Last Friday's meeting was an exciting one for me, with Alex Harpoon (my avatar) stumbling and floundering about in Second Life. Chris was on hand to help , and I can't yet imagine how Alex could function at all without two people at the computer. Thanks Jacqui for showing us around Riverina Island and beyond. Quite an amazing place with bubbles and lights and even creatures sliding by. And Jacqui's backpack is full of wonderful educational tools as well as bits of fun.
I tried to keep up but moving about at all is still challenging, even looking at things seemed to involve feats of perception and coordination beyond my beginner status. The overall effect was a bit disorienting, and I felt it would take me a while before i could learn much, other than how to get by in SL. I longed for a room with chairs and walls - a recreation of what i'm used to i suppose, just to get oriented. Sitting down felt surprisingly good!
I think SL will be a good place to meet and study, but requires the hard yards (long hours) to become comfortable with the basic functionality and tools for communication and navigation first. For me this means access to a computer capable of keeping Alex above ground - my one at home doesn't cope and SL is blocked at work, on all but one computer.
I don't doubt our project will get some great teaching and learning happening, but I'm trying to capture these early in-world experiences so they can inform our planning for newbies. Overall, i found Second Life full of potential, as well as good places to explore already, and an exciting way to interact with others.
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I defeinitely understand what you mean about it feeling good just to sit down and take things in when you are new, and I think it is a really important factor to build in for other new teachers.
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