I made this for a demo I’m going to do on Friday, but it has me reflecting on the impacts my virtual presence has had on me in the last few years.

Visit the jokaydia Blog for more info. Hope to see you there!

Croydon Lecture Hall and Exhibition Centre

The Croydon Lecture Hall and Exhibition Centre is the most traditional ‘lecture-style’ build on Koala Island. It is named after Swinburne University’s Croydon Campus in Victoria, Australia, and has been designed to be used for large meetings of avatars.

Although I’m not a huge fan of lecture theatres in SL, there are times, when it is an efficient way to present information and bring large groups of avatars together. The Croydon Lecture Hall provides seating for 70 avatars and is also equipped with chat logger and slide/video screens. It also incorporates indoor and outdoor spaces to ensure that it is multi-purpose and can be used for a variety of different events and interactions.

The entrance way to the Croydon Lecture Hall includes a large open space with tools which ‘rez’ three different scene selections:

• Lounge Areas – Couches and comfy spaces for informal events.
• Poster Display Boards – Frames designed to support student exhibitions and displays and ensure the space is easy to setup for poster sessions and to display student’s work. Includes a slide/video viewer which can be accessed by members of the ‘Swinburne @ Koala Island’ group.
• Discussion Circle – Seats up to 15 avatars and provides a simple setup for large group discussions. Includes a slide/video viewer which can be accessed by members of the ‘Swinburne @ Koala Island’ group.

You can find out more about the Croydon Lecture Hall and Exhibition Centre on the Koala Island Wiki, or view the complete Flickr set with annotations here.

The Sarawak Skybox

The Sarawak Skybox is designed to host private classes, meetings and discussions and is situated in the sky above Koala Island at approximately 300m. The space is positioned to ensure privacy and is equipped with holodeck tools which ‘rez’ five different scene selections:

• Boardroom Style – Formal boardroom style, including slide/video screens. (Seats 9 avatars)
• Discussion Circle – Formal group discussion style, including slide/video screens and a chatlog-to-email tool. (Seats 16 avatars)
• Large Discussion Circle – Large group discussion style, including slide/video screens. (Seats 40 avatars)
• Garden Style – a magical garden space which can be used for discussion groups or small parties. (Seats 10 avatars)

Facilitators from the Faculty of Education at Swinburne University will be encouraged to add new scenes to the skybox as their Second Life projects progress, so this space will eventually house a large collection of ‘setups’ for groups from the Koala Island community to use.

You can find out more about the Sarawak Skybox on the Koala Island Wiki, or view the complete Flickr set with annotations here.

It’s 1:30am and I’m finally done! The Lilydale Atrium on Koala Island is finished!

The Atrium is the largest building on Koala Island is a ‘replica-build’ based on the real-life Atrium at Swinburne’s Lilydale Campus in Victoria, Australia. It is designed to be a multi-purpose hub for Koala Island and includes a range of discreet spaces to meet, display student work and provide information about Swinburne University of Technology. It houses a number of spaces and resources including:

• Atrium Entry Hall – A large open space, equipped with holodeck tools which ‘rez’ three different scene selections:
  • Circle of Chairs – Seats up to 12 avatars and provides a simple setup for large group discussions.
  • Discussion Sofas – Seats up to 25 avatars on comfy sofas. Includes a slide/video viewer which can be accessed by members of the ‘Swinburne @ Koala Island’ group.
  • Stage, Seating and Presentation Tools – Seats up to 50 avatars, and includes a slide/video viewer which can be accessed by members of the ‘Swinburne @ Koala Island’ group.
  • Tables and Chairs – Seats up to 24 avatars around small tables, and includes a slide/video viewer which can be accessed by members of the ‘Swinburne @ Koala Island’ group.
• Swinburne University of Technology Information Centre – which includes useful links and information about the Unversity and courses offered, our real-life campuses and student services.
• The Atrium Coffee Shop – an informal space for visitors to meet, chat and grab a virtual coffee
• The Koala Island Project Office – this space is current vacant, but will be used by students involved in projects on the Island
• Atrium Screening Room – Currently showing images from the University’s Spaceworks Program
• Atrium Gallery – Designed as a space to show and share student’s work. Currently showing images from the Swinburne University Image Bank
• Faculty of Higher Education Offices – the upstairs area of the atrium is dedicated to Faculty of Higher Education projects and includes a boardroom style meeting area.

