VEJ Executive Editor: Roxie Neiro (SL), Rosie Vojtek (RL)
VEJ Design Editor: BJ Gearbox (SL), Bob Vojtek (RL)
Makeover Magic Columnist: Mewtenie (SL)
VWEC Columnists: Becky Adams, Ph.D (RL), Elli Pinion (SL) Valerie Hill, Ph.D (RL), Valibrarian Gregg (SL) Cover by BJ Gearbox (SL), Bob Vojtek (RL)
Hello Everyone
It is GREAT to be back! And from all of our readers who have been waiting in the wings begging us to publish more issues of VEJ… and, to our friends who have shared how glad you are that we are back in Second Life… we are really glad to be back, but, we are even happier that you missed us! We have been having so much fun recon necting with you in RL and SL.
Five years flew by so quickly, and, yet as we have reentered Second Life and tried to pick up where we left off, so much has changed! One example, upgrading your avatar with a new mesh body, shape, skins and wearables! Poor Roxie needs a lot of love, and help! Thank goodness for Mewtenie and Beth Ghosthaven who have recently shared a lot of resources: Beth at VWMOOC24 and VWER; and, Mewtenie in this issue of VEJ and with her presentation on November 14, 2024 at VWER.
Upon our return to SL we were saddened to find some of our favorite venues gone. But, alas, we have been having fun exploring some of the new venues! Josain Zsun has brought back Cryus Hush’s Expositions and updated the SLurls. VWEC is in the process of updating and adding information for their directories.
Philip Rosedale, aka Philip Linden (SL) is back and poised to breathe new life into Second Life Meanwhile, the Linden team and Moles have been working overtime to create new houses for paid subscribers on Bellisseria and a beautiful new Welcome Hub and Community Exhibition area. Although the Welcome Hub is designed to help newcomers get acclimated in SL, there is something there for everyone! My personal favorite is the Community Exhibition where you can “Find Your Place… Find Your People… Find Your Community.” This is what creating a Digital Tapestry is all about!
Meeting friends for SL in RL is a highlight for all of us.
My life is but a weaving Between my God and me. I cannot choose the colors He weaveth steadily. Oft’ times He weaveth sorrow; And I in foolish pride Forget He sees the upper And I the underside. Not ’til the loom is silent And the shuttles cease to fly Will God unroll the canvas And reveal the reason why. The dark threads are as needful In the weaver’s skillful hand As the threads of gold and silver In the pattern He has planned He knows, He loves, He cares; Nothing this truth can dim. He gives the very best to those Who leave the choice to Him.
"The Tapestry Poem," often attributed to Holocast activist Corrie Ten Boom (author of “The Hiding Place” 1892 - 1983), was actually called “The Weaver” written by Grant Colfax Tullar (1869-1959).
BJ and I had the wonderful opportunity in October to learn in person from Dae Miami about his work with dinosaurs and paleontology when he came to visit us for a couple of days. We explored the Peabody Museum and Dinosaur State Park in RL and experienced his virtual work using unity and VR with dinosaurs and early and late Paleozoic simulations.
In designing the cover for this issue of VEJ, BJ Gearbox and I had a lot of fun using AI to imagine and create digital tapestry images. Be sure to check out his article, “Covering the Cover” because if you haven’t tried this yet, we are sure you will have a lot of fun playing with AI!
After learning that the theme for this issue is “Digital Tapestry,” Mewtenie shared with me one of her favorite quotes from her SL profile picks listing Muddy’s Music Cafe. “In the tapestry of life, friends are the threads that weave strength, communities are the patterns that give meaning, and bonds are the seams that hold it all together” (author unknown). Talk about a coincidence. This quote is an inspiration that adds depth to the meaning of the tapestry of life and our understanding of Digital Tapestry.
Now, more than ever, as our real lives continue to evolve, unravel, and everything seems so uncertain, Digital Tapestry seems more important than ever for our RL and SL. As I wrote “Weaving the Digital Tapestry” for this issue of VEJ, I came across what is commonly known as “The Tapestry Poem.” It was shared worldwide by Holocaust survivor, Corrie Ten Boom. However, it was actually written by Grant Colfax Tullar, titled “The Weaver”. Now, however, more than ever, this poem is still relevant for us today. Because of the results from recent worldwide elections, including the USA November 2024 election, and the
raging unrest and the current wars around the world, it has incredible meaning for me and perhaps for you. I share The Tapestry Poem (aka, The Weaver) with you during these turbulent times in the hope that if you, like me, are asking yourself existential questions, it may help calm the waters of fear and guide you in finding peace and meaning in your own life.
We are very excited about the contents in this issue of VEJ. I don’t have enough room to mention them all, but each of the articles in this issue continue to help us understand how much our lives and shared experiences are woven together. As “Weaving our Digital Tapestry” concludes, “ Together, these threads weave the individuality of each of us with the complexity and color of our shared collaborations, experiences, and communities to create a beautiful, artistic digital tapestry… leaving behind our digital footprints… sharing our collective legacy.”
So go ahead, dig in, devour every morsel, enjoy every byte, and most of all be sure to share this issue of VEJ with your colleagues and friends!
As always, be sure to VEJ - Out of This World!, and,
Keep Smiling
Roxie Neiro (SL), Rosie Vojtek (RL)
By Roxie Neiro (SL), RoseAnne O’Brien Vojtek, PhD(RL)
My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue
An everlasting vision of the ever-changing view
A wond'rous woven magic in bits of blue and gold A tapestry to feel and see, impossible to hold.
Carole King, “Tapestry,” from the Tapestry Album, 1971.
For centuries weavers have used the art of creating tapestries to share and archive rich and vivid stories. For example, during the medieval period in Europe, tapestries were hung on castle walls not only as an art form depicting stories, but to help keep out the cold and make the castle feel warmer.
A tapestry can be defined as “a picture woven into cloth. It's a decorative rug you hang on the wall, with detailed images or designs on it.” Tapestries are complex, multi-layered, and rich designs that create patterns and stories often used as wall hangings, curtains, or to upholster furniture.
Sarah Mallory, The Met, 2014, explains the process of creating a tapestry by writing, “Think of a tapestry as a grid composed of threads that are fixed on a large frame (known as a loom). The vertical threads are known as warps, and the horizontal threads are known as wefts. The wefts are actually a collection of lots of separate pieces of wool or silk threads, all in different colors. A tapestry is made by repeatedly weaving the horizontal (weft) threads over and under
the vertical (warp) threads, then squishing (or tamping) those horizontal threads down so they are very close together, thus completely hiding the vertical threads from view.”
Not only does tapestry define a tangible complex and multi-layered art piece, but it has metaphorically been used as a figurative device to describe something that is a multi-layered “complex combination of events, people, or things” such as a tapestry of history, culture, memories, ideas, and life (Oxford Learners Dictionaries).
The Cambridge English Dictionary provides another use of tapestry, suggesting that it is for describing “something that is made of many different parts.” For example: “The instruments blend together, weaving tapestries of sound, while the pace of the music changes constantly;” or, “They all have contributed to the rich tapestry of mankind.” (Cambridge Dictionary).
unique and who we are.
But, for each of us, our individuality is only part of the fabric of our lives. Each time we interact with another person, a new thread is introduced and woven into the story of our lives. It is the social interconnectedness, cultural history, and shared experiences that ebb and flow, that weave together the colors of our collective special moments and the events of our lives.
The internet more than anything else during our lifetime has connected us in ways we could never have imagined 50 years ago. Likewise, so too, has the melding of cultures and people in virtual worlds, such as Second Life, online gaming, social media, and other virtual environments. Each has added new and differ-
Across the Internet are numerous poems and quotes about the “Tapestry of Life,” explaining how every person is a thread, every thread has a purpose, and within the tapestry of life we are all connected.
Each of our lives is a journey, and as Carole King describes in her song, “My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue…,” and so too, are each of our lives. Our own tapestries are woven and intertwined with colorful multi-layered and complex threads of knowledge, understandings, experiences, skills, emotions, dispositions, and memories making each of us
ent digital thread colors and textures emerging from our global interactions, geographical boundaries, and the historical similarities and divisions among people, places, and their cultures.
In a YouTube video, BioTech Whisperer shares, “Weaving the digital world with the artistry of a digital tapestry encapsulates the intricate process of integrating technology seamlessly into the fabric of our lives. It signifies the harmonious blending of innovation, creativity, and connectivity to craft a rich interconnected landscape” (Weaving the Digital World with the
Artistry of Digital Tapestry, January 4, 2024).
Each traditional Google and AI search, every Meta (formaly Facebook) and Instagram connection, and every Youtube video, “X” (formerly Twitter), and online game provides yet another form of digital exploration and socialization, adding to the complexity of our life tapestry. Together, these digital threads harmonize
with our physical, virtual and/or avatar being and provide the myriad of experiences to the depth of our existence that are found in our unique life tapestries.
Like woven threads, our digital threads are merely disjointed patterns without a sense of purpose: why they are here; how do they belong; and what makes them interconnected, intertwined, and meaningful to the tapestry design?
Technology has become ubiquitous. Digital footprints are being left everywhere. Using technology in our everyday lives is all too often a lonely, isolating, and disconnected experience for many people, especially our youth. It becomes even more troubling when our young people are over exposed through long hours of use and often unsupervised. They are exposed to social media in a variety of contexts and situations that often allow violence, bullying, and other forms of cruelty and hatred.
One only has to question what effect this is having not only on physical and mental growth, but also the impact it has on learning and brain development. Currently a number of states and countries are beginning to ban and/or limit the use of cell phones in schools to attempt to curb the hours of use, create a healthy
learning environment, and improve the culture and quality of life for everyone during the school day. It is extremely important for students to focus on what is happening in their physical classrooms so they can develop empathy and social skills, strengthen their communication and leadership skills, hone their emotional intelligence, and become better citizens by respecting and celebrating the uniqueness and diversity of each other. But, unfortunately, what happens in the physical classroom is only half of the picture.
By taking away cell phones and other technology devices we have left students to fend for themselves in online and digital environments. Without structured learning experiences and opportunities for students to acquire the appropriate etiquette and master the same real world skills mentioned above in online and digital environments, we have left students to traverse the metaverse on their own. It thus becomes hit or miss, with some students becoming successful and others becoming more isolated, loney, and disconnected. Far too often they find themselves in situations that are inappropriate for their age, violent, cruel, filled with hatred or worse. Most importantly, by not providing direct instruction and learning opportunities to help learners of all ages become global citizens we are depriving them of learning the imperative skills of cultural diversity, global and cultural awareness, critical thinking, empathy and caring. Every learner, old and young, needs to learn how to navigate and use digital information as informed connoisseurs. In other words, just as in the real world, to become successful and productive global citizens, we must all find ways to collaborate together while living, working, and
playing with others as members of a shared digital community.
All of us, especially educators, need to make sure when we are helping learners both young and old, learn to navigate online and digital environments, that we do all we can to create safe spaces for students to learn, explore, and grow both personally and professionally. This has to happen not only in physical classrooms, but within the digital worlds and environments as well.
Ultimately, it comes down to establishing safe learning communities with strong cultures based on positive norms, attitudes, structures, and processes. Every student, every person young or old, deserves to belong to communities of kindred spirits and shared learning interests and goals that are safe and risk free. These communities must establish a climate of respect and trust, build relationships, and ensure every one is actively engaged as a member of the community and feels a sense of belonging through social interactions. They must also teach people how to help maintain and sustain the communities they belong to and/or to establish and build shared communities with other like-minded users as well.
Educators using online digital learning tools have struggled with how to create a climate and culture that is conducive to learning for their students. To leverage high quality learning in a digital space educators must take the time to build a community of learners by building relationships, interdependence, trust, a sense of belonging, and a shared purpose. We must find ways to help learners communicate and build their
own leadership skills and capacities to become the best they can be both in world across the metaverse and in the real world.
We are no longer living only in the real world…. We are travelers exploring in digital worlds and settings throughout the metaverse. We are active weavers influencing the emerging patterns and digital designs from interactions with the fabrics of our existence. We ALL have our feet in both, as we move in and out of grids, platforms and apps across the universe, leaving a legacy of footprints, both digital and real.
The digital community is a tapestry that documents the patterns, draws the pictures, and tells the stories that together we, members of the community, share. The textures of a global society become the fabric that is woven through the seamless integration of technology. Like artists, users blend their passions with creativity and innovation to create a narrative that is built pixel by pixel, and over time creates a digital tapestry.
Second Life has been around for over twenty years, with the first beta version beginning in October 2003. It provides a variety of activities for people, through their avatars, to experience alone or with
others. Anything you can do in real life you can do in Second Life. Just as in real life there are places that are: general (G) for anyone, others that are moderate (M); and, some for adults (A).
fabric.
At first glance, the Second Life map on the previous page, shows a mosaic of colored tiles, with hues of green, brown and blue that have very little meaning.
However, if you zoom in closer you begin to see shapes and definitions of lakes, fields, piers, and houses. If you were to go a step further, you could click a spot on the map and teleport to that spot. Once you land, you might discover someone’s house, a shopping center, an airport, a live concert with people/avatars, or anything else you would find in real life.
There is a search feature in the Second Life browser, as well as other browsers such as Firestorm, that allow users to find like minded residents, with places to play and learn, in a variety of communities.
Second Life provides users with opportunities to enrich their lives through creativity, innovation, learning, and collaboration with others. As noted above, Second Life residents weave their own digital threads from their experiences, events, and interactions with people, places, and cultures. However, the richness, complexity and multi-layered beauty found in the intricate designs and patterns within an individual’s tapestry are enhanced by immersive experiences and interconnectedness with others through relationships, shared experiences, collective goals, and memories. An individual tapestry becomes richer and more complex because of the different threads woven into the
Likewise, a community's tapestry is multi-layered and complex, with deeper and richer hues and textures because of the interconnectedness, relationships, cultures, experiences, events, histories and memories of the members of the community.
If we think about how a tapestry as a whole is affected by events that impact the individual threads, or groups of threads, we realize that what happens to one, happens to all. If threads become torn or stained, the entire tapestry is altered. The same holds true for
communities and humanity. When one person or a group of people have experiences that change them in any way, collective humanity shifts as a result.
We are the children of the metaverse! We have the ability to teleport and hypergrid to other digital environments, places and spaces. We can literally see and learn more in a few minutes than our parents and grandparents were able to accomplish in their entire lives.
But, we are at a critical crossroad. We stand gaping at the new horizon with no clue what lies ahead. There is excitement and fear as we consider how little we know about AI, VR, and AR and where the use of these and other digital tools will lead us or how they might impact our lives. Will the digital footprints we
leave behind provide the foundations for what is to come? What are the digital threads that will connect us as we traverse through the vast metaverse on this incredible journey into the land of tomorrow? What are the digital fibers that will connect us with the past and lead us into the future?
We understand that whether our explorations and learnings are purposeful and directed, or informal, experiential, and explorative, we are traveling together. As we move across the digital terrain, we are not only weaving our own digital tapestry but a collective, global digital tapestry that is shared with and by the entire online community.
Each brilliantly colored thread plays a unique role in contributing to the whole… just as each human plays an equally important role in building and creating community. It is our interconnectedness, our relationships, and our social bonds as members of a community that weave our patterns, pictures, and stories to form our collective legacy and leave a beautiful digital tapestry for others to see and learn from. For a limited time, while we are here, we are
able to make a unique difference in the future.
We each have our own life tapestry. Together, through our shared experiences, collaboration, and memberships in various communities both in the real world and in online and digital environments our lives are woven together. Our individual threads are the warps. The weft threads are the shared experiences and communities that we belonged to. Woven together, the weft (horizontal) threads are woven under and over the warp (vertical) threads, as we travel to digital platforms, explore online environments, and hypergrid across the metaverse. Together, these threads weave the individuality of each of us with the complexity and color of our shared collaborations, experiences, and communities to create a beautiful, artistic digital tapestry… leaving behind our digital footprints… sharing our collective legacy.
Our primary goal at VEJ and our “WHY” for relaunching the Virtual Education Journal with our FALL 2024 issue of VEJ, is to find the threads, discover the patterns, and share the pictures and stories from the digital tapestries that are being created in online platforms and throughout the metaverse. We take and share the responsibility for helping to archive the life, work and play that is being done in digital places, virtual worlds, and online environments across the metaverse.
Remember, VEJ is only as good as we all make it, so we encourage you to tell your stories, share your pictures and memories. It is up to all of us to display our footprints, preserve our digital legacies, and share our digital tapestries in future issues of VEJ. We look forward to hearing from you.
By BJ Greabox (SL), Bob Vojtek, PhD
Let me explain... I struggle with every issue to create a cover that aligns with the theme of the VEJ issue that we are creating. My knowledge of the tools I use to create the cover expanded and deepened as we produced each issue. When we went on hiatus with VEJ, I had no time to pay attention to anything but work. To say my skills went rusty is an understatement!
Relaunching VEJ was a monumental task for Roxie and me. Relearning Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, CorelDraw, and Rhino were agonizing. The enhancements to these products are significant.
I would remember a technique and after several Google searches I would find text and videos explaining how to accomplish it. It takes hours! On top of that we needed a website that would support VEJ. Before I retired, I always had talented people on my team that had website building skills. NOT ANYMORE.
So when Roxie and I would discuss the theme and how to capture it in a cover, we had a lot of good ideas but I had these rusty skills attempting to accomplish it. With Digital Tapestry as the theme we had a concept, but bringing that concept to fruition was another story. I searched stock photo sites online looking for tapestries with little success. What to do? I had no idea how to “build” a tapestry with my skill set.
Struggle… struggle… struggle… aha moment! In schools we were trying to ensure AI had a place, but the right place. I was on the side of holding the line of what was appropriate for students. Now it was my turn. What can AI do for me?
I turned to ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot for help,
to see what these free versions of tools can do for me. My concept was a tapestry created from fiber optic cable with blue-white light emanating from the ends.
My prompt was, "A photo-realistic image of a tapestry woven with fiber optic cables as both the warp and weft threads. The tapestry has a complex, intricate weave." The cover is one of those variations from ChatGPT and DALL-E. I added dimensions to get the image as a ratio of the cover dimensions without luck. So I took “my” creation and opened it in Photoshop and used Generative Fill to increase the width of the background expanding the existing colors. The cover of this issue is the result!
Roxie used other examples of AI generated images in her article Weaving Our Digital Tapestry.
The bad news was I went down the AI rabbit hole! What else could I do with the concept of tapestry and fiber optic cable? Here are some of the results. So, if you are intrigued, I suggest you try some prompts just for fun. I’ve included the prompt I used for each image in this article… ENJOY.
Microsoft Copilot promp- "Fiber optic strands as the warp and weft of a tapestry with blue-white glowing exposed ends." t
DALL·E prompt - "A photo-realistic image of a tapestry woven with fiber optic cables as both the warp and woof threads. The tapestry has a complex, intricate weave."
Photoshop Generate Image prompt - "make it look like woven fabric" using VEJ HQ as a reference.
