Great Presentation today!

Thanks to Nyla, Elaine and Shenlei for a VERY successful presentation today about design and business in SL.

We have another presentation on tuesday 12/4 at 1 in SR4.

If anyone has any follow-up questions, please feel free to post them here by clicking the “comments” link.

Elaine talked about being open and flexible when planning do work with students in SL – essentially the opposite of what Larry recommended. That makes a lot of sense to me too. Hmmm…

Education in SL

Interesting interviews with some folks who are really exploring SL for education (from Emory and Ohio University Online) — click here (thanks to Nyla for the link!)

And wow! think about “transmedia storytelling” — the intersection of tv and sl

And here’s some fashion shows.

So, how to teach in this environment? What to teach in this environment?

Larry Dugan at Finger Lakes Community College advises,

Before you dive in, make a plan. There is no way we would create an online course with definitive learning outcomes and strategic plans… would we? My advice is to take the course, pick a chunk, and apply SL to it. Build your course this way before you dive in and drown. Use others experiences. Use the MCC island or the SUNY island to host your classes, where you will find friendly concierge types to get you through. But plan, don’t just dive in with students.

That makes a lot of sense!

The students are king! SL represents true Web 3.0 mentality. If we think about the pedagogy for our online courses, we have shifted the paradigm to empowering students to be masters of their own learning. This takes that to a whole new level. In SL, you truly become the guide on the side, and the master of the content, while the students become the masters of the exploration of content in a much deeper way. Give in. Let them teach as they learn.

More pearls of wisdom from Larry:

If nothing else, be ready and flexible for change. SL changes all the time. Keep in mind too that SL was not designed as an educational tool. For that matter, neither was the internet. What we have is an intense collaboration tool that “feels” different. I won’t say it feels like RL or like anything else, but it is different. It gives our students a feeling of belonging. It gives them a 4th presence we cant describe in terms of social, emotional or teaching. Its more like a “metaphysical” presence that we can use to encourage students engagement.

Larry’s final words: Recommendation…
Spend some time in SL before trying to get students in. When you do, plan-plan-plan.

Meet Elaine Polvinen aka Finn1 Flintlock in SL

 Elaine Polvinen, MFA, aka: Finn1 Flintlock in Sl is professor and coordinator of The Fashion Textile Technology Program at Buffalo State College SUNY. Here is a link to my ABOUT ME page from my blog.

I have been teaching at Buffalo State since 1990. I have made it my mission to merge  traditional methods with ongoing advances in technology as well as to use technology to link all direct and indirect fashion related areas to reflect what is occurring on a global level in industry.

I was clueless to how the virtual world could impact education just one short year ago. Someone told me about an article and TV news spot focusing on a virtual fashion designer. To be honest, I was kind of cynical but still curious. It was several months later in January of 2007 that I first ventured into Second Life. My first experience was a total disaster but I persevered and was determined to explore more in this totally new and unfamiliar environment. Despite my total addiction to continual retooling on technology, I had never played a video game in my life and never participated at a chat room.

In January of 2007, I  initiated a group on the BSC campus (similar to what Beth Harris is now doing at FIT) and we called it The BSC SL Campus Pilot Group. The SUNY Research Foundation agreed to sponsor a virtual educational island. This article titled “Buffalo State Virtual Educational Island Sponsored by the Research Foundation.”(p 6-7) from the spring 2007 RF newsletter will fill you in on the sponsorship details.

The initial BSC SL Pilot Group is comprised of faculty, staff, administration and students who are exploring, researching and planning a campus-wide introduction to Second Life. Here is a link to a draft (more detailed) version of a SLCC07 presentation titled “Grassroots: A Second Life Campus From the Ground Up.” It will inform you about how we got the SL life project started at BSC.

Details of my initial experiences teaching fashion related projects can be located by clicking on this link from the SLCC07 presentation titled” Educational Simulations in Real Life for Fashion Technology Students.”

