Tour of NOAA in Second Life

Monday, March 2, 2009
1:00 p.m. - 1:50 p.m.
KCELT 153 Computer Classroom

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has created one of the best builds I've seen in Second Life. They're using this virtual world to present earth science concepts in three-dimensional immersive experiences for the general public. Flying a plane into a hurricane, riding a weather balloon or watching the development of a tsunami are just a few of the exhibits that your avatar can interact with.

Brandon Lynge will be our guide and he will explain how NOAA uses the virtual world of Second Life to present scientific data in two and three dimensions.

We will be projecting this tour onto the big screen, so you don't need an avatar to attend. If you decide to navigate the tour in Second Life, just meet us in the courtyard on NOAA's Meteora island. Click here for the SLurl. This will open a Web page with the teleport.

I hope you can join us on Monday for the tour.

Link a Second Life Object to a Web Page

Second Life and Lunch Meeting
Monday, February 23, 2009, 1-1:50pm
KCELT 153 Computer Classroom or join us virtually

At Monday's Second Life and Lunch we're going to get into scripting! Don't worry, no experience with scripting is necessary. I'm going to show the group how to put a simple script into an object and modify it to open a Web page when the object is touched. This is an excellent tool for teachers.

Please remember to sign up on for this KCELT session on the Kirkwood Web site. KCELT needs this for scheduling purposes. If you're an instructor, you'll need to do this in order to get professional renewal credit. You can find instructions here.

I hope to see you on Monday. Bring your lunch, bring a friend and don't forget your password!

Kit Umscheid (KitUmscheid Writer in Second Life)

Second Life and Lunch: Tour of the SciLands

Monday, February 16, 2009
1:00 p.m. - 1:50 p.m.
KCELT 153 Computer Classroom

50 science-related islands are linked together in Second Life to form the SciLands. Our tour will include a background on how the SciLands were created, a visit to the SciLands orientation area and the International Spaceflight Museum (a favorite of our tour guide, Jeffrey Corbin, Physics and Astronomy at University of Denver and co-founder of the SciLands.

You can find out more about the SciLands at www.scilands.org

If you decide to join us virtually, you will need voice chat enabled in order to hear our tour guide who will be on speakerphone.

We will be projecting the tour onto the big screen in the KCELT computer classroom, so you don't need an avatar to attend, but please sign up for this meeting on the KCELT Web site if you are Kirkwood faculty or staff.

I hope to see you there!

Instructions to Start a Group Chat

If you missed the Second Life and Lunch meeting yesterday, don't worry. I've loaded the instructions for starting a Group Chat to our group wiki. You can find that page here.

Group Chat is a great way to communicate with members in the group outside of meetings.

Second Life and Lunch: Practice Group Chat

Monday, February 9, 2009
1:00 p.m. - 1:50 p.m.
KCELT computer classroom or join us virtually

Have you ever logged into Second Life and wondered if anyone else from the Kirkwood Second Life Group was logged in at the same time? There's a way to find out. At Monday's Second Life and Lunch you'll learn how to start a group chat no matter where you are. If you haven't already, make sure you've joined our in-world group before the meeting. Instructions are on the right side panel of our blog.

Remember to sign up on the KCELT web site before the meeting. I hope to see you there!

Ohio University SL Tour on YouTube

Last year Christopher Keesey, Project Manager of Marketing and Learning Applications at Ohio University gave our group a tour of their Second Life campus. That tour is now available on our group's YouTube channel. This tour has a lot of information for any college considering creating a presence in the virtual world of Second Life.