Microsoft Copilot prompt"a tapestry woven from fiber optic cable, emitting a blue white glow".
DALL·E prompt - "A scene featuring a brick building floating in outer space with a dark, star-filled background. The building should have a cosmic glow as if illuminated," using VEJ HQ as a reference.
Photoshop - Generate Image using prompt, "heart, hope, thread digital fiber optic tapestry."
Photoshop - Generate Image using prompt, "rainbow light with fiber optic caable tapestry."
Photoshop - Generate Image using prompt, "paint, strokes, splash, sunset fiber optics tapestry."
Just for fun... Photoshop - Generate Image using prompt, " Halloween scene with blood, skeleton, bats, and pumpkin fiber optic cable tapestry."
By Roxie Neiro (SL), Rosie Vojtek, PhD (RL)
Meet the Entrepreneurs Behind WIC Foods Restaurants & Catering. Featuring Jennifer Steele Wilder along with two of her co-owners, Elsmere Hecate WIC and SamSpy Wilder.
A couple of weeks ago I began getting notifications from the SL Fine Dining Group, Sender WIC Foods. Needless to say, I was very intrigued and wanted to know more. The note said:
WIC Foods Restaurants & Catering offers many options for you to take that somebody special, your family, or the gang for a dining experience they'll never forget! We offer PAY AS YOU DINE, casual, family and formal dining, as well as self-serve or book a full roleplay reservation! We're also adding more and more daily live servers for walk-in service! Our UP TO DATE location notecard is attached!
It came with an attachment which explained:
WIC Foods Restaurants & Catering for MyStory, Xeolife & Regular Dining. Each location is a wonderful and Unique Experience! Take that special somebody to one of our locations today!
ALL of our locations have self-serve tables and floating RP (roleplay) staff (reservations for RP required). Contact WICFoods Resident or go to our Discord
to reserve OR walk in any time 24-7 and take advantage of our pay as you dine selfserve.
The notecard also listed the current locations and stated there will be more to come. So, curious as I was, I teleported to several of them and was truly amazed at the high quality and attention to detail at the different venues. Obviously, I wanted to know more about WIC Foods & Catering, so I contacted Jennifer Steele Wilder to learn more about this Second Life business.
Jennifer Steele Wilder along with two of her co-owners, Elsmere Hecate WIC and SamSpy Wilder agreed to an interview. It is my pleasure to introduce you to Jennifer, Elsmere, and SamSpy and share with you their exciting SL business ventures.
Roxie: Thank you for taking the time to talk with me today. Let’s start by having you tell us who you are, what you do in Second Life (SL) and Real Life (RL).
Elsmere: WIC Foods… WIC standing for Women In Culinary, is the culmination of talents from 3 people in SL. I, Elsmere Hecate WIC, am the founder and CEO of WIC Foods and plate designer. Jennifer Steele Wilder, is our COO, scripter and food designer, and SamSpy Wilder, is our CFO, HR, and policies. All three of us are RL retired Red Seal Award winning Chefs who have studied and worked in culinary for over 40 years each.
Roxie: WOW! I didn’t realize that I was sitting here with such an award winning team! Earning the Red Seal is a BIG deal! It indicates that you have demonstrated the knowledge and that each of you promotes excellence to employers, instills pride in skilled workers, and facilitates labor mobility, and in your case, especially the women of your profession. Congratulations on such fine
careers!
Elsmere: Thank-you so much! Jennifer has won the most awards among us, from Nestle Risotto challenges to a Michelin Star when she was an Executive Chef.
Roxie: Again, Congratulations to all 3 of you! So, I am assuming that because of your RL work, you have brought that into SL. Tell us more about your work in SL.
Elsmere: In SL, I work exclusively on WIC FOODS. Sam does sim security, runs Wilder Tech with Jennifer, and oversees the financial interests of WIC FOODS. Jennifer has many businesses in SL, including Chef's House, which WIC Foods acquired in 2023.
Roxie: Sounds like the three of you are really busy! Are you still working in RL, too?
Elsmere: In Real Life, I am fully retired and my entire focus is on the work we are doing in SL. I will be coming out with a virtual cookbook and cooking system for home cooks in SL by 2026. Jennifer is semiretired. She still does some RL catering and RL renovations and is also an award winning real-life fine artist. By 2025 she will be fully retired and working on her RL art and virtual world goals. Sam is semi-retired, but continues her RL security company and plans to fully retire in 2027/28
bringing back full time involvement on the development team.
WIC Foods doesn't just have the goal to be the top provider of food services in SL but also focuses on helping women in business in SL find their path to success.
Roxie: That is AWESOME! I am so glad to hear you are also focusing on helping women in business be successful in SL. Hold that thought as we will want to hear more about that in future issues of VEJ! In the meantime, Jennifer, you have been in Second Life for more than 17 years (January 2, 2007 Rez Day). What brought you to Second Life, how do you spend your time, and what keeps you in Second Life?
Jennifer: Sam and I arrived in SL at the same time. Being friends in RL, we both decided to join together with 20 other Wilders who all joined pretty much on the same day. Our intention was to create a virtual community for our then RL radio show - The Saturday Rant (which is coming back in 2025). I quickly picked up the scripting and building skills in SL and Sam took on marketing and management. We then started the two companies Wilder Tech and Chef's House. I also established a gallery for my RL fine art, The Jennifer Steele Gallery. Elsmere, joined SL just over four years ago with the sole intention of bringing real culinary experiences into virtual worlds. What keeps all of us in Second Life is our dedication to creating realistic experiences in Second Life with regard to culinary and exploration. Each of us have a passion for constantly improving on all of our businesses and inspiring others to have an active interest in the culinary both IRL and SL.
Roxie: The three of you are amazing! I don’t know how you can juggle so many balls at once! You seem to be keeping them all up in the air. But, do you face any challenges with your work in SL?
Jennifer: One of the challenges we constantly encounter is staffing, which prompted us to make our systems predominantly SELF SERVE. But, full reservation services are coming back in
the winter of this year. In our catering services we have a catering staff that serves the guests personally with our full menu or course service. It was quite a challenge to write a system that can serve many people at the same time without lag, but we mastered that. We serve small, intimate dining events all the way up to large royal weddings with 80 plus guests.
Roxie: WOW! That has to be a huge challenge to make sure all of the guests at any event are served without any issues!
Jennifer: Yes, and of course, Second Life is a very dynamic environment with people coming and going all the time. So, designing a system that doesn't rely on staffing 100% means dining is available 24/7 every day of the year with no need for reservations. We're hoping as the cooler months start to roll in and people spend more time in SL we'll develop into a large staff for every location, but again relying entirely on staffing isn't the best way to maintain a system that is always available to diners.
Roxie: Especially, as you said, SL is 24/7 around the clock. It has to be challenging to find staff willing to work at all hours of the day and/or staff who live in different time zones. That being said, I have always
felt that food brings people together and enhances any social and learning experiences both virtually and in real life. Just like in-person events, whenever I help plan and organize events in SL, I always make sure we include food and beverages. It is a great way to help newcomers learn how to get things out of their inventories and to purchase items.
Since the theme of this issue of VEJ is “Digital Tapestry” it is only fitting that anything, especially food, that helps build bonds and relationships, establishes norms, cultures, and shared experiences, and creates a community, is critical for designing and weaving a digital tapestry. Tell us about WIC Foods Restaurants and Catering, how it/you got started, and your goals and plans for the future.
Elsmere: WIC Foods was started by myself, simply to design automated eating for both Xeolife and MyStory as well as regular diners. Jennifer already had Chef's House, which is geared toward commercial dining equipment - restaurants, hotels, catering and so forth. We combined the two businesses and decided to focus on realistic dining experiences. Our current system in SL took us a year and a half to develop and test for the most realistic
dining experience in SL. We currently have 15 dine-in restaurant locations and 18 takeout locations. We also offer our services for special events with popup restaurants and takeout counters to keep MyStory and Xeolife people charged up and at the events.
Coming up, we have several irons in the fire that we're working on as well as expanding our current systems. We are developing a cooking HUD to realistically teach people in SL how to cook in a way that they can apply those skills in RL. We are also developing a full roleplay food delivery system that is going to be similar to apps like DoorDash. We will also be developing a home version of our restaurant system. This will spawn WIC Foods grocery stores, our own WIC Foods HUD, Chef Training Centers, and some surprises that we think SL will enthusiastically embrace.
Roxie: That is amazing! I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am to hear all of your ideas. From my first days in SL I have purchased food and drink items for my house, our VEJ office, and for parties and socials - some that work better than others, I must add. My inventory is full of items! But, a grocery store and DoorDash… WOW! I also think it is exciting to have Chef Training Centers to provide simulations and
experiential learning in a safe environment like SL.
I do have a question. Can you please explain “MyStory” and “Xeolife” HUDs? I hadn’t heard of them until I visited your Walk-N-Eat Takeout terminal and they were each one of three choices for how to interact with the system. I didn’t know what they were, so I just paid L$20 for a Mocha Boba.
Jennifer: MyStory & Xeolife are what we call SIMS HUDs. They simulate real life needs - hunger, thirst, hygiene, social, health, happiness, and so forth. You do various things with the HUDs to level up your skills and stats. At each level you can do more. It’s very much like playing The Sims, and a lot of people comment it adds that missing element to SL that keeps people coming back.
Roxie: Thank you. I will have to try it! I must say, from what I have seen, WIC Foods is culinary at its finest! I took time to visit a few places and noticed that each place has a different look and vibe. Tell us about the different options for dining.
Elsmere: This year we moved forward with franchising our system and learned a lot about the challenges of trying to do a
full franchise concept in Second Life. We currently have 15 dine-in locations and have slowed down a bit with adding more locations to focus on the various needs of the franchises. What we are looking for, when a person wishes to have a WIC Foods restaurant on their sim, is a unique experience. We have a restaurant that looks like a wine cellar, another sits in the middle of a vineyard, and one has a spectacular waterfall within view. There is also another venue at the end of a runway in Norway, one is high-end fine dining on a royals sim, and then we have one in London by the docks. I could go on and on. The best thing to do is to pick up the information at any location from their front counter.
Roxie: We have also published some of the venues here for readers with their SLurl so they can visit a few of them. Then, as you said, they can pick up a card with a list of the restaurants and Walk-N-Eat Takeouts.
Elsmere: Right. And, all of our locations cater to regular diners and also MyStory & Xeolife diners. They work like a typical real life restaurant, you order your food, your food is served, and you pay the check on the table when you are finished dining. No system, so far, exists like ours in Second Life. Others have you pay ahead, or require
reservations, or don't cater to MyStory & Xeolife, or they have you on timed dining. We prefer to just allow our patrons to relax, enjoy the atmosphere. We will be expanding to more dining HUDs in 2025.
Roxie: Yes, I plan to go back and visit one of your restaurants and use one of the HUDs. Maybe I will take BJ and we will have a celebration dinner when this issue of VEJ comes out! [Laughing] After 5 years, it will definitely be a celebration!
So, what are your favorite restaurants and what can diners expect when they dine at one of your restaurants or grab something at a Walk-N-Eat takeout place?
Jennifer: I don't like to say I prefer one location over another, but as a woman who has grown up in, and has worked in, wine country in RL, dear to my heart is Impressions Winery on BOSL. We're also developing a full wine tasting system for that location which Elsmere will be converting into systems for MyStory & Xeolife as well and developing a wine tasting HUD to encourage other vineyards to participate in wine tasting and wine education.
Roxie: FUN! If you get enough vineyards to participate, you could even do a wine tasting
tour! Plus there is always so much to learn about which wines pair best with which foods! That could be its own restaurant - a 5-7 course meal paired with a different wine for each course. My husband, BJ, and I did that in Prague (RL) on the Charles River, and it was one of our favorite all-time memories!
Jennifer: Ha! You read my mind. That is what we’re planning with a wine tasting HUD that sends you along the wine tour. At the end of the tour they’ll arrive back at Impressions Winery and the lower level will be dedicated to tasting and pairing education.
Sam: - I'm a fan of Dockside Bistro in London Town. I love the urban setting of London and the feeling of looking out over the docks as you dine, and of course we loved it so much when we built that location that we all now also live in London Town. The people are amazing and their roleplay is fantastic. There's no other place in SL where you can enjoy traditional crispy fish-n-chips and a nice pint of stout while looking out over London.
Roxie: [laughing] You’re making me hungry!
Elsmere: My favorite is The Royal Rose. I love high end classic fine dining and this
restaurant sits in the heart of SL royalty replicating the real place, the Imperial House of Storm. Interacting with the royalty on the sim is wonderful, and the restaurant reminds one of old regal money and a deep respect for tradition. Jennifer did an amazing job of decorating the location and it inspired me to create some fine dining dishes and beverages you can't get at other locations.
Roxie: It sounds magnificent! Do they have tea time in the afternoon? If so, I have to go!
Sam: They don’t have high tea or tea time yet. One of my jobs with WIC Foods is to represent the UK. Jennifer has the Italian/ French/Mediterranean culinary background and Elsmere has the Southern US/African/ Jamaican background. Me, I’m Scottish and British, so I oversee adding those other elements. And believe, me tea time is coming! Lol
Elsmere: The Walk-N-Eat is also fun. WalkN-Eat Takouts are our newest concept in takeout food. They will eventually also become our delivery system as well. For now, it's very realistic in the way you order and receive food as take away. You walk up to the counter, place your order, then pay and your order is delivered to you. Unlike
dine-in, Walk-N-Eats allow you to take the food home, eat all of it or just part of it, or you can attach the food and walk around events eating and drinking to keep your energy and stats up for both MyStory & Xeolife.
Roxie: Yes, I enjoyed stopping by the WalkN-Eat Takeout in London and I did walk around sipping my Mocha Boba! But, since avatars don’t really eat the food and people behind the avatars only get to watch the avatars eat, what is the experience you want to create for diners and how will you know
you have achieved it?
Jennifer: First, it's an alternative to taking a date to a club. Each location is beautiful. It's inexpensive, and doesn't break the bank to impress your date, or business client,
or family. All locations allow voice, which enhances the dining experience further. All locations have wonderful music and some locations, like Wine Cellar, Forest Room, and Impressions Winery also encourage you to linger and dance. Every location encourages
people to explore the sim after they've dined.
Next, it's also about giving people an experience in Second Life that they may not have had in RL… fine dining. When we make reservations for people, they are served in the French service method, and we'll coach people in IM so they are confident with their dining choices. We know we're achieving our goals of a realistic dining experience by the numerous compliments we've received via facebook, notecards, and how many people dine and tell us somebody had referred them to the location. Next year we plan to up the advertising a great deal, but for now, word of mouth has driven over 850 diners a week to our locations.
Roxie: That sounds like so much fun! Can diners just show up for a meal and/or do they need to make reservations?
Elsmere: Staffing in SL is always a bit of a challenge, so we made sure diners can just show up and enjoy a dining experience anytime, any day of the week. We will be bringing more reservation experiences back to our locations in the winter, and we are currently actively hiring live servers for our locations for walk-in service. Until then, all of our locations are set to self-serve dining and
ordering your food and drink is as simple as clicking on your plate and coaster.
Roxie: Is there a cost for the food and drink? How do diners pay for their meals? What happens if they just “grab and go?”
Sam: Yes, there's a cost. There's a cost for the land, the building, all the scripting and being MyStory and Xeolife affiliates. However, we made sure it doesn't break the bank. So a nice meal for two where you have a starter, a main meal, and dessert with drinks is around L$250 for both of you, not each. Diners pay as they do in real life, by paying the check at the table before they leave.
Sometimes the “dine and dash” as we call it, is simply a mistake, and we do make allowances for that. Then there are people of questionable morals who "grab and go" or as we say "dine and dash.” We used to chase people to pay, like they do in RL, but now we just ban people for not paying at all of our locations and they must pay a fine of L$500 each to be unbanned.
We see about one dine and dasher for every hundred or so we serve. Some people think all SL dining should be free,
because there are places that do that, and we encourage people who want it all free to go to those places instead. We warn people many different ways before they rez food and start dining that none of it is free, so when they make the choice to steal from us, they will be banned.
Roxie: I totally agree with you. And it makes sense the way you handle it… giving them a second chance, especially if they ordered by mistake.
How do you staff your restaurants and WalkN-Eat places? Do you provide training to your staff? Are you hiring people and, if so, how do they apply?
Jennifer: We have application givers at every location. First the application is checked over by Elsmere. If she sees that they meet at least our minimum requirements, she will contact them and ask them about their interest in the various jobs we have. Sam runs a check on any claims they've made to have worked elsewhere. If that's good, then I set up a voice interview with them.
We have a professional training room that we use to take them through how to be a restaurant server, the French service style, and if they're also applying to be a catering server, they are trained on the catering HUD system. We have fully automated serving to allow the server to interact more with the diners and control the pace of service.
We slowed down on hiring staff and are going to be actively staffing again this autumn and winter. We're hoping to have a full complement of service staff at each location in the new year.
Roxie: That is awesome! What catering services do you provide? If someone would like to have you cater an event, how do they go about doing it?
Jennifer: They contact Elsmere or myself directly. Then Elsmere or I have a meeting with them to discuss their needs. We quote them for the services they need. They pay in full prior to the date of service. We provide everything from a romantic dinner for two in
your own home to enormous catered events. We can easily provide sit down course service for a full sim of people because our system is so well designed. We also provide full decorating services for catered events.
For the food we offer custom menus, French course service, Victorian course service, and Italian course service as well as dessert tables. In 2025 we will start offering buffet services as well as fully automated services.
Roxie: What do you see as the future for dining in Second Life and other digital and virtual environments?
Elsmere: That's a large question. I could take hours answering, but I think the future requires even more realism. The more realistic the experience, the more people will repeat it. Going into abandoned, enormous places with food that doesn't cater to the various HUDs out there… or, even takeout that is just pictures you click on like vendors, is over.
People want to experience it, to have a feeling of true realism, not just pay for it. People want service and interaction. I think the future for all of it is going to be more in person and hands on with customers. The places that just set up shop will begin to disappear as patrons get used to being served properly.
Roxie: I couldn’t agree with you more. And as we look at Digital Tapestry in this issue of VEJ, the fact that the three of you are creating experiences that engage avatars and the people behind them through the artistry, esthetics, and as much as possible 3D & 4D culinary experiences is so in tuned with our thinking at VEJ. The lasting impact is the relationships between people who share the experience and the connections they make with each other and the environment as well as in their souls. These are the moments they will cherish, and these are the threads when woven together build community and create the beautiful digital tapestries of life… including second life and other virtual worlds and digital environments.
I can’t say it enough. The three of you are absolutely amazing! Your work is FABULOUS
and the concepts take us into the next dimension of virtual worlds and experiences. Is there anything else you would like to say or share with our readers?
Elsmere: We really appreciate all of the interest we've been getting of late from the media, and thank you so very much for writing about us! Getting the word out that restaurants in SL should be a dining experience and not just another decor idea is an uphill climb, but with publications like yours helping us, we can all take this to the next level.
