with a lot of potential.

I don’t see myself using either Vivaty or Lively much right now for a few reasons. The main reason is that both are PC-only at this point and I spend most of my ‘free time’ on my Mac. I’m sure it’s being worked on and I sure hope so.  The PC only stuff makes me cranky.  If we can get people to move from one virtual world to another, surely we can get these things to work on a Mac.

“Like a Dream”

The new CEO of Linden Lab visited Global Kids today where a group of teenagers were working in both New York and Chicago learning about Tanzania as part of the “I Dig Tanzania” program.  Mark Kingdon spoke with the students and seemed to be really impressed with the work they’re doing.

Some quotes from the video where Mark talks about his feelings related to Global Kids and Second Life:

“Second Life is an amazing platform for personal growth and we’re really excited about the opportunities for people to connect and learn in Second Life”

“What you’re doing here is like a dream… I’d like to go back to school and learn it this way”

“Seeing something like this is incredibly inspiring because for me because it takes learning to a whole new level. This is different than a lot of classrooms”

“I love the fact that you’re connecting with students in other places too, that’s just so awesome because it helps to build relationships and see different points of view..”

I, for one, couldn’t agree more.

The blog post and video are here.