Former Linden Educator's Advice to Linden's Current CEO

John Lester, formerly Linden Lab's virtual education evangelist, has some good advice for Ebbe Altberg, currently Linden Lab's CEO, who's reaching out to educators still interested in Second Life:

[I]t’s not just about collecting technical requirements and reading submitted feedback when you have the time. It’s about taking the time to actively investigate and participate in a community so you can cultivate its success and identify completely new market opportunities in the future.

Good advice. (And a good argument for Linden Lab hiring a virtual education evangelist.) On the other hand, I think Linden Lab should also spend more time reaching beyond educators already into SL/OpenSim -- such as all the folks using Minecraft as a teaching tool:

According to [Minecraft.edu's Joel] Levin, about 300 schools have bought the discounted Minecraft so far, and 50 schools are testing MinecraftEdu. One teacher, he says, is using it to teach English as a second language through Minecraft’s online chat system. Another has her students write nightly journal entries about their Minecraft adventures.

Got to be at least some of them interested in using a more robust platform (even if the kids have never heard of it).

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Comments

[Pussycat Catnap]

The takeaway for me is this:

"It’s the same reason why companies that focus solely on engineering goals while ignoring complex sociological factors tend to find themselves perpetually running after a community rather than leading it into the brightest possible future."

This is why High Fidelity is doomed to repeat Second Life's mistakes - and maybe even do worse, as it appears they have learned the opposite lesson from the needed one out of the SL boom and bust.

[Pussycat Catnap]

I see the same flaw with Octopus Grip...

A technology preceding the need and the demand, and having little concern for either.

[Ezra]

Second Life cost for a classroom:

$500 region setup
$150 a month in ongoing expense

Minecraft.edu cost for a classroom:

$18 a month per student on the high end without volume discount
$41 for the Minecraft.edu mod (unlimited users)
$0 LAN

As with Garry's Mod and most things you pitch Second Life as a competitor for, you can't ignore the huge pricing discrepancies.

Second Life will continue to be left behind for every use case except for those where the whole of Second Life is useful. When the social network and economy of it isn't needed, there's far superior alternatives.

Also pay attention to how the field changes further in the future with products like Unreal Engine 4 and Crysis moving to $20 and $10 a month plans respectively. We've already seen educators experiment with Unity, and it's much pricier to develop with.

[Batters Box]

For all the talk about using Sl as a educational platform in the time I've spent in SL I can't say I saw much justification for this. For the most part it appeared it was used as a place for the educational community to meet and talk about what a wonderful educational environment SL was or could be but but little evidence there were any sims that were built that could impress a classroom of kids that are exposed to video games on a daily basis with better graphics and performance.Most of the educators I've met didn't possess the skills themselves to build, came without a budget to hire or thought they could just learn it as they went along and without clear objectives or a clear vision of what was to be accomplished.

[Ilsa Hesse]

easy advice. dont price yourself out of the market. bring back the education/non profit discount.

[Iggy]

@Batters, we clearly hung out in different circles. I have encountered some amazing simulations built by educators over the years (Virtual Harlem, Virtual Theorists' Project, WW I Poetry site, Rezzable's Egyptian sim, & Globe Theater, off the top of my pointy head) with some good building and scripting skills. Granted, their content did not have game-style graphics or engines, but what does in SL?

My last group from Spring 2013 really liked the House of Usher simulation we used, but they had two bits of advice:

--reduce lag
--make it *less* like a game. We'd added a combat system and some real perils. The students were more interested in the interactive-story aspect and solving puzzles.

My sample-size is one class for that. Changing priorities and lack of support at my university make it unlikely I'll use SL or OpenSim in the near future, but I have run six sections through the world since January 2007.

I suspect that cost accounts partly for Minecraft's success at the K-12 level, but also the lack of SL's reputation for adult content. That's one thing the new CEO can't change. Reducing tier and increasing outreach to educators would heal some old wounds and might lead to new interest.

If game-style graphics were the determinant, Minecraft would not have enjoyed the success it has had.

[plus.google.com/107149339247003256568]

Ebbe's track record would imply that Ebbe has something to tell Pathfinder, and not vice-versa.

Well, two platforms were put into demise under Pathfinder's watch. So what justifies to over-hype Pathfinder as business administrative guru if the outcomes are miserable.

Ebbe has a Quality Management approach, and Q-Words were never used in virtual worlds up to now.

Example:

‎Second Life‬ presently does not list Windows 8 as supported - SL is actually a Dunce Company
http://ht.ly/vUSSW

Supporting Windows XP is obsolete!

The following support thread is 1.5 years old, and the Second Life requirements website has not responded to the Windows 8 issue
http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Technical/Windows-8/qaq-p/1717489

SL is so stupidly unresponsive to external domain changes! Godspeed You Pathfinder!

Second Life is in dire need of Quality Appraisal by Software Engineering Institute SEI
http://ht.ly/vUTCl

The same incident happened with Win 7 a few years ago, SL also forgot to update their requirements website.

The Second Life Gap in Quality Culture is reflected, if the same incident repeats, and is not remedied in a swift manner.

So the SEI Quality Audit and an organizational QM Culture turnaround is long overdue.

Pathfinder needs this advice, I would think.

[Ciaran_Laval]

Alas Second Life is too expensive in this day and age for widespread educational usage, that ship sailed with the global financial crisis.

[Magnet Homewood]

Can anybody say what educational purposes the sims mentioned above served?

Now, take your students to a place like Keyhole Club, that's real education!

[Hitomi Tiponi]

@plus.google...... supporting XP is not obsolete as long as a fair proportion of the SL user base continue to use it.

[Paypabakwriter]

Ilse and Batters make good cases. I always thought the educators failed to build relationships with other more-talented residents and benefit from their skills. The sad thing is that education is under such economic attack by Teabaggers there is no realistic expectation that virtual worlds will be affordable no matter how low LL could make tier for nonprofits. It's too bad because the things being done by the programs offered by educational/library community were a good way to counteract the Sex World perceptions.

[plus.google.com/107149339247003256568]

@Hitomi

Microsoft ceased support for Win XP, LL support of XP is not the relevant question...

[James OReilly]

Thinkbalm Decision-Making Guide - sponsored by Linden Lab
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3r0rcAUJHFQUUJIRFNUU2t3Q0k/edit
A Use-Case-based guide designed to aid in the immersive software selection process.

Educators regularly make the grand mistake of asking for the Tool first, then for Use Case Requirements.

This is like asking, what Barber Chair do you use in your Barber Shop, and that completely misses the point - it’s about Haircuts first, the utility Barber Chair deployed is secondary.

Your Educational Use Case Requirements govern what Tool you choose, it is not vice-versa!

Requirements Elicitation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Requirements_elicitation

Education Grid Requirement Specifications http://mediagrid.org/groups/technology/grid.ied/specification/index.html

Technology Agnostic Approach > The U.S. Army Learning Concept 2015 (PDF) does not focus on any particular TECHNOLOGY, but rather focuses on the OPPORTUNITIES presented by dynamic virtual environments, by online gaming, and by mobile learning. It speaks of access to applications, the blending of physical and virtual collaborative environments, and learning outcomes
http://www.tradoc.army.mil/tpubs/pams/tp525-8-2.pdf