Roxie: I can’t thank the three of you enough for taking time to talk with me. I have seen how busy you are in SL as you gear up for autumn and winter. We at VEJ will continue to follow and frequent your venues and I would encourage any of our readers to check you out. As I said, we have listed a few of the Restaurants and Walk-N-Eats, and I know everyone will enjoy the scenery, the service, and most of all, the ambiance of each of your venues! CONGRATULATIONS Elsmere, Jennifer and Sam on a job well done! And, most of all, KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!!
Note from the Editor:
Be sure to pick up a notecard at one of the Restaurants and/or Walk-N-Eats and join their ** SL Fine Dining group for the latest updates.
Thank you to WIC Foods for being a sponsor for the VEJ Relaunch Celebration on November 16, 2024.
coming soon)
WIC Foods Restaurants & Catering for MyStory, Xeolife & Regular Dining. Each location is a wonderful and Unique Experience! Take that special somebody to one of our locations today!
ALL of our locations have self-serve tables and floating RP staff (reservations for RP required) Contact WIC Foods Resident or go to our Discord page to reserve OR walk in any time 24/7 and take advantage of our pay as you dine self-serve.
Stop by this classic British Maritime Style Bistro located right on the Docks of London Square - a complete roleplay sim for lots of fun with friends! The bistro is casual and calm with a large menu that will please everyone! From romantic dining to having a pint and playing darts with your mates - Dockside has you covered!
Dockside Bistro - London Town - Family Friendly Dining SLurl
Surrounded by the wooded area of Sonoma Valley with a beautiful river flowing by, this FORMAL fine dining venue features a large fine dining menu, a perpetual sunset for romantic dining, inside and patio dining, Chef's Table Reservation dining with a 7 course meal, and beautiful bento couples dances to finish the evening. It truly is the BEST of Second Life.
Forest Room Bistro - Formal SLurl
Located in the gorgeous Sonoma Valley on Best of Second Life, this business casual dining experience is surrounded with the beauty of vineyards and vistas that doesn't just offer 5 star dining but 5 star views as well. Treat that special somebody with or intimate beautiful upstairs terrace dining or bring the group out for a wine tasting on the main floor today!
Impressions Winery & Restaurant - Business Smart Casual SLurl
Macedonia Estate Community is a residential MyStory, Xeolife, and BeYou friendly community with peaceful family living. Come take a look around at all of the beautiful sights the community has to offer. Elegant homes for rent at very low price. All are welcome.
Please contact Mayeon Parker for more information or rentals for Macedonia Estates
Macedonia Exquisite Dining - Formal — SLurl
Macedonia Locked Hearts Bar - Business Casual — SLurl
Macedonia Bowling & Fun - Casual — SLurl
The Modavie Bistro is an intimate and unpretentious atmosphere. The perfect place for a romantic dinner for two, a family dinner for 4, business meetings and parties. Enjoy the gorgeous landscaping and breathtaking waterfalls while dining. We take pride in serving some unique and complex cuisine at a reasonable price. It features the best wine and a full bar.
Modavie Bistro - Business Casual — SLurl
Saint Harbor Restaurant, nestled by the picturesque waterfront, offers a luxurious dining experience in Second Life. With its chic, modern design and stunning views, the restaurant provides an ideal backdrop for romantic dinners, celebratory events.
Saint Harbor Wine & Restaurant — SLurl
SKYVIEW BISTRO
Located at Fenmore Airfield in the heart of the Norway Sims, dine in a stunning yet intimate bistro at the end of the runway enjoying the beauty that Norway has to offer while being part of SL's aeronautical community!
Skyview Bistro — SLurl
Dine where the Royals love to dine! This refined and formal dining experience will have you spotting the Imperial House of Storm royal family coming and going throughout their day. With an amazing menu selection and regal surroundings wonderful for a romantic outing, it's also family friendly. Have an elegant meal then walk the ground where the aristocracy lives and thrives.
The Royal Rose - Formal and Business — SLurl
WINE CELLAR BISTRO
Our very first restaurant, the Wine Cellar Bistro, is situated on the edge of Gaia's Vineyards & Zen Garden. Beautiful jazz plays as you dine in an old but elegant, very well stocked, wine cellar, serving fine and casual dining. Seating for 2, 4, 6 and our famous party table for 12!
The Wine Cellar Bistro - Casual Dining — SLurl
By Roxie Neiro (SL), Rosie Vojtek (RL
Most, if not all, Second Life veterans, like me, have been longing for… and, waiting patiently (well, sort of), to have a mobile app for our Second Life so we can stay connected without being tethered to our computers and laptops.
Well, it has finally arrived! Linden Labs announced that Second Life Mobile is now available for all Premium Plus, Premium, and Plus members. It is available on iOS and Android. Once alpha and beta testing phases are complete, Second Life Mobile will be accessible to everyone using Second Life.
As of October 2024, users now have full access to all regions and are able to explore all regions regardless of maturity ratings. They are beginning to add WebRTC voice support for live chat. There are several regions where users can try it out listed here.
The Lindens are continuing to add more features such as push notifications, being able to wear group tags and improved control features. While using the mobile app, viewers are also able to purchase items with Linden L$ as well as see how much L$ are in their account.
I can say as an early beta tester that the iOS app is getting better and better every week. The Lindens are listening to feedback from users and welcome your comments including your issues and suggestions. The more information they get from users the better Second Life Mobile will be for all of us!
You can get more information about Second Life Mobile at the Second Life MobilePublic Beta FAQ here. In addition you can learn more about Second Life Mobile here And, be sure to view the video, “What’s New With Second Life Mobile” here for a quick demonstration of the app and what the future may bring.
Here is to the future and an improved Second Life with Second Life Mobile!
I look forward to seeing and chatting with you via Second Life Mobile anytime, anywhere, now that Roxie no longer has to be tethered to Rosie’s computer!
By Roxie Neiro (SL), Rosie Vojtek Ph.D (RL)
We all know how exhausting, difficult, and stressful real life can be. But, have you ever found that your Second Life can be just as demanding, hectic, and frustrating? And, when both of them happen at the same time you may find yourself anxious, tense, worried, restless, or simply just overwhelmed.
Well, when life happens, whether it is real life, second life, or heaven forbid, both at the same time, you and/or your avatar may need to stop, take a few deep breaths, and make time to decompress
and rejuvenate. If this sounds like you, let me tell you about Maestro Arisia Vita, known as Ari by his friends, and how his beautiful piano music can renew your soul!
Ari Vita has been in Second Life for 17 years (since October 18, 2007). Everyday of the week you can find Ari playing classical music and/or beautiful soothing songs that help you meditate, reflect, relax and rejuvenate. His schedule is listed at the end of this article. Ari plays at a number of other venues across Second Life and is often featured as the guest pianist or as background music for special occasions and events, such as art exhibits, gala events, or social gatherings. Ari is a magnificent performer as well as one of Second Life’s favorite pianists!
There is nothing better than to relax, reflect and rejuvenate at the Sunshine Therapy Garden on a Saturday morning as you listen to his
relaxing piano music. I especially love to sit and chat with friends as we listen and watch Ari’s hands move gracefully across the piano keys in the late Thursday morning/ early afternoons at the Virtual World’s Education Consortium (VWEC) Eduverse Commons.
It is always fun to get dressed up and find yourself slow-dancing with a special someone as the day turns to dusk and the stars begin to sparkle for a delightful evening at Ger Y Lli Classical Ballroom. Or, grab
Interestingly, when I mentioned to Ari how beautiful the ocean is at sunset at Ger Y Lli as I danced to his music and how much I love to sit, drink my morning coffee, and listen to him play the piano at sunrise at Perfect Paradise he seemed surprised. He explained to me that he always keeps his environment set to midday.
a cup of coffee and watch the sunrise as Ari works his magic at the Whole Brain Health Gazebo. I can’t think of any better way to help you get your day off to a great start, or help you wind down and relax after a long, hard day than sitting and listening to Maestro Arisia Vita’s melodic repertoire of classical, popular, and soothing musical compositions. At times he may even add an orchestra or strings as he plays a piano concerto or trio during his concerts.
However, the beauty of Second Life is having control over the environment on any sim you visit. When you arrive at a sim, depending on your browser, you may find yourself at the shared environment or local time on that sim. Since local times can be set for anytime 24/7, and owners of the sims can be from anywhere in the world, 7 am local time can be sunrise, midnight, or somewhere in between. And, that is fine if it fits your mood. But, if you aren’t feeling it, or 1:30 pm for the sim is really 10:30 pm for you in Real Life, you may want to make it night instead. Fortunately for you, in Second Life, you can change the environment with just a click in your browser!
Although Ari has always struck me as friendly, personable, and easy to talk with, he claims he is really shy. But, like I said, you would never know it. When Ari first became part of the Second Life Community, he discovered how much he liked attending formal balls. However, being shy as he is, and someone who
doesn’t dance, he noticed they usually had a piano. That is when it occurred to him that if he was sitting at a piano he would be less likely to be asked to dance.
Ari felt that “as long as I appeared to be playing, I could play some recorded piano music and make the illusion seem even more real.” So, he looked for musical selections and performance styles that “most closely mirrored” what he would play if he could, and then “figured out how to ‘play’ the FL files into the microphone input of his computer.” As Ari explains, “The illusion is so real to me that I feel I am actually playing a piano, giving life to a dream I have always had.”
For all of us who are listening to Ari’s performance, the illusion is real. Most listeners will not think twice as to if he is or isn’t really playing the piano. It doesn’t matter because Ari inspires guests with his poise and charisma and makes them feel welcome by greeting each audience member when they arrive.
cherished and loved musicians!
Ari writes on his profile, “I am blessed with two hands. One serves my mind, shading my eyes as they gaze at the horizon seeking to pierce the haze of the unknown, that I might learn. The other serves my heart held out in compassionate longing, seeking the hand of another soul in need, that I might help.” He continues writing, “We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can fly only by embracing each other.”
Ironically, or purposefully, Ari likes to end his concerts with a group HUG!
Becoming a musical performer has changed Ari’s Second Life experience. As he says, “It has enhanced it greatly as it offers me a chance to make new friends and help others. Many who listen to my concerts say the music helps them relax.” And I would add from my own experiences of attending his concerts, inspires my spirit and renews my soul!
Maestro Arisia Vita is a premier performer and piano virtuoso! He is a natural-rezzed SL musician who loves to bring joy to others through his music! Listeners can’t help but be totally immersed in the euphonious sounds and artistic performance as Ari moves seamlessly through his playlist. It is no wonder that Maestro Vita is one of Second Life’s most
Ari’s performance schedule is fairly stable, but can change over the course of a few months. We have listed his latest schedule. Ari also invites you to IM him for a notecard with his latest schedule.
Ari said that sometimes even though he is performing at the same time, his location may change. For example, “several of my regular Perfect Paradise listeners asked me to play on their home sims, which I am glad to do.” He continued saying that when this happens, “they leave a sign at Perfect Paradise letting residents know where they are.” In the picture below, we caught up with Ari at a time when he was playing “at Ann’s sim” instead of Perfect Paradise.
I asked Ari about the person who was sitting with him at the piano. He said, “Sara is a dear friend who likes to sit with me… yes, many of my friends like to do that. I am very lucky.”
Indeed you are, Ari!
We strongly encourage you to attend one of Ari’s performances. To get to meet him and hear him is to get to love him and his music!
KUDOS and THANK YOU Ari for sharing your talent and music with all of us in Second Life!
Monday
7am Perfect Paradise
10am Whole Brain Health, Inspiration Island
Tuesday
7am Perfect Paradise
Wednesday
7am Perfect Paradise
Thursday
7am Perfect Paradise
11am Virtual Worlds Education Consortium
Friday
7am Perfect Paradise
10am Marina Club, Cape Heron
Saturday
7am Sunshine Therapy Garden
11am Virtech
Sunday
7am Perfect Paradise
1:30pm Ger Y Lli - classical ballroom, YavaScript shop & pod station, Basilisk (classical music)
Or, at various other times and places by request or when the mood strikes me.
*** Ari’s Schedule is dated March 15, 2024
Whether you are interested in Second Life (SL) but have never joined, a newcomer to SL, someone who left but is thinking of coming back, or a veteran resident to SL, if you haven’t visited the Second Life Welcome Hub you are missing an amazing resource! There are a variety of resources, events and opportunities for everyone, with something new added all the time. So, I want to take this opportunity to share with you just some of what is available with the hope that you will frequent the SL Welcome Hub like me, on a regular basis!
The Welcome Hub was developed by the Lindens and Moles to help newcomers get acclimated in SL as quickly as possible. For those of us who were around during the early years beginning in 2006, you probably remember landing at a Gateway with a few signs to tell newcomers how to walk, run, fly, teleport, and use your arrow keys to pan up/down, forward/back, and right/left. But there wasn’t much more at the various Gateways except a few people hanging around because for many, the Gateway was “their home.” It was pretty much left up to newcomers to seek out kindred spirits and others with similar interests and passions.
Fast forward to 2024, and the entire process of joining SL as a new resident has dramatically changed… and I must say, for the better! If you are interested in joining SL you can learn more here, or go directly to join SL here.
Now that the Second Life Welcome Hub is open, the entire process of becoming acclimated in the SL virtual world and finding your way around is so much easier and less daunting! The Welcome Hub is filled with numerous video tutorials and resources on almost any subject a new resident needs or wants to know as they begin their journey in SL. For example, new residents will want to start out with the basics of how to move, use their viewer, utilize music and media and communicate with others.
One of the first places you could arrive at as a new resident joining SL would be the Landing Area at the Welcome Hub. Eventually, you will want to explore all of the communities in this area. Often there is at least one Second Life Mentor in the area, so use your ‘Chat’ tab at the bottom of your screen and say “HI!”
After exploring the essential skills of movement and using your viewer, follow the blue trail under the Quick Start Guide sign.
This will take you to tutorials and resources for all the things you need to learn to successfully navigate Second Life. Your first stop along the path is to learn to interact and communicate, including how to chat and make friends with others. Take time to watch the videos and gather the information and resources from the kiosks so that you are ready and confident to begin your journey.
One of the first things new residents want to learn is how to customize their avatar. If so, head to the Senra Market and avatar area of the Welcome Hub. You can learn from the videos how to shop and how to customize your avatar shape, and what “Bakes On Mesh” means. Here you can also find resources that will help you learn how to customize your avatar using mesh clothing, tattoos, hair, etc. There are also a lot of tips, tricks, and freebies, along with private dressing rooms to try out your new looks.
Once you have begun to look your best, at least for now, and have the basic skills under your belt, you will want to explore the rest of the Welcome Hub, especially the Destination Guide area. Here you discover more of what SL has to offer. At the Destination Guide area be sure to watch the “What’s Next” video and check out the resources for places to go, events that are happening, and new user groups, which can be especially helpful. Before you teleport somewhere else, make sure once you leave you know how to get back to where you started. You can use the ‘globe’ tab at the left of your screen in which your travel (teleport) history is saved. This is always a good thing to know!
The Lindens and Moles have done an amazing job in creating the Welcome Hub and Social Plaza. They really took the time to listen to the challenges new residents face and find ways to make entry into SL easier. This is also a wonderful resource for all residents as it is a place where you can get help with some things you don’t already know.
That’s because one of the best features at the Welcome Hub is the official group of trained Second Life Mentors who volunteer to help new and veteran residents with any questions they may have. The Second Life Mentors are usually around the Welcome Hub Landing and Quick Start area, but can also be found walking around if they are available. However, if you don’t see anyone with a Second Life Mentor tag and/or badge you can touch one of the green buttons positioned around the SL Welcome Hub and someone like Second Life Mentor, Berry Vita, will come to help you if they are available.
Bellisseria Mentors are also available at the separate locations of the Bellihub and Linden Homes areas. They specialize in helping residents learn about the Bellisseria continent and the numerous home options available at Bellisseria for FREE with an SL Premium or Premium Plus membership. The Second Life website has information about the
availability of Linden Homes and if you are interested, how to get one of the homes here
If you are at the Welcome Hub, you can easily walk to the Land & Linden Homes area or you can teleport here. Once you are at the Land and Linden Home area, you can demo all of the beautiful homes to see if one is right for you.
Another really helpful part of the Welcome Hub is the sandbox area which is open to everyone. If you do not own property and/or want to design, build and/or create objects, this is an area you will want to explore. Second Life Mentors check-in frequently and may be available to answer questions.
1) The Welcome Hub Sandbox has numerous resources, including tips, tricks, and tools for building, creating, and scripting in SL. At the entry are kiosks you can click for information and other resources you can use to help you with your project. Follow the path and it will take you to the sand-
box area where you can rez objects and hone your building, scripting and designing skills. Who knows what you can or will create! Visit the Welcome Hub Sandbox here.
2) Sandbox Bellisseria. This sandbox is specifically designed for residents who want to experiment and/or customize various features of their Bellisseria homes. It is an area where residents can refine their creative ideas and designs in a risk-free and resource rich environment. Bellisseria Mentors can be at this sandbox to help residents and answer questions. Visit Sandbox Bellisseria here.
The Welcome Hub is a great place to meet and hangout with old and new friends. There are also other places around the Welcome Hub you will definitely want to explore. You can always walk or fly to your destination. But, even faster, just click the green buttons on the teleport boards or, for some extra fun, try shooting yourself from a cannon to get from place to place here.
For example, try using the teleporter board or the cannon to visit the Hub City and/or Cinema which is complete with food trucks lining the path into the theater. While you are there, grab a taco, pizza and soda, or something else from one of the trucks outside and then go into the Cinema and enjoy the featured Machinima movie.
Or, if you are not in the mood for a movie, you can still grab something from one of the food trucks and wander through Hub City (just across the street) where you can do Go-Kart racing, or check out one of the other places such as: Skill Games; Shopping; Social Casino; and my favorite, The Community Exhibition.
The best parts of Second Life are the friendships and relationships that are established over time and the unique communities of like-minded residents that interconnect us, no matter where in the real world we are. Friendships, relationships, and community are by far the primary reasons people
join and stay in Second Life.
The Community Exhibition offers exhibits from a sampling of SL groups, organizations, and associations to share who they are, what they do, and invite other like-minded residents who are interested in pursuing the same goals, activities, interests, and missions to join their group. When you join their group, you can learn more about them, get their group announcements, and attend their activities and events. You can also use your search tool in your viewer to find other groups and places to visit, as there are so many to choose from in
Exhibits range from mental health peer groups, to sailing, building and simply having fun. I won’t list them all, but just know, there are a number of won-
derful communities with exhibits now, with more exhibits being added all the time.
A few of the exhibits include: Sea of Fables, The Circle Mental Health, Confederation of Democratic Simulations, Relay for Life, SL Cycling Federation,
Premier Wrestling, Blender School, Hipsters, and many more.
One example, Blender School, is located here , but walk around and enjoy all of the exhibits. There is
so much to learn and see at the exceptional Welcome Hub Community exhibition area.