I am currently continuing the SL project with a small group of fashion students. I also have been actively researching for educational and professional collaborations in Sl that will result in large scale collaborative ventures to virtually link educational and business resources, that is how I was fortunate enough to meet Beth Harris, Shenlei Winkler and Nyla Kazakoff.

I look forward to and will be happy to share what we are currently doing in SL and answer any questions you may have at the upcoming presentations at FIT. Please send any questions you would like addressed at the meeting.

Here I am above meeting up with Beth Harris, aka: Max Newbold in SL on the BSC island showing her the current project the fashion students are working on. She is wearing a new outfit from Shenlei Flasheart’s Prim & Proper store  in SL. 

It is my hope that we as educators can collaborate and pool our virtual educational business and teaching resources to enable all of us to offer expanded virtual coursework to students covering multiple fields of study.

Meet Shenlei Winkler aka: Shenlei Flasheart in Sl

Shenlei Flasheart in Second Life.

Shenlei Winkler combines 20 years of couture and mass market fashion design experience with 10 years of technical marketing experience with value added resellers. She successfully secured multi-million dollar funding for several large scale science & technology projects at the astrophysics department at the University of Chicago.

 Shenlei Winkler in RL

As a fashion designer, Winkler designed and sold multiple styles to the #1 global retailer, resulting in more than $30MM in sales per collection. She created a profitable virtual world fashion business that currently sustains a five-island complex in Second Life. Winkler founded and now directs the Fashion Research Institute, Inc. (www.fashionresearchinstitute.com), which collaborates on projects ranging from developing a virtual world product design PLM enterprise solution with IBM, virtual world-based fashion design curriculum development with Buffalo State University, to developing a virtual world-based business-to-business portal for American leather tanneries with the American Leather Chemists’ Association. Her current projects include joint development projects with IBM, comprehensive redesign of sizing standards for cold weather hand wear, and development of an engineered eco-textile that uses waste biomass, is fully biodegradeable, and can be commercially produced.

Here is a brand new link for a video that was just completed showing you the Shengri La 5 island complex.

I was fortunate to view one of her recent historically inspired fashion shows. Here is a FLICKR link to some of the fashions. Here is a link to a Webpage that will show you videos of some of her Prim & Proper fashions. Here is a link to my blog entry about the show.
Here is a link to her Website.

Meet Nyla from the House of Nyla

Posted below are some brand new MUST WATCH videos we have just received from Nyla Kazakoff from the House of Nyla.

 Nyla Cheeky in SL

Here is a link to her PRESS PAGE.  

Nyla Kazakoff in RL

Link to her Bio

She is featured along with other virtual entrepreneurs in the three videos posted below. I believe they will need RealPlayer.

Global National Canadian News ….Virtual Money Maker

http://houseofnyla.com/mpeg4.html
 
American Express:Open for Business: Exploring Virtual World Business Opportinities Part I
http://www.houseofnyla.com/slvid.html
 
American Express:Open for Business: Retail Opportiunities in Virtual Worlds Part II

http://www.houseofnyla.com/slvid2.html

Art & Design in Second Life

Just a very few links to try to give you an idea of the rapidly expanding virtual digital media art and design that is emerging in Second Life. There are approximately 200 universities from all over the world and many more are joining every day.

MacArthur Foundations funding of Digital Media
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh6KE8sqB74Here’s

Here’s a clip on color: Juria Yoshikawa talks about a piece of interactive art while the Improvateers improvise their interaction with it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7slnuxaTqvU

Masters of Digital Media – The Making of CDM in Second Life Part I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkvU_vGr3ds 

Masters of Digital Media-Making of CDM in Second Life – II
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkvU_vGr3ds

Masters of Digital Media @ GNWC: A blog for the new Masters of Digital Media program at Great Northern Way Campus and the Virtual Centre for Digital Media in Second Life.
http://mastersofdigitalmedia.blogspot.com/ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Buffalo Buffalo State is a member of the New Media Consortium. I did locate SUNY Learning Environments as a member but not FIT. Here is link to the membership list.
(Thanks to Gregg Chottiner — FIT will soon be a member of the NMC – bh) 

The NMC Symposium in Creativity just completed a totally virtual symposium on creativity several months ago. Here are some links to the symposium articles. There will be another in December.

