SecondLife - How To Make Money In Second Life

The stage is set, a fanfare announces the arrival of the dignitaries, the audience is hushed, the Vice Chancellor approaches the podium, the graduation ceremony begins.

For a group of students on the BP Managing Projects distance-learning course run by the Manchester Business School in the UK, this was the experience that awaited them in Second Life, a fitting celebration of their hard work.  The students were awarded their certificates in the virtual world, complete with specially designed graduations gowns, lifelike avatars of dignitaries, an academic procession and speeches.

The ceremony took place in the Whitworth Room of Manchester Business School’s Second Life Island.  Created by Corporation Pop, the Whitworth Room forms part of the School’s space-age tower structure and takes inspiration (in name only!) from Whitworth Hall where the University holds its real-life graduation ceremononies.

In a chat with me about the event Dom Raban, managing director of Corporate Pop explained that: “It would be almost impossible for BPs senior executives, who are spread across the globe, to take part in a traditional awards ceremony.  By holding it virtually, we have made it possible for them to  be rewarded for their achievements with minimal disruption, saving time and money as well as reducing environmental impact.”

“Manchester Business School has always been interested in the possibilities that virtual worlds offer.  They wanted a Second Life presence that could develop in a modular fashion, becoming sticky enough to encourage long-term interaction.  The space has evolved from a place to share ideas, to a location for training courses, and now a place for students to take part in award ceremonies.”

For BP, Don Hurrle, Director of the BP Project and Engineering College said:  “This is another great innovative step forward which is in keeping with the desire to keep the Managing Projects programme at the leading edge of possibilities in modern learning and development techniques.  It is another example of how technology can reach internationally distributed BP executives and be instrumental in building an effective community of practice.”

Director and Dean of Manchester Business School, Professor Michael Luger pointed out that this was an important milestone in the MBS use of Second Life adding that: “MBS’ innovative approach to e-learning is driving our presence in Second Life - adding value to the real time experience of our students.  The Award Ceremony for BP executives is the first of its kind in the UK and we’re delighted that we can bring the cohort together to celebrate their achievements in this way.”

So we’d like to add our congratulations to all the students for their success on this programme and also to Manchester Business School and Corporation Pop for showing us that as well as helping businesses to work and students to learn, Second Life can also be there to celebrate and reward success.  I hear the party afterwards was great too!

Greetings,

The Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference begins this coming Friday (March 27) and runs over the weekend.  I will be giving a keynote presentation (Friday, March 27, 1pm PDT, Location) as well as speaking on a panel with Claudia Linden and George Linden (Saturday, March 28, Noon PDT, Location).  The full schedule of speakers is simply amazing, and I can’t wait to attend as many of the presentations as possible.

I strongly believe this fantastic conference will be a watershed moment for education in virtual worlds.  And you don’t even need to travel to attend this international event, as it is happening entirely in Second Life.

Here are the latest details from the official press release, and you can learn more by visiting the conference website.  Hope to see you there!

ARE VIRTUAL WORLDS THE CLASSROOMS OF THE FUTURE?

2009 Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference (VWBPE) Bringing together Educators from around the World in Second Life, March 27-29.

Virtual world educational environments may not replace real classrooms (yet), but they are becoming integral to the future of education, say the organizers of the 2009 Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference to be held in Second Life, March 27-29.  Conference keynote speakers and panels will focus on how virtual world environments can help today’s learners become all they can be and build the work force of tomorrow.

“We are a global grass roots community  that is collaborating and co-sharing knowledge about the role of virtual world environments in education today,” said, Marlene Brooks of Memorial University, CA (Zana Kohime, SL) program chair of the conference. “Our goal at the conference in Second Life is to use virtual worlds as the centerpiece for discussion of the questions that impact all of our futures: What is education? What is teaching? What is learning?”

The three-day conference will be an opportunity for virtual communities from around the world to showcase projects, courses, events, and present research that lead to best practices in education. From presentations on the architecture of designing a virtual classroom and campus to projects that engage middle school students with math, science and languages to the award-winning 3D-Wiki technology created in Second Life used to design a medical clinic in Nepal, the VWBPE conference is dedicated to furthering the creation of innovative, interactive  and immersive environments.

Keynote speakers and panelists for the conference represent a wide range of institutions, leading universities as well as K-12 school systems that use Second Life as part of their educational programs.  Learn more by visiting the conference website.