There are also a number of exhibits that are especially for educators and people interested in education that you will definitely want to visit. For example, you can visit Virtual Worlds Education
Consortium here. Other education communities include: Nonprofit Commons (NPC); Virtual Ability; and Caledon.
There is no limit to how many friends you make, or communities you belong to in SL. If you are a new resident or someone who wants to make friends and have fun, be sure to join the Second Friends For Life group. As mentioned above, the primary reasons people stay in SL and why it matters to be here is because of friendships, relationships, and community! These are the threads that weave us together into a beautiful digital tapestry!
A special SHOUT OUT and THANK YOU to the Lindens and Moles for creating such a phenomenal resource for ALL residents to help them enjoy their SL life more fully!
In addition, a HUGE SHOUT OUT and THANK YOU to all of the Second Life Mentors and Belliserria Mentors who generously volunteer their time to help and support ALL Second Life residents!
Come back to the Community Exhibit area often as new community exhibits are added regularly. If you see something that interests you, be sure to join and/or subscribe so that you can be a part of the SL communities that interest you.
We hope you say “HI” and “THANK YOU” to the Second Life Mentors and Bellisseria Mentors when you see them… and even better, get to know them because, together, they are a wealth of information ready to help your Second Life be fun, fulfilling, and everything you wish it to be, and more!
So, what are you waiting for? Your Second Life beacons! Looking forward to seeing you at the Welcome Hub! There is always something new to see and explore. Stay tuned for new additions and upcoming events at the Welcome Hub in future issues of VEJ!
On October 29, 2024 Linden Lab posted a blog, “Philip Rosedale Returns as CTO to help Build the Future of Second Life” announcing that Second Life founder and visionary leader, Philip Rosedale, is returning to work full-time at Linden Lab as the Chief Technology Officer.
Rosedale left SL in 1999 and moved on to other experimental projects such as founding High Fidelity which initially focused on the use of VR. Since his departure, Second Life has continued to grow and expand dramatically, especially because of mesh - that is, the ability to import 3D models and use 3D models
for objects such as avatar customization, clothing, furniture, buildings, etc., in Second Life.
As CTO, Rosedale will be guiding technology and working alongside Executive Chairman Brad Oberwager, the Second Life Executive Team, and Linden Lab’s Board of Directors. His return is creating a huge buzz and excitement among many SL residents who are enthusiastic about what his return could bring to the future of Second Life. Technology advancements (e.g., AI, mobile technology) have the potential to rapidly change virtual worlds and make them more accessible, and thus a more popular platform option for connecting people and
community.
As Rosedale transitions back to Second Life the blog states that he “will be actively engaged inworld with our communities and creators to listen, learn, and collaborate on ways to improve our shared virtual world” and discuss the future of Second Life.
On November 1, 2024, Philip Rosedale, aka Philip Linden (SL), was featured as the keynote speaker as part of the Second Life Community Roundtable Series. The purpose of his presentation was to reintroduce him to the SL community, share his vision and plans for Second Life moving forward, answer questions, and get suggestions from the residents in attendance.
With Rosedale’s return, it is highly likely that residents of SL will see an increase in marketing strategies, improvements to the quality of life for SL residents, and the development and use of technological advances.
Watch Philip Rosedale’s Second LIfe
Community Roundtable Presentation in it’s entirety either on the Second Life blog here, or on YouTube here.
As the group description states, to “Go deeper into Second Life, and join in civil discourse and the meaning and future of virtual worlds,” be sure to join the Friends of Philip Group. The group is open to anyone interested in being a part of the active dialogue. You can join the Friends of Philip group inworld. To join paste this SLurl in local chat:
secondlife:///app/group/dac5b244-b79f810e-a03b-fb6ddffd287a/about
Or, search for the Friends of Philip group using your viewer’s search function.
Keep up to date with all Linden Lab events on the Second Life Public Calendar.
Valerie Hill, Ph.D (RL), Valibrarian Gregg (SL)
Becky Adams, Ph.D (RL), Elli Pinion (SL)
The Virtual Worlds Education Consortium (VWEC) is a community-driven initiative, aiming to unite educators across virtual platforms and communities. It’s a community where educators can share their successes, learn from each other, and collectively overcome obstacles.
In January of 2021, a group of educators came together and realized we had been working for years in isolation. We saw a need to meet together to share best practices, ways to advocate for education in virtual worlds, and gather ideas and resources for overcoming obstacles when teaching in Virtual Worlds.
For years educators struggled to share the potential of immersive learning in virtual worlds. Initially, they formed the group to meet quarterly to discuss the obstacles of teaching in 3D spaces which included: isolation from other educators; misunderstanding of administrators regarding adoption of virtual worlds; complexity of tools for learning in VR; and, the temptation to “reinvent the wheel” not realizing the accomplishment of others in Second Life over the past twenty years. It was our hope that through quarterly meetings, educational communities could collaborate and document progress on best
practices for teaching and learning in virtual environments.
We moved to the newly created VWEC Eduverse in May 2022. Rapidly, VWEC grew into a large network with the support of Linden Lab in Second Life, a partnership with the Community Virtual Library, and a collaboration with the many educational communities that had a rich history of utilizing virtual worlds for teaching and learning.
The VWEC Education Community Today, the VWEC Eduverse Region has 54 groups and almost 600 members in the VWEC Group. Currently, the metaverse neighborhood in Second Life has educational regions surrounding the VWEC Eduverse Welcome Plaza, and provides a number of learning opportunities, including but not limited to, weekly fireside chats, 3D Models of Teaching, free educational resources, a student research exhibit, and portals to educational orientation pathways. By connecting virtual world community calendars of our collective immersive learning events on nearly any subject area, we are able to collaborate and share these experiences and resources with a wider audience.
In addition to the Quarterly Meetings, VWEC
hosts an Expert Series that highlights educators from around the Metaverse twice a month. VWEC also hosts five weekly chats where educators and others interested in promoting education in Virtual Worlds come to share their ideas and work with others.
Volunteers now hold hourly shifts at the VWEC Thinkerer Info Center, which is named after virtual world champion, “Thinkerer” Selby Evans, an early adopter of virtual worlds for learning. Volunteers assist both new and seasoned instructors and students. The Info Center projects include a growing directory of educators, educational groups, and educational sites in the Metaverse. It also includes a podcasting station where educators can share their remarkable experiences via our VWEC YouTube Channel.
In addition to supporting teaching and learning in the Metaverse, the VWEC has projects and exhibits. Twelve academic and lifelong learning instructors share their diverse approaches in the Models of Teaching Exhibit.
The calendar and schedule of events can be found here.
At VWEC, we are committed to fostering a sense of community and accessibility. As a Community Gateway, learners can easily create an avatar through the VWEC Gateway on our website. Upon creation, they log in at our region's Welcome Center, a more personalized and less public alternative to the SL Welcome HUB.
Here, they will find portals to educational orientation pathways and a Student Research Exhibit, which shares the research of doctoral students on education in the Metaverse. We have also included an archive of other students' work nearby, as we believe it's important for instructors to see the potential of students in Virtual Worlds.
VWEC recognizes the crucial role that instructors play in educating in the Metaverse. That's why we are dedicated to providing them with the support and
resources they need. From Instructor Development to free educational resources and classes in scripting, our goal is to equip instructors with the tools and knowledge they need to succeed in the virtual classroom.
One of the most exciting projects is the VWEC Student Challenge, held annually in the spring. The Student Challenge is similar to a programming challenge (aka Hack-athon) and gives instructors one more Virtual World tool to engage students with their content.
We encourage you to check out our website to learn more about VWEC. If you like what you see, we hope you will join us in Second Life. If you already have an avatar, you can teleport to our Thinkerer Info Center.
If you haven’t joined Second Life yet, it is FREE to create an avatar. You can join Second Life for FREE here. Or, you may want to set up your avatar on the VWEC website. VWEC has created a user-friendly process that will lead you into Second Life through the VWEC Welcome Plaza. Depending on how you join Second Life, the first time you launch your browser with your new avatar, it will open a Welcome Hub or Gateway. These are regions that offer information useful for functioning in virtual worlds.
If you join Second Life via the VWEC website, your avatar will arrive at the VWEC Welcome Plaza. The VWEC is an educatorfriendly Welcome Plaza that has information, skills, and resources needed to be an effective educator in virtual worlds. It also lists several other gateways that can help you learn the basic skills and understanding needed to function in the virtual world
Some of the basic skills covered include such topics as: the different ways to move; landmarks and how to teleport; camera controls to manage the view on your screen; the different ways to communicate with others; using maps; managing friends and groups; buying things in Second Life; managing your inventory; and modifying
your avatar and clothes.
The VWEC resident center at the Welcome Plaza offers portals to four basic gateways so people new to virtual worlds can acquire these basic skills. Visiting one of these gateways first, will allow you to better acquire the skills, knowledge, and resources offered at the VWEC Welcome Plaza.
Future goals include partnerships with other virtual world educational institutions, a growing directory and databases, and archival of real learning experiences such as the VWEC Student Challenge and the VWEC Expert Series presentations.
The metaverse is expanding and educators are exploring many virtual environments including those utilized on VR headsets. Most virtual immersive learning spaces can be accessed with or without a headset; many are on mobile devices, too. In fact, Second Life now has a mobile version which can be accessed on digital devices. However, access to Second Life mobile is currently limited to Plus, Premium and Premium Plus members only. But, it will soon be available free for everyone.
The VR Exploder Club is open to educators and learners who want to explore the rapidly evolving spaces for learning such as Roblox, VR Chat, Somnium Space or Decentraland (to name a few).
Volunteers at the Info Center can answer questions and there are interactive signs to guide the way to the VR Exploder Club and
the Hypergrid Tours. What’s a Hypergrid Tour? Well, Second Life released the code to build prims in 3D and there are many worlds where educators can bring students at low cost, such as OpenSim, Wolf Territories, or Kitely. The VWEC Hypergrid Hub is in the virtual world of Kitely where educators can meet and “jump across” grids on monthly tours.
Understanding best practices for teaching and learning in the metaverse requires collaboration and many educators have been working there for decades, yet there are still educators and administrators who have no idea what has been accomplished and what potential for learning is already possible.
Of course, it is impossible to “be everywhere” in the metaverse, but VWEC can help educators be aware of the expanding metaverse and the potential for serious learning beyond slaying zombies! We look forward to seeing you at the Virtual Worlds Education Consortium in Second Life and hope you will join us and become an active member of our educational community!
Dr. Valerie Hill, PhD is an Information Science Researcher and the Director at Community Virtual Library (retired educator, librarian, professor of library and information science at Texas Womans University).
Dr. Becky Adams Ph.D, is Co-coordinator of the Virtual Worlds Education Consortium (retired educator, instructional designer and Director of Online Course Development at the University of New Mexico).
By ValValerie Hill, PhD (RL), Valibrarian Gregg (SL) Information Science Researcher Director Community Virtual Library
VWEC meets quarterly to help educators understand best practices for teaching and learning in virtual worlds. The October Quarterly VWEC meeting presented the theme, Serious Learning Across the Metaverse with experts in the field sharing a variety of platforms for immersive learning. James Atlloud talked about the VR Exploder Club, a monthly field trip expedition to platforms like Engage, VR Chat, Sinespace, Roblox, and many more. He discussed the variety of interfaces and tools needed to teach voice, text chat, importing assets, teleportation, and the ability to build in the platform.
Next, Lyr Lobo and Rhiannon Chatnoir (both leaders of the Nonprofit Commons) presented information about the upcoming Open Sim Community Conference on December 6-8, 2024. For more information click here. Lyr and Rhiannon brought examples of a variety of open-
source grids where educators can build and teach immersively. A large exhibit area is on display at OSCC with excellent examples of serious learning and resources for learners and educators.
The Virtual Worlds Education Consortium has a HUB in the open source worlds which is located in Kitely. Our VWEC Kitely HUB ambassador, Cooper Swizzle, featured examples of resources in Kitely: the Community Virtual Library’s Digital Citizenship Museum, Hypergrid Resource Library, the Antique Pattern Library and the Kitely VWEC HUB headquarters. Cooper and colleagues provide monthly field trips to hyprgrid jump across grids to worlds like Wolf Territories.
Next Valibrarian talked about teaching children in the metaverse through blocky worlds like Minecraft. An open-source world called Minetest provides a free platform for teachers to learn the basics. Valibrarian and colleagues are working with children to build a Digital Citizenship Center, A Sustainable Water House Project and a Zoo.
The quarterly meeting closed with Lissena Wisdomseeker validating the choice to keep Second Life as the “main home” for VWEC. With the mobile app coming soon and the amazing interface that offers all the tools necessary for teaching and learning, the discussion about SL was very positive. Educators and learners may choose to explore all the emerging metaverse platforms, yet most agree Second Life is still a viable, beautiful and exciting place to teach and learn.
The Virtual Pioneers began their 2024-2025 season with a Virtual
on Sunday, October 20, 2024 at 5 pm SL time.
As they explained, during the period of early American history the pioneers would have "Quilting Frolic's, where the ladies of the village would bring fabric to share so others could make Quilts. They would bring their families and have food, dancing, and great conversation.”
Attendees wore their favorite historical costumes and had fun reconnecting
with friends, dancing, and networking.
Virtual Pioneers began with a small group of history (social studies) teachers in 2007. The purpose was to explore some of the early history and cultural sims in Second Life. Teachers began sharing their knowledge with students using virtual worlds such as Quest Atlantis, Open Sim, the SL Teen Grid which is no longer available and Minecraft to name a few.
The Virtual Pioneers are dedicated to collaborating and learning about History and Cultures using Second Life. The meetings and events take place in Second Life because “it is free, stable, and has the most historical and educationally based content.” Events include educational presentations, tours to historical-based sims, and social activities such as dances and costume parties.
The Virtual Pioneers Headquarters is located here. It is worth visiting their Headquarters as there are numerous free resources, including historical clothes, as well as information and destination SLurls from previous tours. While you are there, be sure to join the Virtual Pioneers Second Life Group for notification about upcoming events.
Everyone is welcome to attend the Virtual Pioneers events and become part of a “community of learning and fellowships.”
For more information about the Virtual Pioneers and upcoming events be sure to check out the Virtual Pioneers website here.
By David W. Deeds (aka Deeds David)
OK, imagine yourself in this situation. I was a Computer Science Professor in a South Korean university, which had just launched its International Business Department. I had students from not just Korea, but also China, Vietnam, Russia and other countries. My Korean colleagues could only teach in their language, so the plan was to have us waygook (foreign) professors teach in English until the other-than-local students learned enough Korean. Sounds as crazy now as it did then, but the students supposedly had passed the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) and so they were ready for my lessons, at least.
First day, first class… it only took a few minutes for me to realize that more than half of my students couldn’t understand a word I was saying. The only test they had passed? Daddy’s check hadn’t bounced! Lectures were pointless, textbooks useless. I was desperate. What’s the game show that allows stuck contestants to “throw out the lifeline?” That’s what I did, and someone suggested virtual worlds, which I hadn’t even heard of yet. I set up a Second Life cybercampus with the support of the New Media Consortium. I switched the viewer to the kids’ respective tongues.
And soon my students were quickly learning Computer-Aided Design and Programming. And having FUN doing it. Computer Science can be a rather dry subject in any language, virtual worlds make it engaging and enjoyable. They were running their own businesses! They created designs and sold t-shirts, both inworld and real-world. The class was a huge success and the kids loved it. Reaction from admin? “They’re just playing a game.”
*Sigh*
And so it began. That was back in 2006. Since then, I’ve also used Second Life cybercampuses for education in China and Mexico. In 2009, I switched from higher ed to K-12 schools, and so I started using OpenSimulator. At first in conjunction with Second Life, and then exclusively. You know why. Too many adults-only shenanigans going on in Second Life, OpenSimulator is better for younger kids. And I’ve had munchkins as little as Kindergarteners using it! Georgia, China (been there twice!), Guatemala, Egypt (twice also!), Ghana… and most recently, Costa Rica.
Admittedly, despite valiant efforts to proselytize in the schools where I’ve worked, it’s usually been just me using virtual worlds in my labs. Computer Science and Design courses, and recently also New Media. But I have experienced some impressive successes with cross-curricular (interdisciplinary) projects. I’ve coordinated efforts involving English, Art, Photography, Design, Math, even Social Studies (kids created their own virtual civilization and culture).
An interesting adventure… but it’s been a rocky road at times. I recently gave a presentation as part of the VWMOOC24 (Virtual Worlds Massively Open Online Course 2024) entitled “Avatars Don’t Steal Souls.” What’s the story behind the title? I won’t tell you what country I was in…those people might be able to find me! But I thought it would be geeky-cool to create an OpenSimulator avatar with the director’s name. I showed it to her and said: “Look, it’s you!” She jumped up, genuflected furiously, and ran from the room muttering and crying. I asked a coworker what she had been saying. The answer? “She was praying that the avatar doesn’t steal her soul.” Uh-huh.
Just a few stories, and believe me, these are the milder ones! Over the years, as I’ve related some of these (amusing, to me at least!)
anecdotes, I’ve been criticized for being insensitive. “David, you’re mocking these people!” Hey, in the “souls” location, I slept with my passport and $1,000 in three different currencies under my pillow, just in case I had to make an emergency run to the airport! I give myself credit for maintaining a sense of humor.
Of course, virtual worlds are just one small part of The Big Picture involving attempts to introduce and implement educational technology tools to/ in schools full of… well, incorrigible Luddites. You educators reading this are no doubt nodding your heads. You know what I’m talking about. There have been lots of “hard sells” - Games-Based Learning in general has been only one example. If kids are enjoying themselves, they can’t possibly be learning, right? And it’s still going on today. Schools banning cellphones. Parents whining about screen time, etc. In hindsight, maybe trying to fast-forward from the “books and tests” pedagogy to the wide-open Metaverse was just too dramatic… and/ or traumatic.
Still, I appreciate that most of the stuff I’ve done I’d never have been able to get away with in the average public school. Progressive or backward, most of the international schools I’ve worked in let me use virtual worlds because they just didn’t care. OK, I’m kidding. Some of them didn’t, true, but the rest gave me the benefit of the doubt. At least at first! It’s disheartening, but many schools today, which give themselves credit for engaging in “21st century learning,” still insist on a “teaching to the test” methodology. I understand the pressure from parents, admins, teachers… sometimes kids, too. Everyone’s obsessed with grades, and so ironically the wealthiest, best-equipped schools can be the most traditional. Gotta get Junior into that Ivy League school!
When virtual reality started becoming popular, I had a glimmer of hope re: virtual worlds adoption. Virtual reality is cool, sure, but most schools simply couldn’t afford it (many still can’t)! So for a few years I touted virtual worlds as the “poor man’s” virtual reality. Virtual reality/worlds have gained some traction, not as much as I had hoped, but there’s still a chance that the Metaverse, however it’s defined, can/will become an essential component of education. If so, all my misadventures will have been worthwhile. If not, well, heck… I had a lot of fun. And I’m still having it. Still in Second Life, although I’m currently homeless. And I maintain an OpenSimulator cybercampus, just in case. Made a virtual worlds sales pitch to an English-teaching organization just last week! Keep the faith.