Click here to view a collection of snapshots of the Lilydale Atrium in Second Life on Flickr.

I’ve put together a Flickr Set which includes images and some notes explaining how the space works and what it includes. Hopefully we’ll also hold a tour/beta testing session during the week with selected colleagues.

As promised, here’s the details of the event I’m doing for ISTE in Second Life next week. Hopefully lots of our jokaydia Community Members will be able to attend! Check your local time here.

Education on the Islands of jokaydia in Second Life with jokay Wollongong

Tuesday, January 29, 6 PM SLT, ISTE Speaker Series Session

Jo Kay aka jokay Wollongong will share information about the various projects she is involved with in Second Life, including the Islands of jokaydia, where she is supporting a growing community of educators and artists in Second Life who are exploring various strategies for the use of virtual worlds in their practice. She will also talk about the incredibly comprehensive SLeducation Wiki which documents educational uses of Second Life and is recognized as one of the most valuable resources available for educators exploring virtual worlds.

The event will commence at 6pm SLT on 1/29 at the ISTE Beach/Campfire Ring area where Jo Kay will facilitate a brief introduction and a question and answer session. This will be followed by a field trip to the Islands of jokaydia where participants will have the opportunity to explore the Islands and also meet some of the jokaydia Community members who are working there.

For more information about ISTE events in Second Life visit their wiki.

Join us for some dancing and socialising on the Island of jokaydia as we celebrate the festive season AND delivery of our new sim!

Where: http://slurl.com/secondlife/jokaydia/113/150/23

Time:

• Saturday 22 December @ 6pm (Australian Time)
• Friday 21 December @ 11pm (Second Life Time)
• Check your local time here – http://tinyurl.com/325upc

For more info IM jokay Wollongong in Second Life or email me!

I couldn’t resist this cool tool, and hope it brings back some good memories for those who attended. For me the memories of techical dramas, stress and hard work are fading, and I’m focussing on the conversations, new learning, connections and innovations that came out of the event. Thanks to everyone how attended, contributed, commented, criticized, praised and recorded the event!

The posters will be displayed in Second Life until 5pm on the 6 December 2007, so drop inworld and check out yours and other team members posters. To teleport to jokaydia click here.

On Friday I will start pulling it all down… so we can prepare for our next adventure adventure…. hosting the International Edublog Awards 2007 in Second Life!

We had some great news today – both the Island of jokaydia AND our Second Life in Education Wiki (Yay, Sean!!) have been nominated in the Edublog Awards 2007 – in the Best educational use of a virtual world 2007 category.

Visit the Edublog Awards 2007 site and get voting!!

The Island of jokaydia

Second Life in Education Wiki

Congratulations to all of the nominees in each and every category – but a special hoooooray to….

• Leonard’s Mobile Learning Blog, Stephen’s OLDaily and Sue’s Mobile Learning in TAFE Blog in the Best Individual Blog Cateogry
• Sue is also nominated in the Best New Edublog – and Best Educational Tech Support categories. Wow Sue… go girl!!
• Well done Konrad in the Most influential blog post 2007 Category – for his fab post How to Grow a Blog. Outstanding!
• Konrad’s blog of proximal development is also nominated in the Best teacher blog 2007 category along with Graham Wegner’s great read Teaching Generation Z
• Congrats to HeyJude and Kathryn Greenhill who are both nominated in the Best library / librarian blog 2007 category. I have no idea who to choose between these two… both are too fabulous! Help!

More info coming soon about the gala SL Edublog Awards Ceremony! Start planning your virtual outfit!