The Virtual World Best Practices in Education (VWPBE) conference originated from the 2007 Second Life Best Practices in Education Conference. Educators are one of the most vibrant and growing groups in Second Life with an outreach to more than 6,000 SL residents.

For additional information and interviews, please contact;
Marty Keltz  (Marty Snowpaw, SL,  Vice-Chair, Program Committee)
1-416-587-3381
Email: marty.keltz@gmail.com

You can register here. Registration is free to all conference attendees.

By now you’ve all read the IBM case study and know that internal meetings within Second Life work well. But, what happens when you have many people coming together from across the globe from different organizations? More importantly, what happens when nearly everyone attending has never set a virtual foot into Second Life? Well, the technical, cultural, and usability challenges can potentially cause an SL event to take a turn for the worst.

But, thankfully, when the Trade Promotion Management Associates, or TPMA held an event in Second Life last month for 160 attendees representing manufacturing, retail, and industry analyst firms, the event went off without a hitch—in great part to the work of Grondstedt Group, TPMA’s inworld partner. Grondstedt led all participants through a 30-minute training session and all speakers and exhibitors through a 60-minute training session to ensure that when the conference day arrived, everyone was ready to walk, talk, text chat, and participate in this new virtual event experience.
When I read this story in Virtual World News, I had to find out more. And, so, I asked Diane M. Berry, the CEO of the TPMA for her thoughts on how the event went. Here are three questions for Diane and her responses:

Amanda: “What was the most pleasantly surprising thing about your inworld meeting?”

Diane: “I was pleasantly surprised with our entire experience: First, the number of registrants who were interested in attending the TPMA Brownbag event on Second Life surpassed our expectations; second, our partnership with The Gronstedt Group, which made attendance easy through many training sessions for speakers, attendees and our staff, and using their “real estate,” an “island” on Second Life, as well as their creation of booths, etc.; and thirdly the lack of technical difficulties. We felt the conference went off without a hitch.  I was also pleasantly surprised that, just as you have in a live meeting, at the end of our sessions we had people lingering in groups, chatting together. Our organizations foster collaboration between retailers and suppliers; this was highly valuable because it was highly collaborative.”

Amanda: “What was the most difficult or challenging aspect?”

Diane: “The Gronstedt Group removed I would say all of the technically challenging aspects. On the non-technical side, however, there is still a lack of knowledge and awareness of Second Life, so that was a bit of a hurdle for us with speakers and sponsors.  That said, the novelty of introducing people to Second Life is very rewarding, both from a personal standpoint and from a thought-leadership, image standpoint for TPMA.  One disappointment was not knowing precisely who was in attendance as attendees naturally used their avatar names; similarly, we had a bit more drop off from registration to attendance than one normally sees, most likely due to the complexity of registering, creating an avatar, and joining the meeting.”

Amanda: “Do you believe that the meeting was less productive/as productive/more productive than a real world meeting–in terms of the ideas, collaboration, and action plans? Tell me why.”

Diane: “I would say the TPMA meeting was more productive than any virtual conference our organizations, VCF and TPMA have attended or run, including webinars, because it is such an immersive experience; attendees have the responsibility of responding to their avatar’s surroundings, including other individuals, so there is some “social pressure” to pay attention. The entire experience approaches the value of an in-person meeting, but there really is no substitute for developing relationships through in-person, shared experiences, and I believe these must be mixed into every organization’s marketing program. In today’s difficult economic environment, it may be more viable for companies to run Second Life conferences which avoid the cost of travel and provide the closest thing I’ve experienced to an in-person meeting.”

Wow. Need I say more?

Big thanks to Diane at the TPMA and to Anders at Gronstedt.

I’m very happy to have the opportunity today to share our newest case study–The Open University’s Place for Us: Providing Geographically Dispersed Students & Faculty A Place to Meet and Learn Together.

My deep appreciation for the Open University predates my incarnation as Claudia Linden by several years. As a former distance & e-learning consultant, I’ve always kept an eye on the innovative Open University. They pioneered the idea of distance learning in 1969 on a grand scale. And in the UK, they’ve been pioneering the creative use of Second Life in Education for over three years now. Attending the Open U’s ReLIVE08 (Researching Learning in Virtual Environments) conference was a high point of my presentation schedule for 2008. I was thrilled to witness such a mature Second Life education community in action, sharing their best practices.

