Janine’s blog

I have agreed to be a lab rabbit in Lindy’s PhD project. THis means participating in professional learning activities and an action research project in Second Life.

We had an orientation session a couple of weeks ago where Lindy used her “Terra Incognito” island as the venue for an information session about what being a lab rabbit involves. We essentially had a presentation from Lindy followed by a group chat and then we went off and had some fun down in the village. I reflected on whether the 3D world added anything to the session over and above what might have been achieved in a 2D text based world. I think the main thing was that there were visual clues about what others were doing (seeing hands move as someone is typing a text message). My skill level was very basic and that certainly interferred with my interaction. I felt unco-ordinated and often confused though after the hour and a half I had mastered some things about moving around.

This evening I finally got back for my second session - on my own this time.  I had to reinstall the software as my laptop has been re-imaged. I got back in OK and fortunately was where I had left off. I had received some emails from Lindy which I followed up on - collected my lab rabbit t-shirt and a bouncing ball. As a result I now understand the inventory tool. I also changed my appearance. Scrolling through the various menus is quite overwhelming - there is so much to it! I think the next step will be to undertake some structured tutorials (should have done that first I guess). I certainly don’t feel at home here yet. I will try to be more regular as I know from past experience that that is the way to really understand the environment.