By Francisco Koolhoven (SL), Greg Crim (RL)
Marly Milena, known as Niela Miller in her everyday life, is a truly unique and fascinating individual who describes herself as having a “metaphorical mind.” A passionate lifelong lover of the arts, Marly has always loved to compose music and create her own paintings and drawings.
Marly has an extensive background in humanistic psychology, organizational development, coaching and educational design, and has spent many years as a Gestalt therapist, mentor, and coach. Her professional associations and teachers have included Fritz Perls and many other Gestalt pioneers, and Jungians such as Arny and Amy Mindell, as well as numerous frontier people from the human potential movement and the field of humanistic psychology. Marly has developed innovative programs across many platforms that blend the arts, psychology, and education.
When she came into Second Life in 2007, she founded the group Octagon: Creative Exploration, which is part of the Whole Brain Health organization on the region Inspiration Island. Soon after coming into Second life, Marly
immediately recognized the potential for using the building tools in a metaphorical way, rather than for their more conventional and literal purposes. From this, the concept of Symbolic Modeling was born.
Symbolic Modeling (or SymMod for short) uses artsbased processes for gaining perspectives and insights that are not possible to acquire by thinking or talking alone. There are two different approaches that can be used:
● Inside Out - starts with a feeling, thought or area of focus, from which you build something abstract in response to your own promptings. Then through a guidance process, it is possible for you to make new discoveries about your area of inquiry.
● Outside In - you create a build, drawing or other art piece without initially knowing what its meaning or significance is. Then you are guided to explore it and embody it, once again allowing you to discover unexpected things.
Marly periodically offers a program called Visions of Self, in which individuals are guided through a self-discovery process based either on an abstract drawing that they prepare in advance, or on a build that they create spontaneously during the program. These sessions generally involve small groups so that she has adequate time to work with each person.
Besides being used for personal awareness and development, Symbolic Modeling can also be used as a vehicle for creative expression, as well as in educational applications to help students better understand concepts. These varied uses are reflected in the many programs that Marly has offered over the years. Examples of creative programs that Marly has done are:
● The Improv, in which musicians and artists (such as builders, poets, etc.) take turns creating their own spontaneous works while observing or listening to what the other is doing. The audience is invited to add their own spoken word as they are moved to do so.
● Sculpture and Storytelling, where participants pair up and take turns adding components to build a symbolic model. Then they create a story in which their model becomes a character in the story. Sometimes, at the end of the program, everyone will take turns placing a primitive to create a community sculpture.
● Theater Adventures, where participants choose a monologue from a play of their choosing, create a piece of art to represent the energy of their character, then gather and read the monologue on stage, after which Marly helps them explore possible meanings of their art piece.
Examples of educational programs are:
● Marly held a number of climate change workshops several years ago, where individuals came together and were randomly assigned various positions representing different attitudes toward climate change. Each would then create and present a symbolic build that somehow represented that position, after which other group members were invited to add arguments for that position. By forcing participants to consider different attitudes on the subject, including those which conflicted with their own beliefs, they gained an appreciation for the value of understanding all sides of any issue to help develop more convincing arguments and be better prepared to enter into dialogue with those with whom they did not agree. Marly believes that only by developing a global perspective will we be able to approach effective problem-solving for such a complex issue.
● Valibrarian Gregg of the Community Virtual Library regularly uses Symbolic Modeling to help those in her library group better understand the concept of metaliteracy.
● Namaara MacMoragh of the Etopia community has used SymMod to explore members' thoughts on
sustainability issues, such as the preservation of wetlands.
Please take time to explore Marly's different venues. Her artwork is on display in her Butterfly Gallery,
located on the ground level of Inspiration Island. She has also designed a space called the Cinema Grove, where you can watch her videos from within a forest setting. And on a different sim, she has established a lovely Music Library. Every month, the Music Library showcases a talented Second Life musician performing their original compositions. Eventually, the library will also become a repository where visitors can enjoy listening to or watching videos of these artists.
Early in September of 2024, Marly did a presentation of Symbolic Modeling at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This included hands-on
exercises with those who attended the session. You can find the video for this on her YouTube channel
On Marly's website, you will find links to videos which show the different ways that she guides individuals using Symbolic Modeling. Her website also has links to other related videos, including Second Life conference programs, ones that spotlight her music and art, and interviews that she has done. Also on the website are resources for people professionals, educa-
tors and creatives, including her 63-page manual "Being Alive: Creative and Emotional Intelligence Tools for People Professionals" which is available there in PDF form.
Marly also offers training in how to guide individuals through a Symbolic Modeling session. Anyone interested in learning more can Instant Message Marly Milena in world, or can email her at milenamarly95@gmail. com. Anyone wanting to learn more about Symbolic Modeling can also contact Marly's program manager Catseye at slcatseye2@ gmail.com.
Marly is still active in Second Life, despite dealing with some health issues. Please join her Second Life group, Octagon: Creative Exploration, if you would like to stay up-to-date on what programs are currently being offered.
Francisco Koolhoven (Greg Crim in real life) is a retired computer programmer/analyst who has been in Second Life for 17 years. He is the Estate Manager & Media Director, Whole Brain Health in Second Life and the Technology Manager, Octagon:Creative Exploration. Francisco/Greg first met Niela in a different, now-defunct virtual world, at a time when she was developing her methods of teaching in the metaverse. Their friendship and working relationship has continued to this day.
By Dr. William Schmachtenberg, Ph.D. (RL), Dae Miami (SL)
Some educators feel that students learn better by making creative models with other students rather than just answering multiple choice questions. I have modified a program called Dinosaur Island, that allows students to create digital dioramas for the Cretaceous time period. Students can either create static models of the dinosaurs or give them AI abilities that mimic what real life dinosaurs had to do to survive such as drinking from water supplies and eating. They can also control the size of the dinosaurs in the sim. The program also assesses how accurately the student creates the diorama. Two students in Arizona were chosen for this study and their score increased from 77% to 95%. This approach is consistent with current 5th grade Arizona science standards that focus on the topics of modeling, scale and proportion. Versions of this program for other geologic time periods such as the early and late Paleozoic are planned, so students can see how life and environments changed over time.
Some educators feel that a better way to teach and assess students is to evaluate how well they can make creative models with other students rather than just answering multiple choice questions. This approach is called social constructivism, and Vandiver(2024) provides an excellent summary of this concept in education. Children for many years have enjoyed making creative projects. Toys such as legos as well as tinker toys, lincoln logs, and erector sets owed their success to unleashing the creative potential in students. Students have also created dioramas with shoe boxes, plastic dinosaurs, and plants. Programs like minecraft are very popular because it allows students to create online with friends. For adults, Second life also provides an easy way for college students to create with their friends. University of New Mexico students are doing wonderful projects on their sim in Second Life. The problem with minecraft is the graphics are blocky and Second LIfe contains adult content that is not appropriate for k12 grades. I have selected Unity 3d with C# for my work as it includes powerful AI commands and an ability to assess students as they are creating. I call these digital dioramas.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
I was able to purchase the Ultimate Dinosaur Pack on the Unity Asset store for my work for 50% off at a price of $150. See this website for more details. This asset comes complete with dinosaurs and a demo program called Dinosaur Island that could be adapted for this study. I modified the original program using Unity 2021.3.33 f1 and C# code (See Unity.com for more details) on a pc. Dinosaur Island starts with a blank environment as shown below. I added a small box that is 1 m x 1 m x 1 m or about 3’ x3’ x 3’. The taller box is the same as the small one except 2 m or 6’ tall to give students an idea of scale in the program.
The student can play around with the navigational tools such as the W,A,S, and D keys to move forward and back and strafe left and right. Turning involves dragging the scroll button on the mouse. They can fly up with the space bar key or go down by pressing the left Ctrl button. After becoming familiar with navigation, they are ready to start creating a digital diorama. By pressing the ESC key they bring up the menus for adding creatures.
The colored buttons allow students to pick the animals they wish to create. But at the top they are instructed to only choose animals that lived during the Cretaceous time period. Buttons on the left allow them to create AI controlled dinosaurs that freely move around or they can turn the AI off so the animals are animated but do not move. There are buttons that allow them to scale the dinosaurs to be as small or as large as they like within certain limits. There are also camera control options that allow the animals to roam freely with AI or the player can follow an animal around the environment. Animals can easily be deleted from the sim by clicking the x button next to the dinosaur. There is also a panel that displays the number of animals they choose that lived during the Cretaceous and if they pick an animal that did not live during this time period, they are told that as well and the time period during which they did live.
This is an early prototype and two children in Arizona were invited to test it.Screen sharing in zoom was used to see what the students were doing as they created the digital dioramas. The children included a 5 year old boy and an 11 year old girl. The boy suggested adding a T. rex, triceratops, and raptors to the scene whereas the girl tried those and others. Here are some of the digital dioramas the children created:
The children were not told which animals lived during the Cretaceous and which did not. They used trail and error on the first simulation, and quickly figured out which animals to use and which to exclude. In the first simulation, they correctly created 57 Cretaceous animals and tried to create 17 animals that did not live during that time period for a score of 77%, This was calculated by taking the number of correct animals and dividing by the total of correct and incorrect animals. In the second simulation, they chose 18 correct Cretaceous animals and 1 incorrect animal for a score of 95%. A 23 percent increase in their score! Dinosaur Island is totally consistent with current 5th grade science standards in Arizona which require students to use models and learn about scale, proportions, and quantity.
The results from this study are promising, but obviously I need more students to try the program. Students could also be assessed on the size of the dinosaurs they create as well as the number. Too many meat eating dinosaurs and too few plant eaters would create an unstable ecosystem. This is a single player program but I would like to make this program multiplayer like minecraft and Second Life. Dinosaur Island only runs on pcs and this could be a problem implementing the software in schools that provide only chromebooks to students. Anyone who wants to try these programs should contact the author via email: wschmachtenberg@gmail.com
REFERENCES CITED
Vandiver, J. 2024. Educators’ Experiences Integrating Second Life into Higher Education: A Case Study. Ph.D. Dissertation. Capella University.
Approved by parents for release May 19, 2024
By Dr. William Schmachtenberg, Ph.D. (RL), Dae Miami (SL)
Two more simulations for the Early Paleozoic (Cambrian and Ordovician Periods) and Late Paleozoic (Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian time periods) were created. An 11 year old Arizona student noticed big differences in the landscape, plants, and animals of these time periods from the Cretaceous. By repeating the simulations, she was able to increase the accuracy of her simulation from 14 to 100% for the Early Paleozoic after 3 trials and from 48 to 100% for the Late Palezoic after 2 trials. Obviously, the simulations should be used with more students, but the initial trial of the simulations seems promising.
In the first part of this series, I showed that students could create accurate reconstructions of the animals that lived during the Cretaceous time period using a program called Dinosaur Island. I have created two new simulations: one for the Early Paleozoic including the Cambrian and Ordovician time periods and one for the Late Paleozoic including the Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian time periods. Geologic time periods were combined due to a similar environment and only a few animals in each geologic time period.
The barren landscape of the Early Paleozoic with no land plants or animals
The same 5th grade, 11 year old student from the last study was used in this study. She immediately recognized that the sims represented different time periods in the geologic past. When asked if she understood ages in millions and billions of years, she responded yes and said there were 6 trailing zeros in a million and 9 trailing zeros in a billion. She also recognized that the landscape and plants were different in the Early and Late Paleozoic sims from the Cretaceous program.
In the Early Paleozoic simulation she started by ruling out animals that lived during the Cretaceous. She assumed that animals that lived during one time period did not live during others, which for the purpose of this simulation was fine but this is not actually accurate for many ancient organisms. In the first simulation she mostly guessed at which creatures that were not Cretaceous lived during the Early Paleozoic.
An Early Paleozoic trilobite crawls across the sea bottom
She guessed correctly that 3 of the animals lived during the Paleozoic, and she had 18 incorrect guesses for a score of 14% The score was calculated by the number of correct creature choices divided by the number of correct and incorrect choices times 100. She reset the simulation and by the third trial her score had jumped to a perfect score of 100%. She was encouraged to keep track of the animals with paper and pencil. The simulation told her if her guesses were correct or not, and if incorrect, she was told during which time periods the animals actually lived. The correct animals that lived during the Early Paleozoic were Anomalocaris (Cambrian), Cameroceras (Ordovician), and Trilobites (Paleozoic).
The student then created a simulation for the Late Paleozoic. During this time period, trees dominated the landscape.
Again the student tried to guess which animals lived during the Late Paleozoic and ruled out animals from the Early Paleozoic and Cretaceous.
She correctly guessed 6 correct animals including the large dragonfly Meganeura shown above. She had 7 incorrect guesses for a score of 46%. She reset the simulation and this time only selected Late Paleozoic animals for a perfect score of 100%.
Animals that lived during the Late Paleozoic included Dimetrodon (Permian), Helicoprion (Late Carboniferous), Meganeura (Carboniferous), Dunkleosteus (Devonian) , and Xenacanthus (Devonian to Triassic) . As she was putting the animals into the sim, I heard her say Dunkleosteus is a marine animal and belongs in the water.
Social Constructivism is an effective means of teaching students. In this case the student was able to assign the correct animals to the time periods and environments in which they lived in only a few trials. Obviously, the program needs to be used with more students. The improvement in accuracy of the sims is impressive. The 11-year-old student did offer one good suggestion and that was to see if her work could be saved before she ended the simulation. Unfortunately, that is not possible with the current version of the program.
By Roxie neiro (SL), Rosie Vojtek, PhD (RL)
In May 2011 the first issue of VEJ was published. In that issue, Cyrus Hush (SL), aka Matt Poole (RL) began his Expeditions column with the following:
By Matt Poole aka Cyrus Hush
“Come,
my friends, ’Tis
not
too late
to
seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order smite The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset…”
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Until his untimely death in June 2016, Cyrus/Matt provided us with a variety of “walkabouts” to numerous interesting and not-to-be missed places and experiences throughout Second Life. He loved writing for VEJ and as he stated in his first article (VEJ, May 2011, p. 18):
includes information about the place and in most cases a SLurl to visit and explore the build.
The second place where Josain has rebuilt Expeditions is at the Helping Haven Gateway here. Helping Haven Gateway is a place where Second Life Residents can get help from experts, especially those who are new to Second Life. There are numerous FREE resources available in a newcomer-friendly environment. The Helping Haven Gateway has experts who share “How To” tips and tricks to help newcomers navigate Second Life. You can get more information about Helping Haven Gateway on the website here.
I will have the honor and pleasure of sharing some highlights of these explorations with you. As you read about and hopefully investigate some of these builds on your own, you may find out about new tools, new best practices and new ways of using the medium yourself. Or you may just find some new places to explore!
It is no surprise that in 2016 Cyrus Hush/ Matt Poole was posthumously named by the Virtual Education Journal as the Edovator of the Year.
Josain has rebuilt Expedition Central 9 at Helping Haven Gateway. If you land
Recently, Josain Zsun (SL) has championed the cause of bringing back Cyrus/Matt’s work and legacy that was lost when he passed. It has not been easy to rebuild Expedition Central and all of the landmarks that Cyrus/Matt had collected. But, KUDOS to Josain for all of his hard work and dedication to reviving Cyrus/Matt’s digital footprints.
Josain has rebuilt Expeditions in two places. The first is at Expedition Central, Chilbo. Inside Expedition Central, Chilbo, which is a rebuild of Cryus’s Expedition Central 10, there are 3 floors with over 500 destinations posted on the interior walls to explore. Visitors can right click the pictures on the wall and then choose “Touch” to get a folder that
using the landmark in the paragraph above, you can touch “Freebie Village and Tourist Office” on the teleport board or even easier, you can simply walk through the gate and follow the path to the first building which is Expedition Central. You can’t miss it as it is the first building with a world globe spinning on the roof. The exact SLurl is here and will take you right to the building.
While you are at the Helping Haven Gateway, be sure to check out The Tourist Office using the SLurl or by continuing to follow the path to Freebie Village across the bridge. The Tour Office is located in Freebie Village and has Free resources and SLurls to interesting and FUN places to explore as well. Be sure to checkout other FREE items in Freebie Village while you are there.
As Josain explained, “Lily Swindlehurst offered to host an Expedition Central on Helping Haven Gateway. So I created EC9 there.” Even though Helping Haven Gateway Expedition Central focuses on places that newcomers will be interested in exploring, it has something for everyone.
Josain said, “ It's been a lot of work. I've been looking for volunteers to help maintain Expeditions Central.” If anyone is interested in helping Josain, you can IM him inworld. I am sure he will appreciate the help.
As I wandered around both places, I could hear Cyrus’s voice, as I did so many times while he was with us saying…
When you visit Expedition Central at either site, be sure to join the Expedition Central Group. This is a club for anyone who loves to explore. As the group description states, “ Come ramble the grid with us! All shapes, sizes and creeds are welcome. Hang out in our region's library in Helping Haven Gateway or in Chilbo! There are over 500 links to interesting regions around the grid. You can explore to your heart's content!”
Donations to help support the Expedition Central sites are always welcome. You can share some love and appreciation by giving L$ at either Expedition Central site.
Again, a special THANK YOU and KUDOS to Josain for all of his time and effort to bring back Expedition Central! What a beautiful and thoughtful gift he has given to all of us in Second Life by sharing so many wonderful places to visit and explore. But most of all, for keeping Cyrus’s legacy alive!
HELP needed ASAP. Octagon: Creative Exploration, a member of Whole Brain Health on Inspiration Island, is looking for a Volunteer ADMINISTRATIVE
to Marly Milena, Founder and Director of Octagon: Creative Exploration. We would welcome your becoming part of our administrative team. You would be compensated for any outlay (for instance, uploading photos) and bonuses for projects that take more time and work.
Our emphasis in our programs is on combining arts, education and psychology in a variety of ways, so you would enjoy this opportunity most if you had an affinity for these areas. In general, you would be helping to publicize, recruit for, occasionally host, and administer our programs. It helps if your time zone is in the USA.
You must be well organized, comfortable with SL technology, reliable, a good communicator, able to use voice and enjoy collaboration.
Your time and participation might vary based on the programs being worked on. You would receive supervision and support until you were comfortable carrying out some tasks on your own.
If you have an interest in exploring this fun opportunity more, please contact Katsii Tennen, Cats, Program Manager. Send Cats a notecard telling us why you think you might be a good fit for this gig, or email slcatseye2@gmail.com
I am so excited to be able to interview Valibrarian Gregg (SL), Dr. Valerie Hill (RL) for the fall issue of VEJ. Val has been an author for VEJ in previous issues and is very well connected with the Education Community in Second Life. She is very busy and attends a number of events in Second Life every week. I truly don’t know how she does it! Her energy and enthusiasm completely amazes me. Everytime I talk with her I learn something new!
Roxie: Val, please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself.
