The Story of My “Second Life”

Good morning everyone,

I’d like to tell you about something very special happening on EduIsland II, a recently formed sim. It is the creation of a complex of buildings housing some of the greatest and most influential thinkers in EdTech today, and it’s going on right now. But first, some background.

Soon after beginning my SL adventure / research project / life altering timesink, I began to desire a residence, a place to call my own, a starting point for my journeys in SL and a place in where I could experiment with building, objects, decorating, etc. My avatar was “living” at ISTE HQ, which was fine since I spent a lot of time there (I am helping Kittygloom Cassady coordinate ISTE’s SL volunteer “docent” program).

Anyway, I began looking at land. Victoria provided expert guidance. Soon, a new island opened up – EduIsland II – and I happened to log in one day to find fellow Waldenite (and Ph.D. candidate) Existential Paine checking out his new home, an awesome, huge, open house with hardwood floors, enormous glass walls, and a flowing design. I immediately wanted one just like it. Exis put me in touch with Fleet Goldenberg, the developer, and soon I was looking at houses. As the post linked there indicates, I missed the opportunity to be Exis’ neighbor. That was taken by another SL colleague Hodjazz Edman. All was lost, or so I thought.

Then I got an IM from Fleet saying another house was available. I jumped at the chance and signed the lease ($2,400L per month … about $10US). The only question: what would I actually *DO* with it? Exis and Hodjazz had a head start. In a matter of hours it seemed, their houses were LOADED with the coolest furniture, meeting spaces, gadgets and gee-gaws an SL fanatic could want. And so, the problem arose: what should I do with MY house? Recreate what THEY did? I didn’t see much point. There had to be something I could add to the community, not duplicate. Something no one else had done. Something that was missing.

Then, it hit me. The missing thing was PEOPLE! I would (with the help of others) offer my home a “residence hall,” providing “rooms” to a select group of EdTech leaders, educators, visionaries, thinkers, futurists, bloggers and pundits, especially those new to or not yet in SL. I had a hunch that by helping these people get up to speed in SL, and into our houses, that we would create a very, very special learning community. A community with (dare I say it?) the power to help elevate the discussion of educational use of SL to a whole new level. How cool would THAT be?

And so, The Center for Advanced Virtual Education (The C.A.V.E.) – a collection of our three buildings – was born. Here is a SLURL to the front door of my personal facility:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Eduisland%20II/123/22/23

The connection with Hodjazz led me to Kathy Dryburgh (aka Kathy Schrock), whom I’d had breakfast with at Alan November’s Building Learning Communities conference in Boston last July. Anyone who has met Kathy knows she is imminently approachable, friendly, and also … has an ENORMOUS network of friends. We decided to offer her space – which she gladly accepted (in Hodjazz’ place) – and then the floodgates opened (as we hoped and knew they would). She started decorating … and learning all there is to know about SL … and emailing people about her space and our offer of a similar setup.

Soon, mostly thanks to her contacts, we had commitments of positive interest from virtually everyone we asked, and this week, welcomed our first residents (besides Kathy herself). Here are some of their real world names. Maybe you’ve heard of them?

• Andy Carvin
• Hall Davidson
• Doug Johnson
• Ian Jukes (confirmed, joining us soon)
• Annette Lamb
• Sylvia Martinez
• Brian Mull, Chris Turek and Alan November of November Learning
• Will Richardson
• David Warlick
• Jeff Utecht
• Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach
• Howard Rheingold (confirmed, joining us soon)

But WAIT, that’s not all…

These are just the initial confirmed residents of my facility, which for now is called Carl F. Spackler Hall. (Get the reference? It’s a Cinderella story. The name may eventually change to something more professional, but for now, that’s it.) In the coming weeks, we will, hopefully, announce the addition of our newest residents, names you will also probably recognize. With the help of my two SL best friends, Clare Lane and Victoria Gloucester, we will provide assistance to these folks in SL … including help with avatars, furniture, building, finding cool educational SL sites, and more. Clare already helped Will get his place decorated. Beautifully, I might add!

Kathy, Will and David have already started blogging the experience. I can’t thank them enough for spreading the word about SL. This is what it’s all about, and I am looking forward to working with all of these people to make this shared exploration as viable, wonderful, powerful and accessible as possible for everyone.

-kj-