Linda+Krecker


 * Second Life Opportunities for Education**
 * Intro**
 * What is Second Life? This automatically starts the intro video
 * Start exploring: Gravity is different in sky and ocean. There are over 20,000 regions
 * Get settled: Gravity takes on a different set of physics. Buildings can be in trees, sky, water.
 * Be creative: Opportunities to virtually build anything you want.
 * Education: Many universities and colleges have build virtual versions of themselves. - A partial list of universities on SL: Leo University Virtual Campus, University of WA, Stanford, University of Western Australia, University of Illinois, Bowling Green University, University of Richmond, Georgia State University, University of Innsbruck, University of Cincinnati, University of Idaho, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Rudgers, University of Sussex, Texas State, University of Bradford, University of KY (Art Department, too), Texas A & M, University of Arkansas, University of New Haven, University of Iowa, University of Southampton, University of Alberta, University of Sydney, University of Delaware
 * East Tennessee State University: ETSU offers over 100 courses and four degree programs, completely online. B.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies, B.S. in Professional Studies, B.A. of General Studies, B.S. in Dental Hygiene, B.S. in Radiography, B.S. in Cardiopulmonary
 * University of Arizona: Visit the virtual campus: attend classes, talk to your professors, take a test, learn, build projectsVisit “Creative Projects”


 * Teen Second Life
 * Strictly for teens (13-17).
 * Both worlds are separate from each other, and in world travel or communication between them is not allowed.
 * Adults can purchase private islands in TSL to work with teens.
 * Educational and non-profit groups receive an educational discount.
 * Adults on a private island in TSL will need to provide a background check for security and safety reasons.
 * Adults will not be able to leave their private island.
 * Teen residents of Teen Second Life will be able to visit the private island if/when you choose, but they will be automatically informed that there are adults present.
 * Students 18+ are considered adults and will need to submit a background check. Because of this requirement, most programs with mixed age groups of 13-17 and 18+ choose to run simultaneous projects in TSL for students under 18 and in Adult Second Life for students over 18.
 * Students 18+ are considered adults and will need to submit a background check. Because of this requirement, most programs with mixed age groups of 13-17 and 18+ choose to run simultaneous projects in TSL for students under 18 and in Adult Second Life for students over 18.

> **
 * More information
 * Second Life: Educators Working with Teens: Second Life presents a novel way to engage students in distance learning. If you've spent time in Second Life you'll no doubt see a broad potential in the environment.  []
 * Suffern Middle School in Second Life: "One of my teachers has brought her nine special ed students into Second Life this week. Understanding the special needs of these students, I was prepared to slow down the pace, deliver chunks of content in a model/execute model/execute method. But, true to the virtual landscape, it wasn’t long before the kids felt the confidence to extend their knowledge through self-discovery and peer mentorship! We have been working together for a week or so now and the kids are truly remarkable. Every discovery in world is met with delight and the kids have been cooperative, focused and just plain fun to be around! They are now building simple objects and next week we will be starting a literature project."  []
 * Skoolaborate: "A global initiative using a blend of technologies including, blogs, online learning, wiki's and ‘virtual worlds’ to transform learning. We aim to use these tools to provide engaging collaborative learning experiences for students aged between 13 and 18 years of age. Students from schools around the world are invited to participate. Initiated and manage by Westley Field at MLC School Sydney, Skoolaborate now has over 40 schools and organizations from Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Chile, Portugal, Canada, the UK and the USA."  []
 * Pacific Rim Exchange: This program grew out of a dinner conversation between a group of teachers in from Modesto City Schools, Modesto, California and a visiting group of teachers from Kyoto, Japan (Kyoto Gakuen High School). Because of the time difference between California and Japan (17 hrs), video conferencing is not really practical. Virtual worlds hold great promise in providing learning environments for education so Second Life was used to overcome the time differences. Pacific Rim Exchange built a group of private islands on the Teen Grid as a place for students to communicate and collaborate with each other to share their interests, cultures and languages.  []
 * Global Kids: Global Kids, Inc. is a nationally recognized leader in using digital media to promote global awareness and youth civic engagement. Global Kids’ Online Leadership Program (OLP) integrates a youth development approach and international and public policy issues into youth media programs that build digital literacy, foster substantive online dialogues, develop resources for educators, and promote civic participation.  []
 * An article in the Washington Post: McKinley Tech is creating its own virtual world with partnership of the Holocaust Museum. Second Life is an Internet community that lets people meet and interact inside a three-dimensional virtual world. McKinley is the first high school in the world to be part of the program.  [[http://blog.washingtonpost.com/hs/mckinley/2007/05/second_life_virtual_world.html|http://blog.washingtonpost.com/hs/mckinley/2007/05/second_life_virtual_world.html ]]

Media log,

The beginning: I avoid a lot of media, and ignore the rest. My background in advertising has me rather jaded from ads. I listen to non media radio (NPR, Radio Paradise & Internet stations). This week, NPR has been doing its own advertising, for donations. Most of that leaves me irritated rather than wanting to donate though. The constant "Give us money" just makes me want to not donate. Then, I don't give money to bums either. I watch TV so have to watch the commercials. I prefer hulu because the commercials there are not nearly as lengthy. But the most irritating commercial was a seen on one of my game sites. Mindjolt games accesses from Facebook.