Val: I am Dr. Valerie Hill, aka Vali brarian, in all virtual environments. Because I was an early adopter of virtual worlds for education, I chose to put my career in my name! I served as a librarian for twenty years after teaching 1st and 5th grade and then taught as a professor of library and information science as I witnessed the information revolution impacting education and libraries.
Roxie: You have been in Second Life for over 18 years. Your Rez Day (the day you first entered Second Life) is June 9, 2006. As one of the early adaptors, what
brought you into Second Life?
Val: Initially, I read about Second Life on a librarian’s blog and discovered many librarians entered SL early around 2006. Embodiment in an avatar in a “real” albeit virtual library has been a fascinating experience and has provided an opportunity to research in a new way as digital culture and the evolving metaverse has impacted our lives over the past two decades.
It sounds strange to hear you talk about the impact it has had on our lives over the past two decades. Time flies for sure! One of your early projects was building the Community Virtual Library. Tell us about it.
The Community Virtual Library (CVL) began through the Alliance Library System in Illinois and I became the director in 2015, following in the footsteps of early virtual world librarians like Lori Bell and Rhonda Trueman. Serving as a physical world librarian during the close of the Gutenberg Parenthesis (that 500 year period between 1500 when the printing press was invented and 2000 when most content was given birth digitally) was an incredible experience for me. In fact, I vividly remember a moment when I stood in my physical school library imagining the floor was shaking beneath my feet.
Roxie: I get goose bumps just thinking about it. Who would have predicted where we are now in 2000 when content began to be digitized! It certainly changed the world of microfiche and having to read scanned copies of articles and artifacts.
Val: I entered Second Life as a librarian and even put it in my name, Valibrarian. Working at CVL has been a rewarding experience, yet we found people think a library is just a place to get a book! Many avatars visited and saw the beautiful virtual library but did not understand it was a hub to connect people to information, simulations, communities of interest as well as answer questions. Educators were creating great simulations over the early years in SL completely in isolation before the Virtual Worlds Education Consortium was founded in 2021.
Roxie: What was the reason for establishing the Virtual Worlds Education Consortium(VWEC) and did you make changes from what you were doing at the Community Virtual Library?
Val: Realizing that through collaboration we can help educators and learners understand the potential for virtual worlds, the CVL librarians moved all services to the Thinkerer Info Center at the VWEC Eduverse Welcome Center. Thinkerer Evans (Selby Evans in the physical world) was a champion of virtual worlds who generously supported the Community Virtual Library over the years. Not only do librarians offer services at the info center named for him, we encourage volunteers to work an hour shift to help collaborate and provide mentors for educators and learners.
Roxie: It is wonderful to have librarians and educators serving as volunteers and mentors! Are there other changes from the Community Virtual Library?
Val: We are no longer limited to passive media (print
or visual) but we are participants who can enter the book in a virtual space which I perceive as metaphorical and a tool for promoting critical thinking. Virtual worlds must be used purposefully and intentionally if we are to be ethical digital citizens, particularly as AI is rapidly expanding. Reading books in print, watching a movie, listening to music, and all the many formats of media are still valuable and important. But they are all changing rapidly and we must understand how to adapt and how to preserve them. Forming a network in virtual environments connects experts who can help us understand the problems we face in digital culture.
Roxie: I can’t agree with you more. It is so difficult to even try to keep up with all of the digital changes and their use and implications. Looking back at some of our previous issues of VEJ, it almost seems like a different place, a different life, because there have been so many changes.
Val: Yes, many changes have taken place in the metaverse as VR headsets and numerous virtual platforms (VR CHat, Engage, Sinespace, Roblox and others) have become popular. To become aware of these new spaces, I go on monthly expeditions to explore many emerging platforms with the VR Exploder Club in partnership with VCARA (the Virtual Center for Archives and Records Administration facilitated by San Jose State University).
Information about how to join these expeditions can be found at the VWEC Info Center. Most of these spaces can be visited with or without a headset. Over the years in Second Life, it has been difficult to persuade educators, administrators, and librarians to embrace the virtual world for learning due to the “steep learning curve” and the rise in tech applications on digital devices. There are just too many options for teachers to keep up!
Roxie: [Shrugging my shoulders and laughing.] You can say that again!
Val: Yet, those of us who have remained in Second Life believe it is still a viable educational tool and the best place to be in the metaverse. The VR headset worlds are not ready for mainstream use and we do not understand how they impact the human brain, particularly for children. Many of the emerging worlds require outside applications to import virtual assets
(such as Unity or Unreal Engine). Second Life has everything built right in the interface which can appear complex but one need not learn to do everything to use it.
Roxie: Yes, the learning curve is steep even if you don’t need to learn everything to use it. You have done quite a lot of research on changes that are affecting literacy. What got you interested in pursuing it?
Val: As I witnessed the toppling of the information hierarchy with a rise in social media and a flood of incoming information daily, my research led to a passion for digital citizenship and a quest to understand changing literacy. Many new terms for literacy have emerged: information literacy, digital literacy, transliteracy, computer literacy, and more. In the past, literacy meant the ability to read and write; however, today we spend most of our time communicating on digital devices through apps, videos, emojis, memes, posts, and a constant “scroll” through information. I have adopted the term metaliteracy as it addresses our participatory culture online both as individuals and communities.
Roxie: What exactly is “metaliteracy?”
Val: From the metaliteracy.org site, “Metaliteracy is a pedagogical model that empowers learners to be reflective and informed producers of information both individually and in collaboration with others” (2024).
Roxie: Can you explain metaliteracy more?
Val: Working in a virtual environment has helped me realize the need to balance our physical and digital (virtual) lives. One day I was riding a city bus and looked around me— every single person was staring at a digital device (smart phone). I realized they were in a different place mentally! They were not on the bus with me. I thought to myself, “whether or not one has an avatar, we are all living in virtual worlds.” This means we all must learn to be digital citizens and learn to balance our lives in various spaces. This is why I believe we need more words not less words. The term metaliteracy helps us think critically about what literacy means and why it is important to be metaliterate.
Roxie: WOW! I never thought of it like that before. What a perfect analogy! How many times have we been to a party, or out for drinks and dinner with friends, and we have one foot at the social gathering and another foot in a virtual space! Any final thoughts before we end this interview?
Val: Virtual worlds will continue to evolve which requires us to choose wisely the spaces where we work, learn, play and live. Children are adept in virtual environments like Roblox and Minecraft and we must ask how these spaces are impacting their development. A balance between playing outside in the sand and building things with their own little messy hands and building in virtual spaces (slaying monsters) must be achieved. My work at the Virtual Worlds Education Consortium (VWEC), alongside many inspiring professionals and lifelong learners, is rewarding and I have come to realize that collaboration is essential in digital culture. We have access to instant information across the globe, yet we need close communities more than ever or we can feel isolated. Only through collaboration can we understand how to help the next generation of learners navigate rapidly changing information landscapes.
Roxie: So much to think about, Val! You have inspired me as always and challenged my thinking once again. I am very intrigued with your work on literacy and want to know more about traditional literacy, digital literacy and metaliteracy, the essential knowledge and skills for each and the most effective methods for teaching literacy in a digital and virtual world. We will definitely have you share more of your work on literacy and digital citizenship in future issues of VEJ.
Val: Yes, indeed! I look forward to it!
Roxie: Once again, I want to thank you, Val, for taking time to talk with me and for sharing your experiences in Second Life and your work with us. You can read more about the Virtual Worlds Educational Consortium (VWEC) in their column, “Welcome to VWEC” by Dr. Valerie Hill and Dr. Becky Adams in this issue of VEJ.
The Virtual Education Journal (VEJ) was founded in 2011 and is Edovation’s flagship publication for digital and virtual learning. The journal is published four times each year (ie., Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall) with issues organized by a specific topic/theme, but includes non-thematic articles as well.
Visit the VEJ website for the latest issue of VEJ and all of our archived issues of VEJ.
After five years of hiatas, we are in the process of updating and expanding the content on the VEJ website. Watch for blogs, podcasts and other relevant news related to digital online and virtual world events.
Be sure to visit our VEJ Headquarters in Second Life for the latest updates.
Virtual Ability, Inc. presents the 13th Annual International Disability Rights Affirmation Conference
Date: Friday, November 15, 2024
Time: 7:00 AM to 2:30 PM SLT.
Place: Sojourner Auditorium, Virtual Ability Island, Second Life
Topic: Disability & Health: Where will AI take us?
All sessions will be presented in text and voice. More information including the schedule, speakers and presentation descriptions is on the Virtual Ability website. The conference will also be recorded and Live Streamed on YouTube here. Be sure to watch “What Second Life means to me, with Gentle Heron,” here
This annual professional conference will be held online, and is FREE and open to the public
On September 18, 2024 at 9 am (SLT) several groups in Second Life hosted the “FREED BETWEEN THE LINES!” celebration for the 2024 Banned Books Week. The program was a joint venture with VWEC, the Community Virtual Library and the ACRL Virtual Worlds Interest Group with the purpose of promoting awareness of the need for intellectual freedom.
The presentation began at the VWEC Fireside Deck in Second Life with presenter, Sonnet Ireland (RL), Bunny Burnstein (SL). After a brief introduction, the participants teleported to the Virtual Community Library to tour an exhibit of books that have been banned. Following the tour Sonnet (aka Bunny) led a discussion about the books that participants had read or not read and why they were being banned across the United States and in other countries.
You can view the entire presentation on YouTube. This includes Sonnet Ireland/Bunny Burnstein’s her slide presentation and the tour of banned books at the Community Virtual Library in Second Life.
The Virtual Worlds Interest Group provides an opportunity for academic librarians with virtual world interests and responsibilities to have a place in ACRL to network, share information, ask questions, and work on special projects and programs relevant to academic libraries. The Interest Group also works to promote the various uses of virtual environments to potential and current academic librarians and to improve information literacy specifically in virtual worlds. The ACRL VWIG sponsors events, programs and meetings held mainly within the virtual world of Second Life and explores other developing Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality environments.
The ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) Virtual Worlds Interest Group is part of the American Library Association. The group is hosted by the Community Virtual Library and meets monthly on the 3rd Wednesday at 9am (SLT) at the VWEC Fireside Deck. The ACRL Virtual Worlds Interest Group focuses on learning in virtual environments. They welcome li-
brarians, educators, instructional designers, subject specialists, artists and life-long learners.
If you are interested you can connect with ACRL_ VWIG in one of these ways:
Facebook Page
Website
The Community Virtual Library is the support library for https://www.vweconsortium.org/
Contact ACRL Conveners for details: Valibrarian Gregg or Suemoon Magic, Visit The Virtual Worlds Education Consortium (VWEC) website or visit them in Second Life
By Mewtenie
When someone says, “I am a stylist,” what often comes to mind is someone who applies their own work to the model, or in this case, an avatar. However, from the perspective of a practicing stylist in a virtual space, it is far more complex. Second Life provides its own set of cultural expectations and social norms that a resident will then use to mold their view of the virtual world with their avatar alongside it! Each passing newcomer will require someone flexible to help, and willing to leave their own ideologies aside to accommodate different lifestyles. One can be exceptional at their role, however, developing relationships with the user and being personable is a much more valuable asset when assisting others in evolving their virtual presence. While creating an avatar that resembles your real self may be a challenge, there is a near infinite number of possibilities and ways you can design your virtual persona. It’s important to know that if you find yourself feeling not entirely satisfied with your look, there is always room for growth!
To understand Second Life, you must also understand the basic underlying foundations of the avatar itself, as it is just as important to self expression as the clothing (or lack thereof) you are probably wearing now!
There are four main components to an avatar on Second Life, two of which are mesh. Mesh is essentially the canvas of the painting, or in this case, your skins and tattoos which you can add to personalize your appearance. The paint of the canvas (mesh) is called a texture, which is generally an image of a skin, scar, or tattoo that sits on the surface of the avatar. In
total, you have your Mesh Head, Mesh Body, Head Skin, and Body Skin. That’s it! The rest is simply skin
features, clothing, accessories and hair!
The number one most important texture type you will come across is called Bakes On Mesh (BOM). The term is coined from the fact that the texture is baked onto the mesh item, similar to how glaze is baked onto a vase in a kiln. BOM is a universal texture for your body and head, so the original BOM body and head textures are intended to be used in all bom compatible bodies and heads. Now, it’s good to note that because of design and optimization choices by Linden Labs, the original BOM texture resolution is 1024 x 1024 pixels. Lelutka, a popular mesh head designer, designed the ability to increase the image quality of the head skins!
They named the original BOM mapping of 1024 x 1024 pixels “Evo,”,and invented a new method to increase the quality of the head textures to 2048 x 2048! This is called “EvoX,” which is still BOM, however it is not universally compatible with the original BOM heads, exclusively head stores in which support EvoX. You can find these compatible mesh heads at Lelutka, Akeruka, Logo, Bespoke, Catwa, and many more stores! EvoX is the most current and supported map-
ping type for all head skins and makeup across the grid! You can easily find head skins, addons and makeup in stores such as Velour, Not Found, Brabos, and Deetalez!
Another store deserving of a highlight is Meshbody, the creators of the Legacy body line for both men and women. There are two very helpful and intuitive features of this mesh body. Firstly, there is a note card included with every purchase of the body that has a list of commands to help set up your body without even needing to mess with the HUD or its interface of buttons! The two most important commands for local chat are “/1meshbody bom on” and “/1meshbody reset.” These allow you to quickly enable Bakes on Mesh to start wearing those modern BOM skins, and quickly fix any visual glitches you may find when experimenting with shines, tattoos and clothing you are unsure of. Additionally, Meshbody has a website in which you’re capable of booking free, one on one support with an avatar specialist! You can find this feature at https://www.meshbody.com/thesuites.
If you are looking for curvier features as a woman, eBody Reborn is also an incredibly popular body with a plethora of addons, high quality skin detailings, shapes and support across Second Life! For the men, Belleza Jake is another wonderful option for a more slender appearance with a high capacity of clothing support. Both eBody Reborn and Belleza Jake are modifiable, so it is easy to customize your looks even further, if you’re looking to go for a heavy fantasy appearance! Lastly, the best place to find body skins are places such as Velour, Not Found, Stray Dog, Someone, and DopeLit!
The Shape:
There are three primary shapes in Second Life.
The head shape (which is attached to the body shape) and the brow shape. Residents often struggle with shaping, as understanding how camera angles work plays a hugely important role in creating your avatar (I will cover this more in my upcoming lecture). Sliders function in the very same way as any other game in which you create an avatar, there is the ability to create less or more, move parts up or down, out or in with each slider. One side is opposite to the other! The real issue lies where residents have a head shape and a body shape and cannot put them both on the same avatar. This is because, again, the head and body shape come as a combined pair. To remedy this, the best way to combine shapes is to first apply the body shape, record the numbers in your shape edit tab with paper and pen or a picture. Then, after you are finished, wear the head shape and simply plug in the numbers for your body shape. You will have less to deal with when shaping your body as opposed to your head, which has way more sliders! You can find plenty of shapes on the marketplace, however be cautious to pick one that is compatible with your head and body! If you have a Lelutka Avalon head, for example, you will need a head shape for Avalon.
If you’ve ever attempted to wear a shirt and your pants fall to your ankles, and when you put your pants back on your shirt falls off, this is a very common misunderstanding in Second Life! It is important to always click “add” instead of “wear” when putting on your virtual clothing. This is because items are attached to a specific point on your body, and should your hat be attached to your skull, hitting “wear” on a pair of glasses will replace the hat with said glasses, rather than layer them. “Add” is the attachment layering feature you need! Never press “wear” unless “add”
is unavailable!
Does your neck look like you’ve recently been decapitated and stitched back together? This is likely because you need a neckfixer, or neck blend! It is possible for any two similar colored Bakes on Mesh skins to match seamlessly, granted you are also wearing a neck blender. You can find a whole bundle of them, for both men and women, free at Velour! Do note: Do not attempt to tint your head and body manually through their respective “HUDs,” or customization menu included with your purchase. Instead, use demo options to find two similar head and body skins, and then blend it all out!
Do not ever hesitate to reach out for assistance. Linden Labs has recently reopened the Welcome Hub for newcomers or returning residents to seek aid with the help of the mentor community. You can find it here. The community of Second Life is full of wonderfully unique and helpful residents, and all it takes is a little persistence and an open heart to find a good community to settle into! Be sure to seek out calendars, in world groups, and Discord servers often displayed in users’ profiles! If you’re interested in
learning more, The Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable will be hosting a presentation on November 14th with an even further dive into avatar creation!
Meet Mewtenie: creator, builder, avatar designer, and previous Second Life Mentor. Owner of The Cozy Collective, she has built an entire community evolving around Fashion, creating a visual aid to all current and modern stores in Second Life (Click here to join Discord). She provides support for stores such as Vae Victis, DOBs, Cryptid, Meshbody, Lunette, and Spires Society as well! Mewtenie is also involved within several fundraisers such as Fantasy Faire, Renaissance Festival, Christmas Expo and FandomCon, raising money for the American Cancer Society. Committed to enhancing our virtual haven for all, she guides diverse residents with tailored expertise. A second-gen enthusiast, inspired by her mother's earlier gameplay as a child, she's dedicated to shaping the platform's growth for future generations of residents. Her messages both on Discord and in-world are always open for questions!
Date: Thursday, November 14 2024
Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm SLT
Place:
VWER Infolit School in Second Life here
For more information about Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable (VWEV) visit here.
Join VEJ Makeover Magic Columnist, Mewtenie, as she explains structure, shape and the mesh body for your avatar, and shares resources, tips, tricks, and yes, secrets to creating what your avatar aspires to be. This is your chance to meet Mewtenie and get your questions answered. Everyone is invited. We hope to see you there!
Maha Abdelmoneim (RL)
OliveTree Lighthouse (SL)
Maha Abdelmoneim lived in Cairo, Egypt. She describes her work on Facebook as a:
Learning & Development Consultant, Instructional Designer, Trainer, Life and Executive Coach and ALWAYS learning. Online Learning Enthusiast experimenting with Virtual Worlds for Teaching and Learning. I love learning and teaching languages.
In Second Life, OliveTree Lighthouse (June 16, 2010 Rez Date) describes herself on her SL profile by writing:
I came to SL to learn, teach, explore & enjoy connecting with the educational communities. Virtual Worlds, to me, are about people, cultures, ideas , creativity, and the amazing sense of presence that I get while connecting with them.
I'm a muslim woman. If you have genuine questions, go ahead and ask. If I don't know the answer I'll find someone who knows, research it and get back to you, or point you to useful resources. In any case I also learn. :)
Ask me if you're looking for activities related to Education, Art and Nonprofit in SL.
Gentleness Makes Everything and Every Interaction More Beautiful Always!
As friends of OliveTree learned of her passing on September 30, 2024, tributes poured
By Roxie neiro (SL), Rosie Vojtek, PhD (RL)
out and flooded the Metaverse. The news of the passing of our beloved colleague and friend, OliveTree Lighthouse, was met with shock and intense sadness. All of us who knew her are heartbroken. Such a huge loss. She was an amazing and wonderful person, filled with spirit and joy, always willing to share and always there for everyone she met. We are all so fortunate to have gotten to know her. Let’s keep her light shining as we forever celebrate her life.
