Talk about humbling

Well, if you know me, I have a big head.  But I really am a very humble person inside, self-esteem can make one act out and I am guilty of that.

But I was blown away by the kind words that Brent Schlenker wrote about my efforts in the eLearning community.  All I did was stumble accross Second Life at a time when I was desperately trying to add 3D content to eLearning.  I tried with an isometric Flash office space (I think it works rather well and certainly very fast to do). But it is isometric and not 3D.

So then I tried Blender 3D.  Apart form an incredibly steep learning curve, render times were far too long making it not practical for our use.  I stumbled upon Second Life (doh, missed all the media hype somehow) because two of our clients are in there.  One was the aloft hotel built by Electric Sheep.  A masterful build that was used as an architectural lab collecting avatar feedback for use in constructing the real hotel.  Starwood (aloft) was fantastic in donating their island to Global Kids when they were done.  What a wonderful gesture.

So I saw Second Life as a 3D application rather than a 3D social world.  I have since gone on to also be behind the scenes of a virtual real estate business, but that is an entierly different story . . .

As a 3D application it comes with physics and lighting already built in as well as avatars (my Make Human models for Blender were pretty sorry looking).  And with all the user created content, I don’t need to build Aeron Chairs and coffee makers, I can find those items for mere pennies.  So, all in all, it was an easy solution.  The toughest part was maximizing the quality and development time in order to make it a viable eLearning tool.

And I love sharing this and will on January 30th via the eLearning Guild’s Online Forum Successful Techniques and Strategies for Navigating Turbulent Times – Fast, Cheap, and Effective e-Learning.

I’m all for fast and effective, but the cheap part? I refer back to the start of this post and my big head, I prefer “economical” to cheap!

*pardon me, do you have any grey Poupon?* =D

First eLearning Guild video podcast

Thanks to the patience and phenomenal work that Brent Schlenker has been doing for the elearning Guild, their first video podcast is up on GuildCasts!  And I am humbled to be the first one, albeit there were some technical difficulties.  Brent was very patient and it was a new exercise for me.  I never use audio in Second Life mainly for selfish reasons.

With the ability to IM anyone anywehere in Second Life, it is not uncommon to have several IMs going on while chatting to one or two people working together.  I can not imagine doing that with voice!  I also find that text chat is more cocise and to the point.  Imagine how much I would ramble if talking!

So we started off great guns and then I lost his audio.  Well, not so much lost as it went from clear and an equal level to mine to being what sounded like a fly!  We bothe relogged but to no avail. 

Fortunately, Brent was quick on his feet (and that was after he had done a full day of online forums!) and recored himself and sent me the file.  The final video is clearly edited (as in obvious) and a combination of his audio track, the original audio track pulled out from the video to remove the failed audio noise.  This then resulted in some whacked out lip synching (but SL is not the best on that front yet).

It did reinforce the approach I have to using audio in Second Life when being fiolmed for elearning material.  In the time it took to piece (butcher?) the vodpod for the Guild together, I could have filmed enough material for a lesson!

Well it was fun and frustratiting, but a great learning experience as well.  And done mainly with free tools which is a big part of my session.  It’s great if you have Avid and Adobe Premiere like we do and certainly makes editing go far faster, but the reality of corporate eLearning departments is that they have very tight budgets.  And that is important for me to get accross and also opens this up to the person doing this as a one person shop.

Thanks Brent!

eLearning Guild interview for DevLearn08

Brent Schlenker interviews David Miller for his session on using Second Life video in eLearning. Session 708 at DevLearn08.  It should be up on GuildCasts soon.

We get serious blogosphere time!

elgStage_020, Originally uploaded by iliveiSL

I was pleasantly surprised to see this build posted as sidebar content on one of the top elearning blogs!

Brent Schenkler from the eLearning Guild asked me to create a venue for a panel discussion being held for the Guild’s Summer Series for use by eBay and Sun Microsystems.

Often, due to a hundred reasons, follow up gets lost and it’s uncertain of the value of things like this.  I have experience creating similar venues for up to 200 users (even on the four corner intersection, it gets pretty laggy!  Although if everyone sits, it makes a noticeable difference).  I have seen those in action and received the type of feedback everyone can understand – money.

But volunteer builds like this often are used and then taken back into inventory and soon forgotten (I have done about a dozen free builds of stages, club houses, and offices for special inworld groups).  The iliveisl estate was gracious enough to allow this build some permanence and it was scaled down for groups of 16-20 and moved to the adjacent park in Enercity for public use by anyone in Second Life.

So it was indeed a thrill to see how well it was liked when I stumbled upon it on Brent’s blog.  According to Alexa rankings he gets an average of 250 visits a day.  He is certainly a serious player in the elearning world.  Thanks Brent!

related links:
Brent’s Blog
Newmarket’s elearning
iliveisl estate

Note: Anyone may feel free to use this stage for any of your inworld needs.  Just search “Enercity park” in Second life.  And (shameless plug) come see me at DevLearn08 session 708 on how you can bring Second Life into your eLearning.