The End of the Conference

This was just silly. Near the end of the conference, Janene was holding an official meeting somewhere and her avatar was in-world and on screen. We all decided to participate virtually. It was going to be a supportive semi circle behind her at first, but standing around waiting we had too much time on our hands and we began to get ideas! We practiced and pulled off synchronized muscle flexing. Then we passed out beers which, when three sips are taken, make your avatar wobble, stumble, and fall over drunk. :-) Janene is smart and turned off the screen as soon as she realized we had passed her a beer! :-) Shoot!

Star Wars at VSTE Face to Face Conf

One of the highlights of our VSTE Second Life sessions was the New Voyages Concert that occured at the Virginia Beach Convention Center AND in Second Life at the VSTE Meeting Convention. Marie introduced the Cox High School concert orchestra. Matt Poole was downstairs at the VBCC with his avatar on the computer streaming the music from the live concert into Second Life. The rest of us were in the tower room operating up to three avatars each pretending to be the orchestra. We could hear the concert as could visiting friends in Second Life from other parts of the country.

Blended VSTE Environment Session Three

I see gray people! When you, or the avatars near you, are having a network or hardware problem they often do not "rez" or load properly. That is when you see gray people. This was part of session three. Al was leading us to places of interest for educators. He created a notecard, put it in a notecard giver, and we teleported all over Second Life. It is enjoyable to look back now at the newbie avatars here and remember meeting the people behind them in person. We sat side by side with a series of computers and helped each other in-world and out.

Landlubbers Session

We had three sessions at the face to face conference in Virginia Beach, which we repeated once each. Teachers, administrators, and others came to the tower room to learn how to use Second Life to build a personal learning network. It was so much fun! Marie, Lisa, Al, Matt and I met Ellen, who jumped right in to help and the six of us lived in that second floor tower room for three days. :-) The notes from the sessions can be found at our wiki, VSTESL. This image is from ISTE Island where we recommend newbies start their second lives.

The Interview

The first event at the VSTE Conference in Virginia Beach for the VSTE in SL crew was the interview. Mandie, Jazmemo, Alfredo, and Thunder were in the VSTE Island Community Center with Spiff Whitfield and Cyrus Hush. Marie, Lisa, Al, Kim, and Matt were in Virginia Beach at the VB Convention Center. Andy, operating Spiff, was in New York state. Spiff/Andy interviewed us and Cyrus/Matt showed the interview in the second floor tower room at the VB Convention Center in front of several VSTE attendees who came with their laptops to watch. The four of us interviewees were "hiding" in another room on the same floor. The Interview went something like this: Spiff Whitfield: Hello and welcome to VSTE’s 2008-09 23rd Annual State Technology Conference. I am … (we all introduce ourselves but why didn't we ask Cyrus to introduce himself as the cameraman?) Mandie Mimulus: Jazmemo Zimminy: Alfredo Bedrosian: Thunder Insippo: Spiff Whitfield: What first brought you to Second Life? (we all answered each question) Spiff Whitfield: What was your initial reaction to this virtual world? Spiff Whitfield: What is your favorite place to hang out in Second Life? (Marie – Virtual Pioneers) (Lisa – DEN (Kim – ISTE) (Al – VSTE) Spiff Whitfield: You are all teachers. How does Second Life help you with your professional life? Spiff Whitfield: Do you have fun is Second Life or is it all work, work, work? Spiff Whitfield: Now let’s meet the real people behind the avatars! After the interview we came in person to the tower room carrying out laptops so the folks watching could see who was who. This was the most embarrassing part of the entire three days for me. I look nothing like Thunder. :-/