See the NMC Seriously Engaging video link posted on the left side of this post.

This next video was played at the end of the Symposium on Creativity. It illustrates the total integration of art, design and technology that Second Life can represent. Watch the World(s) by Robbie Dingo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxVDVggLqsA

Audio/video links from the Symposium on Creativity http://sl.nmc.org/category/av/

http://www.nmc.org/keyword/slcreativity

http://sl.nmc.org/index.php?s=symposium+creativity

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Emerging virtual artists in SL——(just the tip of the iceburg, SLART JOURNAL under “Art in Second LIfe” link to the right)

“DANCING WITH ANGELS” ZeroG SkyDancers 2007 (note: I actually saw this performance at NMC Symposium on Creativity – it was really exciting)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_gT0YDAkec

NMC Campus Retrospective on Art of StarAx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUgGgTCbcgE

Stella Costello Exhibition at NMC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X98jHUccZo0&mode=related&search=

Beth (Max Newbold) in Second Life

Max Newbold in Second Life at Prim & Proper

from maxinsl.vodpod.com

Well, you all know me, but I thought I would tell you a little about my own experience in Second Life. In the video above, you can see my avatar in a fabulous Victorian dress designed by Shenlei (as some of you know, I edited a book about Victorian needlewomen). I am in her Prim & Proper Flagship store in the lovely and peaceful Shengri-La. Shenlei has been a generous guide in SL. Make sure to have a look at her recent machinima in the post below. Steven Zucker and I were honored with an impromptu fashion show in SL put on by AWM Mars with clothing designed by Shenlei. It was beautiful! And thanks to the models who made it possible.

About a year ago I joined through the New Media Consortium and took the name Max Newbold. When you join you are given a limited number of names to pick from. Max was my grandfather’s name, and I just liked the sound of “newbold” — since I always want to be bold with new things like Second Life.

It was rough at first. I somehow landed a bunny outfit instead of real clothes for a while. I probably played with my avatar’s appearance for hours after that too trying to get it to look like me for some reason. Then Steven Zucker and I attended a conference in Second Life offered by the New Media Consortium this past August, and I finally got more comfortable.

In the early spring, just before I was diagnosed, I met Elaine Polvinen through David Porush who was the Executive Director of SUNY Learning Environments. Elaine was doing some cool things with fashion design in Second Life so we chatted once or twice and exchanged emails. I had wanted to attend a Second Life event offered by my friends at Monroe Community College (and to see my other friends like Larry Dugan who took over for me and Keith Lynip in Doodle) in the spring, but that was impossible under the circumstances (surgery).

So, when Vice-President Haboucha asked me to talk about Second Life at FIT I was excited to do so. The Vice-President had indicated a real interest in Second Life over the summer and I was happy to do more research about Second Life and the fashion industry that might help FIT move into this exciting area. I reconnected with Elaine, and here we are. I imagine there are others at FIT who have been playing around with Second Life, like Hildy Gardner — and we just haven’t connected yet. I just learned that Hildy has been showing her students Second Life.

SL DEMOS on 11/30 & 12/4 (see below for details):
I am hoping that this blog becomes a “place” where we can talk about what we’re thinking about Second Life and FIT, and that it brings together folks from different departments who may not know that there are others at the college also interested in SL.

I’m also hoping the demos this week and next will spark some experiments in SL by faculty and also collaborations with Elaine Polvinen and her students. After all, we are not tied to place if we are in the virtual world of SL!

I know that our new CIO (Gregg Chottiner) and our VP for Academic Affairs (Reginetta Haboucha) are committed to supporting this new technology.

Second Life Video- Machinima Fans: Henshin – From Autocad to SL

Second Life Video- Machinima Fans: Architecture in Second Life Machinima