We’re excited to get the word out more widely about what the Open University has done to date in Second Life–pioneering a contextual learning curriculum and fostering student and faculty community engagement. And we look forward to where their work in Second Life will lead next

Greetings!

The insanely great inworld conference Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education will be taking place in Second Life this year on March 12th and 13th.  Last year’s conference was a big hit, and this year’s is shaping up to be even better.

I sat down with Marty Snowpaw, one of the VWBPE 2010 Executive Committee Members, to learn more.

Pathfinder: Can you talk a bit about why you chose the theme, “Imagination Around the World,” and why you feel imagination is so important?

Marty: Imagination is naturally associated with creativity – an ability that is universal and transcends all barriers of language, race, culture, and religion.  Stimulating imagination and creativity then is the ideal way to bring people together to share experience and knowledge.   The VWBPE conference strives to do just that, giving participants the opportunity to share their enthusiasm for using virtual world technology to teach, train, learn, and build community.

The premiere VWBPE conference in 2007 was the first of its kind, with over 1,500 avatars participating, and it has been capturing people’s imaginations ever since.  Last year, there were over 3,600 participants from around the world

Pathfinder: What do you mean by “grassroots” and “community-based?” How have Second Life and other virtual worlds helped facilitate this approach, and why is it significant?

Marty: The idea for an international conference on education in virtual worlds was born after a group of educators visited the first large conference center built in Second Life. It was an amazing build designed to accommodate large events.  One of those educators, Desirderida Stockton (SL), talked about how exciting it would be to bring educators together for a conference in the space.  It was from this small group of people, working at a grassroots level to spread the word and excitement that the first 24-hour conference, emerged.

Not much has changed since that first spark was ignited.  People are still hungry to gather, discuss, and share their ideas about using virtual reality as a tool for education.  We share our knowledge and experiences, and talk about what works and what doesn’t work. It is an amazing community of people who have a common interest.

Pathfinder: I notice that you have expanded the breadth and scope of the conference to encourage global participation. How do you expect this to change the kind of proposals and presentations you receive, and how do you plan to handle the language barriers?  Your FAQ page says you are accepting proposals in French, Portuguese, German, Chinese (Mandarin) as well as English.

Marty: The conference has always attracted a global audience.   The difference this year is that we are now able to start making the conference more enjoyable for those whose first language is not English. Participants could choose to present in their own language this year. In addition to the Portuguese tract, there will  be one in German as well. In the social and orientation areas of the conference , multi-lingual mentors will be available, though service cannot be guaranteed 24/7.  We are making a conscious effort to encourage participation by those in all times zones by holding the conference for 48 continuous hours. Information about the proposal stream this year has been disseminated in Portuguese, German, French, and Chinese. We plan to continue to improve future conferences based on feedback and ideas from participants as technology improves.

Pathfinder: Outstanding.  Thanks for sharing all that info!

I’ll be speaking at the conference, along with M, Claudia and Terrence from Linden Lab.  Other well-known educators and academics on the schedule include David Gibson, Tom Boellstorff, Guy Merchant, Randall Holmes, Karl Knapp,Tony O’Driscoll, Barry Joseph, Mark Worlf, Joeff Chafer, Lindy McKoewn, Peggy Sheehy and more.

I love statistics and data, so here are few tasty ones:

• VWBPE has received 150 proposals from around the world on best practices for education in virtual worlds.
• The Conference will be held on 20 regions in Second Life.
• Portions of VWBPE will be broadcast live via Treet TV to an audience of up to 60,000 viewers.
• People will be able to tune-in via the web.
• 100 volunteers will work together to make the conference succeed..
• Expected participants: between 4,000 and 5,000 in Second Life.
• Expected number of people who pre-register: 200.
• The conference will be 48 hours of continuous conference proceedings - the equivalent of 6 days - making this one of the largest education events in the world.
• Total budget for VWBPE is expected to be under $10,000 USD and covered completely through sponsorship.
• Sponsors who have made this conference free for all to attend:
  • Gold Sponsor
    • Market Truths Limited and Metaverse Books
  • Silver Sponsors
    • Southern Tier HealthLink NY
    • Memorial University
  • Bronze Sponsor
    • Rockcliffe University Consortium

See you inworld, and take care,
-Pathfinder Linden