Teaching the first class

The experience of delivering my first full class in Second Life was less difficult than I had expected. The Introduction to the module which was to have been held in a Real Life computer lab during the afternoon was cancelled due to the difficulties in bypassing the network security – the technician was unable to get SL running. So, Claudia and I phoned all the participants to ask them if the normal time for the class (ie, 8pm to 9pm) in SL would suit and if they were comfortable logging in. All agreed and consequently we held our first real class on Wed 4th February!

Most students arrived at the DIT campus on time and even though many did not have any real experience in SL they were able to activate voice and settle into the seats scattered around the foyer area. Having everyone sit down gives a sense of order to the proceedings, signifying that the class is in session. I guess it discourages the avatars from wandering around the room and breaking the concentration of those delivering the class and the participants. I certainly found it useful to be able to see all the class from my vantage point.
We started in just the way you might expect to start a class in Real Life: we gave a brief introduction to each other, going around the room clockwise. Voice activation is necessary because you can't hear other avatars speak without it – even if you don't have a mic to speak yourself. Some spoke their introductions while others used text. A few issues around voice were volume (difficult to hear one or two of the participants), feedback (probably due to speakers being too close to the mic), not able to hear one individual even though he could hear us (maybe the mic was faulty). But, it went surprisingly well for a first effort.
The Claudia and I spoke a general introduction to the module, what we intended covering, the structure of delivery etc. We spoke in turn making sure we alerted each other to our intention to hand over because those non-verbal cues are not available in SL.

To finish the class we teleported all the participants to a small lecture theatre we intend to use for some of the formal presentations, just to give them a sense of the opportunities SL has to offer.