Leko's Photoshop Presentation

Tonight Leko Littlebird presented on VSTE Island. It was his first presentation in Second Life and he did a wonderful job. He's like the energizer bunny, never taking a breath, but the folks present hung on his every word. He presented tips and tricks for making textures work in Second Life. I wasn't able to listen because I was busy joining people to the VSTE group and sending teleports to folks that were on the island but not close to the sandbox. 

I advertised on SLED, in ISTE, in VSTE, on the VSTE ning, and I joined a Photoshop Lovers group to advertise there. We had a great turnout - 31 simultaneous attendees with more overall. I was very pleased. 

Game Night

That was fun, but my gosh I'm a nervous wreck when I get people to come to VSTE just on my say so. I had a teacher there from my school, a friend in England that I don't know that well, one of the Tech Chick Tips gals that I've been "working on" for a year, another person from my school system who is going to do a presentation for us soon, and several other friends who I'd begged to come! I was more worried about everyone being okay and having a good time than I am when people are in my house!

We had 2 Greedy tables and kept them both busy.

Leko brought his Parcheesi table and a cute pavilion he'd created for it. He got the textures from a photo he took of Edgar Allen Poe's home in Richmond. (a home Poe never lived in)

Jaz's bronco was a big hit. It gave prizes to riders and kept track of longest rides.

Look Who's on VSTE Island

What a treat! SG was there today when Jaz, Shera, and I were there. As far as I know he hasn't set foot on VSTE Island in about two years. Yippee!

Open Mic Night

Open Mic Night was May 5th. There were 9 of us there, 6 of whom sort of had to be there. We found plenty to talk about and Leko said we should do it every couple of months on a regular basis. We talked about 1 to 1 iPads for kindergarteners, for profit higher ed institutions getting the shaft from government on funding, Leko's new 3D mouse, software, and other topics. Esteban told a cute story about how teaching in SL is prefered to teaching in RL because of the special abilities he has in SL. I think he called them Super Powers: checking profiles, tags over students' heads, etc. I'm not prepared to call it a success because not enough people were there. It didn't appeal to many as an idea for a meeting.

For the Class

On Duty with Dodge

It was nice to have my friend Dodge visit during my ISTE docent duty this morning. He's just delivered a lecture via Skype to another country for the first time. I've been trying to set up a Skype with him and my third graders about animals since he is a college level bio professor in RL but I don't think the third grade teachers I work with share my vision for using 21st Century tools like this. Maybe I can get second grade to use his expertise!

Everything's Coming up Tulips

What a treat Monday night when Alfredo led a building class on spring flower making! There were about ten or twelve people there, three of more of whom I'd never met. We got our folder of materials and directions and could work independently or follow Al's directions.

When it was done I goofed around donning various animal avatars that seemed to go with the flowers.