Construction Junction: Session 2 Where Do I Build?

When we met at the skybox on Prudentia island for the second session, it quickly became clear that SL was having technical issues. Some of the participants could not get into the grid, others were having difficulties talking or hearing the voice chat. Mali Young (our instructor) was impressive in the manner in which she handled these difficulties. She remained calm, cool and collective in dealing with the technical issues and you could tell she has had experience instructing in SL.

I see this being an issue when instructing groups in SL. Even though SL has recommended hardware to run the client and participate in the virtual environment, this does not mean everyone's computer system is running properly to provide an error free experience. How does an instructor handle the group when everyone has paid to participate and some are having technical issues and others are not? Should the instructor carry on or stop and try to deal with technical issues? As far as I can see either way can be a losing situation. However the instructor decides to handle these situations...I think it should be identified at the onset of the class so everyone understands what to expect and how it will be handled. I also believe some type of alternative system should be put in place for those having technical issues or not able to access SL during synchronous class time. This could be (as Mali has done) simply recording the session and posting it to a wiki. Whatever the process, it must be thought out and put in place because it will be a guarantee that technical issues will occur.

In session 2 we further discussed some building techniques and skills. We began creating our bags to hold our t-shirts. We worked with some of the tools like "hollow" to make the bag. We then began to work with textures to apply to the bag. The group then moved off the skybox, down to the land of Prudentia island where we were shown how to terraform land. We were also shown how to arrange trees and plants on our land. These are all very useful skills that do not seem that difficult but certainly take creativity and practice to get good.















Practicing terraforming and adding trees to land. (photo taken August 9/08).