The following are a few of the many comments and memories we have captured from her friends and colleagues. We share them with you here.
Heike Philp: Devastating to hear this news. Carol and myself tried to pass on messages to her at the time that seemed to have been her last hours, conveying our utmost love to her. What a treasure lost! Her continuous presence and willingness to help were admirable. A very sad goodbye to a wonderful person.
Valibrarian Gregg: OliveTree was so helpful in Second Life and across many virtual environments. She lives on in our memories as she made "the world's" a better place! The VWEC MInetest Club would never have been possible without the help and guidance of OliveTree Lighthouse. She provided a space for the group and lessons in how to begin teaching and learning in this "Kindergarten of virtual worlds." OliveTree shall be remembered as such a warm, kind colleague and mentor. Hugs to all who miss her, Val.
Beth Ghostraven: I'm so sad to hear about OliveTree. She was such a big part of this community, and a good friend. A terrible
A photo of OliveTree helping students in the VWEC MInetest Club which began in the spring of 2023. Here's a short clip of the group spotting a giraffe in Minetest! [Sep 25, 2024, 11:17 AM] loss, and so sudden.
Lyr Lobo: OliveTree was a sister to me. We played World of Warcraft for many years until the system technical requirements exceeded her Windows 7 system. She was PinkSamurai in our ISTE guilds Cognitive Dissonance and Inevitable Betrayal and when I was working nights, we played many days together, talking about our classes, Blender, and virtual worlds.
She was very active in OpenSimulator and loved creating content there. She created an account on our Virtual Harmony site in May and she came to our Sunday meeting May 19th. We last spoke on June 5th as we had a running conversation going in Discord when she said that she was getting a new charger for her laptop.
During our WoW games, we took prayer breaks for she loved her God with all her heart, and when someone came to the door
needing help, she was always there for them. In game, I had her back.
Over the years, I asked her to let me send her a laptop as Windows 7 is going off the Internet for browser support, but she would not have it. It ends soon, and I am beyond sad to have lost such a dear friend.
Minecraft gave her the flexibility and joy to continue creating and sharing without worrying about technical issues. She loved the Minetest community and was a dear moderator and volunteer each year at the OpenSimulator Community Conference.
Her volunteerism at VWBPE and OSCC was a tribute to the loving service and comfort she shared with everyone who knew her.
She was a bright light in our community. I met with our ISTE guildies in WoW tonight with Gridjumper, Zarrasia, Abacus Capalini and others and they send their sorrow over her loss (September 30, 2024).
Spiff.Whitfield: So sad. She was always so kind.
Spinoza Quinnell: So very sorry to hear about the passing of OliveTree. Such a loss for the whole community. She was always there for us over the years. I can’t help but believe that OliveTree and Delightful are together and sharing eternal harmony and peace as they continue to be there for us in ways we will only later come to know.
Bevan Whitfield: Oh, such sad news.
Doris Molero: So sorry for Olivetree and her family. We're going to miss her. Hugs to all of you, too.
Zinnia Zauber: OliveTree touched so many lives and inspired folks to be helpful and encouraging. We have lost a dear friend and soul. Her care and work continues on inworld and in us. Hugs to you all and please keep Olive Tree's family in your thoughts.
RIP OliveTree Lighthouse. You will be missed, but your legacy will live on! HUGS!
Resources including photo’s used for this tribute to OliveTree Lighthouse (SL), Maha Abdelmoneim (RL) include:
OliveTree Lighthouse Facebook here
Maha Abdelmoneim Facebook here.
Maha Abdelmoneim LinkedIn here.
And, OliveTree Lighthouse SL Profile
by Lyr Lobo, aka
Dr. Cynthia Calongne
• Olivetree Lighthouse was a lover of literacy, a warrior for education, and loved creating mesh content in Blender and playing games with educators.
• Leader of the MineTest group, she loved to nurturing learning in every setting.
• As her avatar PinkSamurai, she played in the ISTE guilds Cognitive Dissonance and Inevitable Betraya I with Lyr and attended Blender classes.
• Olivetree moderated and helped speakers get comfortable at the OpenSimulator Community Conference and at the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education.
• The following are a few photos from those events, shared in loving memory.
Are you ready to embark on an extraordinary journey in education and virtual environments? Join us as we delve into the theme of Transitions, where we explore the creation of immersive and transformative educational experiences through visual storytelling and interactivity.
The 18th Annual Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference is a completely online conference providing educational and networking opportunities that are relevant to curriculum development utilizing immersive virtual environments.
Your participation in this conference not only helps the thousands of instructors coming together to champion immersive education during our conference, it also reaches out to thousands more throughout the year.
Rockcliffe University Consortium has managed the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference (VWBPE) with well over 70 volunteers from the US, Canada, and
Europe. This conference is unique in that it is completely
online and free for anyone to attend. It was created by the educational community, for the educational community, and regularly attracts more than 1000 participants each year.
Your participation will help to:
• build community through the extension of learning best practices to practical application of those ideas and techniques;
• provide networking opportunities for educators and their communities; and
• provide access to current and upcoming innovations, trends, ideas, case studies, and other best practices in the field of education.
This annual conference has been successful because of the support of sponsors who understand that educators are faced with inordinate pressure to make the best use of new immersive technologies in ways that are sustainable and accessible even within limited budgets, and available to both instructors and students.
As a sponsor, you will have unique opportunities to contribute to the conference, including promotion of your products and services, participation in micro-burst Q&A sessions, and ongoing brand identification through our proceedings and video archives.
Sponsors are the primary source of funding for this event and help ensure its success. You can provide
support in the following ways:
• Be an event supporter through a monetary donation.
• As a Diamond, Gold, Silver or Bronze level sponsor, you may create a 3D showcase exhibit, which could offer samples or trials of your products or services.
• Host a presentation on your products or services. Volunteer at the event.
We invite you to become an official corporate sponsor and help us promote proven, new, and emerging developments in online education.
If you represent a company that is interested in becoming one of our official event sponsors, please read about available sponsorship opportunities and be sure to download the PDF document with full details
Individuals are also invited to become community sponsors. Every donation, whether big or small, goes towards supporting the goals of VWBPE and the continuing movement in online education.
Working together, we can continue our shared commitment to excellence in teaching and learning in immersive environments. We can’t wait to engage with you!
15 FEBRUARY 2025 – SPONSORSHIPS CLOSE 3-5 APRIL 2025 - VWBPE 2025 CONFERENCE
By Roxie Neiro (SL), Rosie Vojtek, PhD (RL)
We know we speak for all of us when we say how proud we are to learn that VWBPE, although posthumously, named Lorraine Mockford/LoriVonne Lustre as the 2024 recipient of theVWBPE Thinkerer Award! As you read below, LV was such a vital member of so many Second Life communities and passionately gave of herself in so many ways to forward education and served as a champion for so many critically important causes.
Kevin Feenan recently shared his memories with me about LV:
Lorraine Mockford, or as she was known in Second Life – LV, was a good personal friend. We met back as part of the lead up to the Second Life Best Practices in Education conference back in 2007. When the conference switched to becoming the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (VWBPE). LV was one of the first people to get involved and was active in both VWPBE and Rockcliffe ever since.
wards exactly because she cared so much for education, teaching, and mentoring.
LV made an impact on my life and that is something I’m hoping to pay forward. She didn’t seek out recognition for her accomplishments – they were simply there for all to see. In so doing I feel that she set a standard for putting the work, the friendships, the capacity to accept people for who they are, and the ability to bring out the best in people front and center. And if that is all any of us can give then it is enough.
For myself, I will miss her.
Beautifully said, Kevin, and I, Roxie Neiro, couldn’t agree more! I worked with LV while I was
social chair for VWBPE and she was an amazing resource, colleague, and friend. Someone who always had your back and was there when you needed an extra hand or support. Not only did LV have an impact on Kevin’s life, but to everyone who was lucky enough to know her. LV made a difference to so many, including me. Kevin, I miss her, too! We ALL do!
The VWBPE News announcement of LV receiving the 2024 Thinkerer Award is beautifully crafted. We gratefully
appreciate and acknowledge Kevin Feenan (RL), Phelan Corrimal (SL), Founder of Rockcliffe University Consortium and Executive Committee Member for VWBPE, for allowing us to reprint it here.
Please join us as we congratulate LV as the recipient of the 2024 VWBPE Thinkerer Award; and as we celebrate her life and legacy in both Second Life and Real Life.
RIP LV! You will forever have a place in our hearts!
By Mar 16, 2024 | VWBPE News
The Awards Committee has taken the nominations for this prestigious award very seriously every year. This year, it was evident who should be our recipient.
Unfortunately she could not be here, but I’m certain you all agree that she is most deserving.
In honor of those whose legacies continue
to inspire and whose contributions echo through the corridors of time, I proudly announce our 2024 Thinkerer Award recipient is our own, recently lost but always in our hearts, Lorraine Mockford, our dear LoriVonne Lustre.
As Kevin mentioned earlier, LV was not only our dedicated and engaging Programs Chair
for the past five years, but she has also been a vital part of the Conference in many roles for the entire 17 years it has been held.
LV was a lifelong educator. She raised her children while getting her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Alberta, and she went on to get her MA in education, focusing on community college leadership from the University of PEI.
Her professional career included over 25 years of service to the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC). She worked mainly in Health and Human Services, having a hand in creating the Early Childhood Studies program. She then worked as an instructional designer, helping pioneer the NSCC’s adoption of online and blended learning.
Lorraine entered Second Life on Nov.14, 2006, and her focus included her exemplary leadership with VWBPE. She served as a valuable member and transcriptionist for Virtual Ability and was active with One Billion Rising, the White Tiger Mentors, Whole Brain Health, NonProfit Commons, VWEC, and other Virtual Communities, including the Virtual Midwife Organization. She was very active in facilitating the Virtual International Day of the Midwife. She was always promoting education in Virtual Worlds, as well as in her Real Life as she continued to teach after retirement for the NSCC.
Lorraine’s obituary described her as a spiritual force of nature. She valued her friendships deeply and stood strong as her family’s matriarch.
She was that for her Virtual friends and colleagues as well.
With this award, we honor Lorraine, whose remarkable achievements have left an indelible mark on education and us all. Through her unwavering dedication, passion, and ingenuity, she has forged paths illuminating the way for many to come.
Join us as we shine a spotlight on her enduring legacy, weaving together the threads of her remarkable journey into the very fabric of VWBPE history.
Please join us in celebrating Lorraine Mockford/LoriVonne Lustre as our 2024 Thinkerer Award recipient. Phelan Corrimal will be delivering the physical award to Lorraine’s children: Damion, Tiffany, and Willow after the conference.
This article and pictures were first published on Mar 16, 2024 by VWBPE News. They are republished here with permission from Phelan Corrimal.
It is hard to believe that it has been 10 years since the first Second Life MOOC, renamed the Virtual World MOOC in 2018, held their first massive open online course. Time flies! Over the past 10 years there have been numerous recordings and resources from expert presenters from around the metaverse.
This year VWMOOC24 began with the Opening Ceremony and Celebration which took place on August 1, 2024. A variety of topics by expert speakers were presented each day through August 31, 2024. Attendees were excited to be a part of the 10th year Anniversary and enjoyed the dance party following the Opening Ceremony. The Opening Ceremony took place at the VWMOOC Headquarters in Second Life. It can be viewed here
As in previous years, participants were able to attend in the Virtual World of Second Life and Zoom was used for the live online meetings. The Moodle platform was used so that learners could continue their learning after each presentation.
The VWMOOC24 Virtual Headquarters is located in Second Life here. Most of the VWMOOC24 presentations took place in the outside courtyard at the Headquarter building. Inside the VWMOOC Headquarters is information about VWMOOC24. Information about VWMOOC25 coming soon.
This year’s VWMOOC24 theme, “Connecting in Virtual Worlds: Communities of Practice” highlighted communities in virtual worlds that promote collaborative learning and virtual teaching in digital environments such as Second Life, Digiworldz, Kitely, Minecraft, Artificial Intelligence (AI) Augmented Reality (VR), Virtual Reality (VR), or OpenSim.
The MOOC and the live online classes were organized and coordinated by Dr. Nellie Deutsch, Dr. Doris Molero, Dr. Nancy Zingrone and Dr. Valerie Hill.
VWMOOC24 provided speaker sessions for all 31 days during August 2024. The presentation schedule is posted on the VWMOOC24 here. The schedule includes information about: the date and time of each presentation; title of the presentation; name of the speaker; description of the presentation; and a link to the recordings that were made during each of the presentations. If you missed any of the sessions or you just want to watch them again you can get the url for each of the presentation recordings on this schedule here as well.
Bios of the presenters are available to download, view, and to print out here.
There are 52 videos on the VWMOOC24 Youtube Playlist. Some, but not all of the presentations are found here. In addition there are other short recordings from the MOOC coursework that are archived on this Youtube playlist. If you don’t see the recording you are interested in viewing, use the VMOOC24 schedule url listed above.
Dr. Nellie Deutsch facilitated the VWMOOC24 Opening Ceremony and Celebration on August 1, 2024. This session began with an overview of VWMOOC24, discussing
the logistics for the MOOC as well as this year’s speakers and topics for their presentations. It was followed by a dance party to celebrate the 10th year anniversary. You can view the VWMOOC24 Opening Ceremony and 10 year Celebration Dance here.
The presentations took place in various locations over 31 days. For example, on August 2, 2024, Lyr Lobo (SL), Dr. Cynthia Calongne (RL) presented “The Power of Creation: Learning Strategies from 3D Worlds” at the Nonprofit Commons sim because this presentation was a joint session of the VWMOOC24 and the Nonprofit Commons. Lyr Lobo spoke about teaching through creativity and archiving student projects on a rezzer. If you missed her presentation you can view it here. This is only one example of the VWMOOC24 presentations. Be sure to check out the others.
On August 31, 2024, Dr. Nellie Deutsch (Nellie Homewood), Dr. Doris Molero (Pionia Destiny), and Dr. Valerie Hill (Valibrarian Gregg) hosted the final Closing Ceremony and Dance session for VWMOOC24. The session was a chance to reflect on learning and any takeaways attendees had from this year’s MOOC. It was also a time to look forward to VWMOOC25. The recording can be viewed here.
Stay connected with VWMOOC at: Facebook
VWMOOC Second Life Headquarters
Join the “Virtual Worlds MOOC” Second Life Group in world for notices and updates.
PAST VWMOOC Recording Archives
The Virtual Worlds MOOC 2024 (VWMOOC24) took place from August 1 to 31, 2024, offering a comprehensive exploration of virtual worlds and their applications in education and professional development. Throughout the month, participants engaged in a series of live sessions, each week focusing on distinct themes and activities.
In the first week, the MOOC commenced with an introduction to the course objectives and an overview of virtual worlds. Participants were acquainted with the platforms to be used, including Second Life and OpenSim, and were encouraged to create avatars and explore these environments. The sessions emphasized the significance of virtual worlds in fostering immersive learning experiences and building communities of practice.
The second week delved into the educational potential of virtual worlds. Sessions featured presentations by educators who shared their experiences integrating virtual environments into their teaching practices. Topics included designing interactive lessons, facilitating student engagement, and assessing learning outcomes within virtual settings. Participants had the opportunity to visit virtual campuses and observe live demonstrations of educational activities.
During the third week, the focus shifted to professional development and networking within virtual worlds. Attendees explored how virtual environments can serve as platforms for professional growth, collaboration, and global networking. Workshops covered topics such as hosting virtual conferences, developing professional learning communities, and leveraging virtual worlds for career advancement. Participants engaged in networking events and discussions to share insights and build connections.
The final week concentrated on the future of virtual worlds and emerging technologies. Sessions addressed advancements in virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and artificial intelligence (AI), discussing their implications for education and professional development. Experts provided insights into upcoming trends and encouraged participants to consider how these technologies could be integrated into their practices. The MOOC concluded with reflections on the learning journey and discussions on sustaining the community beyond the course.
Throughout VWMOOC24, participants were encouraged to reflect on the live sessions and create artifacts demonstrating their learning. Those who reflected on at least eight sessions were eligible for a certificate of completion. The course fostered a collaborative and immersive learning environment, equipping educators and professionals with the knowledge and skills to effectively utilize virtual worlds in their respective fields.
Reprinted with permission.
The Virtual Conference Date: December 7-8, 2024.
Conference Website
Registration is now open here. Reserve a spot here. Tickets range from $0-$200. There are only 400 tickets including the tickets for presenters, sponsors, hosts, etc. So if you are interested in attending be sure to register as soon as possible, because when the tickets are gone, they are gone.
The Annual OpenSimulator Community Conference features presentations, workshops, keynote sessions and social events. It focuses on the user community and developers of the OpenSimulator virtual world software. Most public virtual worlds use the OpenSim platform and are hypergrid connected. This allows avatars and content to travel between virtual worlds.
The December 7-8, 2024 conference will feature over 30 presentations and panels on the main stage. The conference also features music, art, and social events in the evenings. The conference will kick-off with pre-conference festivities on Friday, December 6, 2024, featuring live music performances and art. After the conference participants will have the opportunity to attend other social events and tour some of the hypergrid destinations.
A call for (at the time of publication):
Speaker Proposals
Volunteers
Host a Community Event
Help Sponsor OSCC
Information about OSCC, including the schedule when it is released, can be found here.
Additional information about OpenSimulator here.
Join the OSCC Discord community.
View the OSCC 2023 Presentations here.
SFFL Dance Party Winter13
People join Second Life (SL) for a variety of reasons, with one of the most often listed as meeting new people. Friendships, relationships and community are all very important to active members of Second Life and often listed as the main reason why veterans of SL have stayed for so long.
Second Life and Bellisseria Mentors and for other kind, friendly Second Life citizens.”
Several of the Moles, along with Second Life Mentors and Bellisseria Mentors, are active members of this group. They are available to help residents with any questions and provide information about SL. However, other members of the group join the conversation, provide information and share their experiences including fun and exciting activities, events, and destinations that are worth exploring. It is a great way to make new friends!
Often the first thing new residents to Second Life want to know is where they can go and what they can do. They are anxious to meet and talk with other people and explore everything there is to do in the virtual world.
To this end, the Second Friends For Life (SFFL) group, created by Governor Linden, was announced in July with Second Life and Bellisseria Mentors quickly becoming members. In August 2024, SFFL group membership was open to SL residents, especially the newcomers, and the membership began to grow.
One way that the SFFL group plans to introduce residents to each other and build relationships and community is through group events and activities. To get things started, Second Life Mentors, Ember Tuqiri, Mandy Cloud, and Jolie Serendipity suggested the first official SFFL event and agreed to organize and host the party.
The purpose of the SFFL group is to help new residents make friends quickly and to build friendships, relationships and community. Although SFFL was created for new residents, the goal is to make it so much fun that established residents will want to join and new residents will want to stay as members. As the SFFL wiki states, “This is the official friendship group for newcomers arriving at The Welcome Hub, for
As Mandy explained, “The party is about friends... a chance for new residents to have some fun, meet some new Friends, and encourage them to stay in Second Life for the long term.”
