Building

There are pretty much two things I'm good at making: a. people laugh, and b. a mess (through not always in that order😉).  I have always been really terrible at making things.  I've never been artsy crafty or good with my hands.  In metal shop in high school I had to make 4 metal boxes just to equal the points we were supposed to get for one box.  In home ec I actually cheated on our sewing project and had my mom sew (well more like fix) my project for me.   Considering this, I am a little intimidated at the prospect of building things in SL. I'm not good at building things in real life.  I played around with it a little and was able to make shapes, color them, and manipulate them to some extent, which for me is no small victory. I also realized  that not all islands allow you to build, so that's something to consider.  I tried (in vain) to copy and edit the gift bag, but was unable to do so.  My guess is that maybe there were restrictions on the object itself, but I'm not totally sure. It could also just be a second life continuation of my real life ineptitude.

On a slightly related note I did buy some Lindens, but have not actually bought anything or used them yet. Baby steps.

Adventures in Second Life

I am by no means a gamer and must admit that I am a wee bit intimidated by the virtual world aspects of this course.  This said, I definitely see the potential of virtual worlds as rich, complex learning environments (especially for language learning), so while a bit reticent, I am curiously drawn to them. I think as teachers we have to push ourselves and step outside of our comfort zone to learn, grow, and evolve.  We constantly ask our students to do so, but rarely do so ourselves.

So far it hasn't been too painful and I've enjoyed exploring and poking around.  I haven't really had the chance to interact with anyone outside of class which is a little disappointing.  As a language teacher, I think one of the most intriguing features of virtual world's is the ability to interact with other, however as of yet I haven't had the chance to do so as every island I have visited seems to be empty.