3/28/10: 3/29/10:
 * ** Mindjolt The front page: imvu - comicy versions of Avatar like avatars with the line "Get your avatar" at the bottom. I'm going to presume that its either a virtual world, or you can get a Avatar based on your Facebook picture. I've seen apps for making your Facebook picture look like a pencil drawing, etc. All I want to do is waste time with a card game on Facebook. but I'm barraged with a visual, movie ad for Poptarts. Geese!! And not a good one either, two girls singing about Poptarts in a hip hop style. Cute girls, awful barrage of my mind. Usually I have an ad remover app running but I changed to the new Google Chrome browser (seen on TV ads) and the app hasn't started working yet. Lets me know why I use those apps! **
 * I started out wanting to talk about Hulu so I'm going to do it this morning. I watch hulu a lot as I'm not currently getting cable. So I chose the pilot episode of V. And the first thing is the abc clip, just the logo spinning out of control. Then we go to Sharp Quattron, a commercial I've seen on Hulu and TV. Its got George Takei, best known as Sulu from the original Star Trek show, dressed as a scientist telling us all about this amazing TV monitor. I get that the idea behind the monitor (four colors) is cool, but having such a well known character tell me makes it rather unbelievable. The commercial changes each time the show is accessed but I've seen this one way to often.The really good thing about hulu is the fact that there are so few commercials compared to regular TV. This show runs for 47 minutes with one commercial at the beginning and five more through out the episode. Each very short. The first one is for Haiti donations (theirc.org) and shows slides of people in need about 30 seconds. The next one shows a man talking about his mother who died from colon cancer (Screen for Life). It was only 15 seconds long. The third was from The National Geographic Channel show called Dog Town and also was 15 seconds, Not much to the message except for a woman and her dog asking us to watch her on the show. The forth one is 30 seconds and also about Haiti (concernusa.org). The last one is 34 seconds about a new show called If I had a Dream. Its a girl, Amanda, talking about her dream to be a model. She is depicted in a few different outfits, doing modeling poses. One of the outfits is her underwear and bra. She is very young, maybe 18. I'm going to assume that she will be given her chance. This show is a hulu show. the first that I can remember seeing.

4/01/10:
 * ** After classes I came home and watched TV. I don't remember what it was I saw, commercial wise, but I did watch some hulu too and that is below:Lost brought to us by landrover, 10 second bug. Landrover, abut 10 seconds of a rover driving in the country side and voice over, there was some music too, instrumental, mostly just showing us the land rover, image ad.Five hour energy drink. A man drinks a drink in a office and turns into a geek, fatter, voice over talks about how 5 hour doesn’t give you gas. people look at him when he is a handsome man, but run into him (ignoring) when he is fatter. This commercial gives a number of different messages, none of them good. 30 seconds.Loreal ad for creme gloss color. Model showing us her hair and how glossy it is. She is the one talking with some music, instrument. Not much else this commercial is about 15 seconds long.Haiti. savethechildren.org. I'm beginning to not believe these donation companies, I see pictures of the tent cities in Haiti and they don't look all that comfortable but then there are news articles of people living in tent cities and they are doing just fine, poor but smiling. 30 seconds. woman teaching a girl geometry over the internet. learntobe.org. They don't tell us anymore about what they are selling. **

4/02/10:
 * V brought to us by Clariton.Clariton Clear. A woman talking about the product alongside of her horse. Clariton helps her allergies. Testimonial.Southwest airlines with baggage people shouting numbers that are the amount other places charge baggage fees. Southwest charges none, they ended it with that information. 30 secondshotels.com. stop animation of a guy near a computer and his wife wanting to get a way. He shows her hotels and the computer turns into them. A bed and Breakfast, then near the beach.The next commercial begins with a song about the life of a man because you're a man. Dove Care for men. 30 seconds.Southwest Airlines again.

4/03/10:
 * Flash Forward. Brought to you by 5 hour energy5 Hour Energy commercial. Same ugly man commercial at the end someone who bumps into him hands him a 5 hour, he nods as if to say “Of course, this is what I should have had!” I didn’t notice this the first time. People with water containers in the city, filling up in the river, taking them to the apartment, pouring dirty water in a glass and handing it to children. The words, “3.1 billion people don't have clean water” show up on a slide. Then a slide for the webpage. www.cleanwater.orgAgain with a commercial attempting to tell a story. It starts out telling us about a woman who wanted to go to school in Peru but can't afford it. We can help for just $25. This is portrayed in words and the music only. vittana.org 5 Hour Energy commercial again.Southwest Airlines again.

4/4/10:
 * Fringe. Brought to you by Supreme Commander 2, a video game. First commercial starts with scenes of the game in action with fighting robots, planes, tanks, etc. The last slide shows the title and "pre-order now"“1 million acres destroyed for cheap oil but one mountain can be saved with wind energy.” We see views of the Appalachian Mountains then mountains blowing some up followed with views of windmills on mountains. Then a slide with Cola River Mountain Coalition and contact information.More people needing rescue by the looks if it, in Haiti. “Send $5 by text” to then a number. There are many slides of the devastation and how we could help. www. irc.org.5 Hour Energy again. vittana.org again.

Hulu.com is a great resource. They offer the opportunity to watch a show again or for the first time if it was missed. With this comes a price, the commercials. At lest there are far fewer than on regular TV. The downside is that there are so few that there is no time to do anything, get a snack, go to the bathroom, or the like. The only other problem is that Hulu has so few advertisers that we see the same commercials over and over again.

I have also noticed that many of them are from the same script. Slides of devastation and “Send money so we can fix the world” or they make someone (usually a guy) look stupid. There was one a long while ago that was misogynistic showing three girls with barely any clothes on. Hulu does have a “Like/Dislike” button that I sometimes use. I hope they get the idea about which commercials we, the viewers want to see.