The Official Opening Party for SFFL group members, new residents and anyone else who wanted to attend. The party was held at the Belliserria Fairgrounds on Sunday,
October 13, 2024 from 10 am - 9:00 pm SLT. It was a celebration of friendship and a day of music, dancing, and laughter! Guests brought their dancing shoes and enjoyed great vibes, tasty treats, fun surprises, and awesome prizes. Like the best real life parties, the event had plenty of food, decorations, music and FREE SWAG for everyone!
Mandy, Em and Jolie did a wonderful job of hosting the party by welcoming guests and keeping the conversations going in chat. Second Life and Bellisseria Mentors also joined the fun and were there to meet and greet guests as well. A number of residents who own their own businesses or just enjoy designing, building and scripting SL merchandise provided the FREE SWAG to all guests. And, as always, the spread of food was awesome!
A special THANK YOU to Caitlin Tobias for creating her video, "Second Friends for Life Party in Second Life” and allowing us to publish the URL in this article so you can see for yourself how much fun everyone had
at the party. Caitlin Tobias, a Second Life resident since 2007, loves to explore diverse regions, sharing her photography on Flickr and her blog, and short machinima on YouTube, X, and TikTok. Be sure to watch Caitlin’s machinima video of the party. You can view it here.
Second Friends for Life Party in Second Life.
As you can see from Caitlin’s video, everyone had a fabulous time! A HUGE THANK YOU to Em, Mandy, and Jolie for organizing and hosting this event and to everyone who contributed to its success. Everyone who attended had a GREAT time. We can’t wait for the next SFFL event!
Join the SFFL in your SL viewer in world by copying and pasting the link here.
The SL entertainment schedule (SL time) included the following performers:
10:00 AM
DJ Sookie Jade on stage now!
11:00 AM
WINTER (Live Acoustic Rock)
2:00 PM
DJ Trick Rembrandt (Indie Rock)
3:00 PM
Maximillion Kleene (Live Acoustic ROCK/POP)
6:00 PM
DJ Roijito Feliz (Music Mix)
7:00 PM
Agatha Nowles (POP & Yacht Rock)
It is our pleasure to introduce you to three of the Second Life Mentors and active members of the Second Friends For Life group. We hope you will introduce yourself to Mandy, Em, and Jolie, and get involved with the SFFL group.
Mandy has been in Second Life for 14 years (SL birthday September 11, 2010). In Second Life, she enjoys friends, decorating, exploring and volunteering for events. She spends her time helping new residents at the Welcome Hub and Firestorm Gateways.
For fun in Second Life, Mandy say she loves “Music, of course!!” Mandy also enjoys “dancing, goofing around with friends, shopping, meeting new people, and exploring new finds. Mandy also said that “building new avatars is always a great pastime for me.”
Helping residents make over their avatar is something Mandy enjoys doing as a Second Life Mentor.
Mandy became a Second Life Mentor because “I was always helping others… I was my friends ‘go to’ person when they messed up their avatars. Being a Mentor was a perfect fit for me. I love passing on knowledge… also learning from other mentors. It’s very satisfying.”
Mandy describes herself by saying, “ I am pretty much open - a very straightforward person. At the same time, I care too much and at times go above and beyond to help others. “What you get in SL is what you get in Rl!”
Jolie has been in Second Life for 14 years (SL birthday January 20, 2010). She loves to spend her time as a Firestorm helper and Second Life Mentor assisting new residents and helping them acclimate to their Second Life. She also “makes a living as a host for Love Kats.” Jolie has a marketplace store where she sells KittyCatS that she breeds.
In her free time Jolie enjoys “building, attending live music performances, and exploring all the amazing places people have created.” She also enjoys breeding KittyCatS and shopping.
For fun, Jolie said she likes “helping people learn about the many facets of SL. The reasons why people join vary, and I want them to realize their dreams.” She continued saying, “Sure, I can help them with a makeover, or teach them how to rez a prim, or how to use the search feature, but I most like helping them find their niche in this world.”
Jolie became a Second Life Mentor because she remembers what it was like to be new in Second Life. She says, “I was shy, embarrassed to not know how to do things, and more than a little afraid.” Jolie said it took her “nearly a month to really understand how to get dressed,” adding that it shouldn’t be the norm. She also became a Second Life Mentor because she loved being a part of the Firestorm Team, and wanted to expand the ways she is able to help others.
About herself, Jolie says, “I am quiet and reserved, until you get to know me, then - WATCH OUT!
I am married in Second Life to ChuckPC, and although we are opposites, we fit together like finely crafted furniture.”
Ember Tuqiri has lived in Second Life for 16 years and 8 months (SL birthday January 30, 2008).
Em, as her friends call her, is a Second Life Mentor. She is also a party set designer in a small way and occasionally serves as a fashion competition judge. Em views herself as a “lifetime member and lover of all things Second Life.”
For fun, Em says she likes to party, decorate, and does a little bit of landscaping.
Em says that she enjoys mentoring and is willing to help residents anyway she can. It begins by talking with residents and having a good conversation with them. She also likes to help residents find a great avatar look. Em is also able to help residents to find homes, and as she says “certainly places to shop for free and cheap… especially items to decorate their homes.”
Becoming a Second Life Mentor is important to Em because, as she explains, “after such a long time in Second life I felt it was about time I jumped in and started paying some of my knowledge forward. The biggest reason Em enjoys being a mentor is because she truly loves people. She loves “seeing how happy residents can become, with even the smallest, helpful moment.” She says, that is what “makes me smile.”
Ember describes herself as being “open, approachable and having a pretty good sense of fun.” She adds, “I would certainly never claim to know everything… Second Life is a continual learning curve for us all. But, boy what a fun ride it is!
Liam Metaluna, host and DJ, welcomed everyone to the Fun Fur and Fashion Show, starring some of SL’s best dressed Dinkies and designers on Friday, September 20, 2024 on the Isle of Wyrms. The show took place in the beautiful Catherdal. For a little over
an hour, Dinkie models strutted their stuff down the runway.
Snow Scarmon, and Honey and Roddy MacLeod had the idea to put on a fashion show at Isle of Wyrms (IOW) to promote the merchants who have shops there in the Marketplace. IOW, originally developed for dragons (wyrms) in Second Life, has become a home to the many varieties of Tinies; including Dinkies, Wynx Tinies, and dwagon hatchies.
Isle of Wyrms Cathedral
Attendees were invited to visit the shops in the Marketplace that is located right next door to the Cathedral before and immediately following the fashion show. The clothes modeled in the Fun and Fur Fashion Show are available in the designer’s shops.
The IOW Fur Fun and Fashion Show got
off to a “YEE HAW” start when host and DJ Liam Metaluna introduced Snow and her husband who own decked-out fat ponies that ride the range of the Isle of Wyrms! SNOW, AMI, MILA, SCOUT and WHISPY showed-off their ponies and carts by Circling the Wagons all over the Runway.
and DJ
Rockin’ the Fashion Show, Host and DJ Liam Metaluna, kept the show moving and the audience groovin’! Fashions from eight designers were featured in the show. In order of their appearance, they include:
Designer: Kamasa Kutanaga
Models: Scout, Mila, Ami, Whispy
Kamasa's Dinkie brand "Alley Kitteh" started in 2013, almost immediately after the Dinkie avatar was created by Etheria. Instead of giving her presentation any visual theme, the designer chose to display selected outfits from different years of her experience as a Dinkie apparel creator. Ten creations by Kutanaga were featured, worn by models Scott, Mila, Ami and Whispy. All the latest stuff from Alley Kitteh can be found in Alley Kitteh stores in-world. A little note: "Alley Kitteh" is a brand name for Dinkie Apparel and accessories under KaoSome Inc. You can find Alley Kitteh on the marketplace under KaoSome Inc.
KaoSome Inc. SL Shop
KaoSome Inc. SL Marketplace
Designer: Nebby Newman
Models: Ami, Mila
Nebby's makes products for all sizes - from teensie to biggie. She often uses textures from nature, some of which are from her own photos! Lately, Nebby enjoys making clothing and accessories for DINKIES!! The Newman collection showcased three dresses and three coat ensembles, modeled by Ami and Mila. Several pieces modeled were: a Candy Corn dress with candy-bag purse; Totally Weebed veiled hat and dress; and, a Vitruvian Robot steampunk coat outfit with an almost DaVinci drawing on the skirt.
NEBBY's NATURALS Mainstore
Designer: Loopers (thingymajig1965)
Models: Loopers, Archer, Kal
Loopers spends most of his time as a Dinkie. He is the owner of Dinkified Clothing and sells at various places in Second Life. His collection featured five of his western gear outfits modeled by Loopers, Archer and Kal. The western pieces in the show included Cowboy, Cowgirl, Sheriff and Outlaw getups that brought the house down. YEE HAW!
Dinkified Mainstore
Weelanders & Wee Wonder
Land O’Da Blep, Hippystamp
Designer: Snoots (Eren Padar)
Model: Snoots
Snoots (Eren Padar) is the owner of DragonForge and the creator of Dwagons, BrokeDolls, space ships, Steampunk Dwagon, and more. Snoots modeled 5 of his creations including a Biggie and Tiny BrokeDoll, a Tiny version of the DragonForge Dwagon, a Psycho Teddybear, and a Steampunk Dwagon. Snoot’s BrokeDolls, both Biggie and Tiny, are his best selling item. They are futuristic androids that are well past their prime and no longer work quite right. Their movements are shaky, their computer brain needs service, and their scripted key is constantly in need of winding and a drop of oil. Use the BrokeDoll system with just about any avatar and make as many BrokeDolls as you wish. The BrokeDoll is sure to catch the attention of any passerby as they watch it wobble along. Dress up your BrokeDoll as you like and make it your own. What kind of BrokeDoll are you?
DragonForge Mainstore
DragonForge SL Marketplace
KHAOS StUFFZ
Designer: .:: STRAY ::. (leif.khaos)
Models: Leif & ArcticMonkeyss
Stray has a flair for designing t-shirts, jeans and cargo pants for Dinkies. The show featured four of his designs: Bad Religion, an outfit like a Punk with cool glasses and Brand shirt in dark clothes; Halloween-Batsy, an outfit for Halloween with a cute bat shirt, blue jeans, and cool blue pumpkin trainers; Hobo Dinkie, gear fit for a Hobo Dinkie ready to TP anywhere Second Life complete with hat, suitcase, hobo stick, flipflops, and even a pipe for smoking; and, Halloween Pumpkin with a cap, cool jeans, boots and a pumpkinhead shirt. Stray believes that one day “the Dinkies will rule Second Life!”
KHAOS StUFFZ Mainstore in Weelandia
KHAOS StUFFZ SL MarketPlace
EMA'S
Designer: Ema Poole
Models: Ema, Jade (Jadelicious Crystal)
Ema’s store features Dinkie, Fantasy, Petite, Classic, and Mesh Avatar clothing. The show spotlighted five of her designs modeled by Ema and Jade, including: Lenore, a cute back to scholar date night dress with jacket and boots; Farrah, a lacey top, buckled shoes, unisex pants, BOM t-shirt and jacket; Misfit, unisex pants, jacket and BOM t-shirt; Lily, a cute polka dot bandini top with full skirt, flower wreath, knickers, shoes, and star makeup; and, Nicky, unisex studded leather jacket with an angry kitty t-shirt, jeans and boots.
EMA's Store
EMA’s SL Marketplace
EMA’s Facebook
GPA DINKIES
Designer: Beth Ghostraven
Models: Beth, Llola, and Snow
Beth Ghostraven specializes in BOM outfit pieces that can be combined and layered for different effects. Five outfits were showcased, but only the bolero jackets, dress sashes, bows, and shoes were mesh. This collection featured two dresses, one that can be worn as a long gown for historical venues and a short dress and the other
with a bolero jacket. A brand new Dinkies waistcoat outfit was made with the most popular new autumn fabrics and designs that are perfect for the fall season. Two fall t-shirts, Autumn Squirrels and Autumn Wreath are available for Wynx Tinies avatars, humans and Dinkies.
GPA DINKIES Mainstore
GPA DINKIES at Isle of Wyrms
Designer: Ingwaz Thor
Models: Beth and Honey
Ingwaz Thor is all about fun, and you can definitely see that in her creations. Model, Beth, swept down the runway in a Dinkie autumn leaf circular dress wearing a fall crown from her GPA Dinkies Autumn Flower Crown collection. Honey bundled up in a cozy warm leopard print coat with furry warm white fur trim and matching winter hat as she waltzed past the audience. Perfect for any Victorian themed event, Thor’s final piece in this collection is a Victorian Overskirt ensemble complete with Victorian Pantalons from Miss Ing’s Dinkie Victorian Silk Undergarment set.
Miss Ing's Mainstore
Wyle-R-Shire Ocean Corner Landing, Simyit
Miss Ing’s Victorian Shop
The Fun and Fur Fashion Show concluded with Liam Metaluna thanking Snow Scarmon, and Honey and Roddy MacLeod for the idea to showcase all of the designers and creators. DJ and Host Liam Metaluna also thanked the designers, creators and models for their designs and performance, with a special thank you to the audience for attending. The after show included a dance party and shopping at the IOW Marketplace.
This was one fashion show that was not to be missed. The high fashion models paraded down the runway in adorable outfits. As advertised, there was GLITZ and GLAMOR! Everyone had a wonderful time and saw some amazing fashion creations. Let’s do it again, y’all! YEE HAW!
Let’s do it again, y’all! YEE HAW!
Since April 2020 Draxter Despres has hosted the SL Book Club. There are over 200 saved videos on the SL Book Club Draxter Youtube Channel. During that time, as the Youtube Channel explains, the Second Life Book Club hosted a series of “monthly literary-minded events with the occasional non-fiction thrown in.”
Unfortunately, for all of the SL Book Club fans, Draxter is “closing its doors” on the book club. But, before he does, as he says, there will be “one last hang!” The GRAND FINALE was on November 9, 2024, at 3:00 pm SLT. You can view the Finale here or on YouTube here. At the time of writing, Draxter has over 11K subscribers.
If you haven’t already, you should take time to visit the SL Book Club Islands. Not only is this where the SL Book Club events were held and filmed, but there are also so many interesting things to see and do on the islands. In total there are four islands with several teleporters to take you to a variety of places around the islands. A definite must see!
As Draxter states, “Hope to see you around the SL Book Club Archipelago (aka SLBCA) coz the islands will
stay in the virtual world and there are REAL people visiting everyday. Go say hi and ask them ‘What are YOU reading?’”
Draxter is hoping that after the SL Book Club ends, Linden Labs will not take down the four islands and they will remain open for everyone to explore and meet up with other visitors and continue discussing the books we are all reading.
Be sure to visit the Official SL Book Club website here. It houses information about the SL Book Club including past events, a full playlist of the recorded videos, and information about how to visit in-world.
Other ways to view previous SL Book Club archives include:
Book Club Location
Book Club Youtube Playlist
Book Club Flickr Group
SL Book Club website
You can continue to follow Draxter Despres on his blog, The Draxman’s Substack. Also, check out Draxter’s website to learn about his other projects. After November 9, 2024 the SL Book Club with Draxter will be changed to DRAX DOCUMENTARY NEWS. Stay tuned…
But for now, as Draxter reminds us, “The SL Book Club Archipelago is still around in-world. Go go go go henceforth and converse?”
Thank you Draxter, for a GREAT four years of reading and all the thoughtful (and FUN) conversations. We look forward to following you as you begin your next adventures!
The Virtual Education Journal (VEJ) was founded in 2011 and is Edovation’s flagship publication for digital and virtual learning. The journal is published four times each year (ie., Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall) with issues organized by a specific topic/ theme, but includes non-thematic articles as well.
The purpose of VEJ is to: share the work that educators are doing in digital and virtual environments; disseminate educational and technological research, tools, and best practices; document and preserve the culture, social relations, digital work, environments, and digital artifacts; encourage and promote the work of educators and their students to effectively and seamlessly utilize digital tools; and celebrate the lives, accomplishments and preserve the learning and legacies of educational leaders.
VEJ is interested in learners of all ages. We are always looking for educators and/or their students to share what is happening in virtual environments, digital and online learning (e.g., curricula, instruction, strategies, and assessments). What tools are being used? How are educators engaging students differently in virtual environments and with digital online learning? What impacts are AI, VR, and AR having? What are the take-aways? What is being learned through research and best practices that can be shared with others?
We are also interested in professional learning and growth in virtual environments. For example, how are Pre-service Teacher Education Programs through Graduate School Education Programs teaching, learning, connecting and networking with each other and their students? What are other professional learning organizations doing (e.g., medical, engineering, first responders, non-profits, parks & recreation) and how are they using virtual and digital environments including AI, VR, AR for professional learning, simulations, role-play and training activities? But, because we believe in a balanced life, we are also interested in how educators are exploring virtual and digital environments for their own personal learning, well-being, social relationships, networking, and connections.
The Virtual Education Journal seeks to document and archive the work that is being done by and for educators in order to share, disseminate and replicate it around the world and throughout the metaverse! We especially welcome articles from educators, artists, designers, builders, entertainers, librarians and authors who are using virtual environments and digital learning to further their craft. We are interested in articles that push the envelope of thinking to show not only how best practices and effective teaching strategies are used inside the box, but also what is happening outside the box.
The Virtual Education Journal offers no payments for articles. VEJ is also not peer-reviewed. Decisions regarding publication are made by the editor and staff.
Please submit articles, approximately 500 – 1800 words. Use Word or Google Docs (no PowerPoint or Google slides); Times New Roman, Calibri, or Arial in size 12 font. We want and encourage the use of pictures! Please be sure your pictures and graphics are the highest resolution possible (using png, tiff, jpeg or even Photoshop psd files) in a separate file. You may also send a list of captions you would like to have for each of your pictures. In addition, you can embed your pictures/graphics in the article so we see where or how you would like them placed. Most importantly, be sure to send your highest quality pictures/graphics in separate files.
Send your article submission to: editor@virtualeducationjournal.com
Be sure to put “VEJ” in subject line.
You may submit articles and pictures at any time. We publish four issues of VEJ per year.
Manuscripts, editorial correspondence, and questions about submissions should be sent to Roxie/ Rosie via editor@virtualeducationjournal.com or give Roxie Neiro (sl) a notecard in second life.
You can find more information and see previous issues of VEJ on our website at www.virtualeducationjournal.com. Be sure to visit our VEJ inworld Headquarters.
We look forward to seeing your articles and pictures published soon in VEJ! Remember, VEJ is only as good as we all make it. Thank you for sharing your work and experiences with us.
Keep Smiling, Roxie Neiro (RL) Rosie Vojtek (SL
Winter 2025
Metaliteracy and Immersive Learning
Spring 2025
Digital Legacy
Summer 2025
Hypergrid: Traverse the Medeverse
Fall 2025
Community Building
