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My session on using Second Life video went well, mostly due to Karen Hyder. She met with me 4 times in advance to make sure I was comfortable with Adobe Connect. She made it a breeze (pun intended, another Adobe product). Seriously, she is quite an asset to the Guild and I commend her patience and expertise.
Links to session materials are here and should help anyone interested in using Second Life as a 3D creation tool for their eLearning material. There’s even a handout on importing video into Flash. And it does not have to be just video. “Snapshots” from Second Life can be a great resource as well. And the price is certainly right!
If you are on a tight budget, both in money and time, then explore Second Life. Feel free to come build in Enercity Park and use the video tutorials here as well as the handouts for the various conferences and forums I have posted (links always on the main page of subQuark).
Have fun and feel free to contact me (email on subQuark).
Online Forum was fun
Well being a great follower of Maki at doshdosh, I thought I had a clue. But . . . finding external links to posts about my use of Second Life seems elusive to me. Case in point the earlier post I made about Brent’s post about me at DevLearn08. Doh! If it took me 6 weeks to stumble upon that one, what else am I missing?
Here is a link to a German blog that I only found via Brent’s blog. And a second post on Brandon Hall.
And it’s not so much to promote me, as to promote the use of Second Life as a video source. I truly believe it’s a viable option for eLearning providers. I even have a person from the University of Glasgow using it for continuing education credits for doctors! So it may just be what you need to! It certainly would add to your toolkit.
So if anyone has a link to something that would help me understand how to find these types of links, give us a shout! Thanks. :)
eLearning Guild January 30th Online Forum
Not only fast, cheap, and effective, but real skills that you can add to your resume. Whether you are secure or a freelancer; you still need to push and add to your resume.
And maybe add a video of yourself (avatar anyway) to your portfolio? Why not? Learn how with my session on Second Life.
If Microsoft hired some senior VP based on their high level in World of Warcraft, who knows what may happen if you display your new found skills online?
Don’t have your own URL. Who needs one today (frankly, I love my URL – it ties to my grad degree – but I have all but given up on it’s email because of the incredible amount of spam one accumulates after 8 years and 20 other websites along the way).
Get a free blog site, create your own Ning network, or use visualCV. Lots of excellent alternatives that are just as valid (imo). So attend some sessions if you can, it’s a great way to network too!
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
While working on the online forum presentation for the eLearning Guild, I took breaks by revamping subquark.com and creating new mini Moo cards. The new header image for subQuark is also used in the mini Moos. Mini Moo cards are interesting in their size and a set of 100 is $20. Now you can get business cards for less, but probably not with full bleeds and full colour. Plus, I almost flipped out when I met with a few business Linden’s in San Fran and saw that Linden Lab uses mini Moos! And with mini Moos, you can upload up to 100 pictures/graphics for your set. That’s pretty cool and makes for an interesting variety.
The videos are coming along well for the forum and the DemoFest entry from DevLearn08 has been sized to it’s original size for proper viewing. The version on blip.tv was scaling to 640 by480 resulting in pixelation. The original version was intended for podcasting at 320 by 240. It can be seen on either subquark.com or virtualtqm.com.
Also added were the full text script which should be included in all video eLearning pieces. It’s easy to discuss accessibility but we often fall short as eLearning providers.
the subQuark website gets a facelift
