From... S. Collingwood
collingwood.7@osu.edu
The American Association of University Women's lecture series in Second Life will be starting up again this week with a series of workshops on conducting group meetings in virtual worlds. If you have been thinking of starting a group, establishing meetings or seminars or teaching in virtual worlds, these free workshops should be useful to you. The workshops will be held at Minerva, the research and study space for the Department of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Ohio State University.
The workshops are at the beginner level; you may wish to take only one, or you may attend all three. If you feel insecure about your avatar skills you can attend an informal orientation session in the hour preceding the workshop. During the workshops you will be given a set of free and customizable tools; you will be shown how to use these tools (written instructions are also included in your toolkit) and you will have the time to practice with them.
Checklist for joining a workshop:
(1) Check to be sure your system can run Second Life (most can).
http://secondlife.com/support/system-requirements/
(2) Join Second Life:
https://join.secondlife.com/?lang=en-US
A premium (paid) account is unnecessary. We will not be using the Second Life viewer in our workshops.
(3) Download the Phoenix Firestorm viewer:
http://www.phoenixviewer.com/
We will be using the Firestorm viewer because it has a simpler interface. There are other viewers; if you prefer to use another viewer, please be sure you are familiar with it.
(4) Unsure of your avatar skills? If you would like to practice before the workshops begin, you are welcome to use Minerva Island, it's a very quiet place to work or study, and it is open to the public:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Minerva/46/225/28
(5) E-mail Sharon Collingwood (
collingwood.7@osu.edu) to reserve a space in the workshops. Please include your name and avatar name.
Workshop 1: BUILDING COMMUNITY
Saturday, August 13 at 4pm Eastern Time (1pm Pacific)
There will be an informal orientation session in the hour preceding the workshop.
To attend:
1. click this link
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Minerva/46/225/28
2. open the link using the Phoenix Firestorm viewer
(see instructions on our events page
http://bit.ly/1tnCb1)
In this first workshop we'll cover basic avatar skills (moving around, looking around, communication), then discuss how communities grow in virtual worlds. We'll practice setting up a group and discuss how to use groups in networking, then look at some of the tools for membership management. We'll conclude with a tour of the Garden for Change, which replicates an award-winning garden built by volunteers from homeless shelters for the Chelsea flower show in 2010.
Workshop 2: USING SIMPLE TOOLS
Saturday, August 20 at 4pm Eastern Time (1pm Pacific)
There will be an informal orientation session in the hour preceding the workshop.
To attend:
1. click this link
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Minerva/46/225/28
2. open the link using the Phoenix Firestorm viewer
(see instructions on our events page
http://bit.ly/1tnCb1)
We'll review what was done in the first workshop, then you will be given some simple tools to facilitate a group discussion. We'll practice with these, then conclude with a tour of the Path of Support on Health Info Island, which features over 100 of the many active health peer support groups in Second Life.
Workshop 3: SIMPLE BUILDING FOR EVENTS
Saturday, August 27 at 4pm Eastern Time (1pm Pacific)
There will be an informal orientation session in the hour preceding the workshop.
To attend:
1. click this link
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Minerva/46/225/28
2. open the link using the Phoenix Firestorm viewer
(see instructions on our events page
http://bit.ly/1tnCb1)
In this final workshop we'll practice what we have learned, then go over some simple techniques for creating objects to facilitate gatherings. You will be given a collection of open source seating arrangements for large and small gatherings, and instructed on how to manage them. We will conclude with a tour of the Plush Nonprofit Commons, an archipelago of islands in Second Life housing social benefit organizations from around the globe.
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