Lyr Lobo

Sitearm Madonna kindly asked me to join this discussion of education in Second Life. I'm Lyr Lobo, the XR/VR faculty champion at Parker University in Dallas, Texas. I joined Second Life in 2005 to teach classes for Colorado Technical University (CTU) and never left. I've taught two university classes for Saint Martin's University and featured virtual world examples in my classes at CCCOnline. For 17+ years, I taught 53 university classes that met and created projects in Second Life and three in OpenSim. My most recent class was in Fall 2021. My research team designs games and educational simulations and we are bridging virtual worlds in our VR app, which is currently in testing. We will talk about it at the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (VWBPE.org) conference March 31-April 2. Join us at the VWBPE conference by registering at VWBPE.org which includes events, dances, presentations, and swag. The program and schedule for the March 31-April 2 events are at https://www.vwbpe.org/conference/program Education in virtual worlds and in Second Life is vibrant and we have a resilient community of universities and nonprofits supporting our work through classes, conferences, and events, but most of us are very busy, but rarely do I speak on these forums. Here is information on the Nonprofit Commons, Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable, and VWEC educational communities: I'm Education co-Chair on the Nonprofit Commons Board and conduct research on virtual world education. Another educational group includes The Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable, which meets on Thursdays at Noon. The location is in the group and they post notices each week on topics. My co-Chair on the Education Committee is Rhiannon Chatnoir. She is our Nonprofit Commons Community Manager, my Education co-Chair, and the head of AvaCon, Inc. AvaCon is a nonprofit that provides education and nonprofit support in virtual worlds. The Nonprofit Commons meets on Fridays at 8:30 am SLT and has for 14+ years. Our members represent universities, schools, and nonprofit organizations from around the world. The VWEC Eduverse is an archipelago of nonprofit and educational communities that co-located their regions for easy access, many thanks to support from Linden Lab. Some of our SL educational community members have prior arrangements that do not support moving our regions, so we have educational groups spread across the map. Good luck in your quest to strengthen education in virtual spaces.

You have touched my mind with your thought-provoking words and your amazing content. I am going to miss you. It does not matter who stays and who goes - we are one community that is dispersing into other virtual spaces, reminiscent of a virtual Tower of Babel. No matter what comes from today, there is no doubt in anyone's mind that we will lose some of our brightest stars and their creative genius. People are among Second Life's richest resources. We've noticed for a long time that the social sites are not so social as they lie barren of people, and that many fine designs and ecosystems have declined, such as Svarga. Some say that educational regions comprise a small segment of the resources in Second Life and as such, have little influence and no measurable value. This is not true. We're sensitive to rising costs and we expected an increase at some point. Is there a value to what we have provided to the Second Life community? We have created thought-provoking 3D content, hosted free conferences and classes, created podcasts, published videos, written books and papers, shared our thoughts via blogs, conducted research and helped others build compelling educational sites. Inspired by my fellow educators in this forum, I've spent the last four years hosting 75+ conference presentations and workshops, urging researchers and students to leverage the powerful capabilities offered within a virtual world. Our opportunities to collaborate and cross over boundaries with other schools and the military regions have been excellent. As much of our educational community leaves Second Life, what will remain? Change is inevitable, and it makes us grow. We are being forced to find stable solutions that support our budget planning cycles and the needs of our students. Most universities, grants and non-profits cannot absorb doubling their rates within 3 months - and we plan our budgets 1-2 years in advance. We cannot create additional funding simply because the agreement has changed in mid-year. Everyone realizes it, including Linden Lab. This means that they expect to realize more revenue (or lower costs) from the increase as we make some compromises and give back some, if not all of the regions as we scramble to stabilize our educational programs. In two weeks, the NMC is hosting their Symposium for the Future in Second Life. The future is looking a lot less bright. In fact, the changes suggest an instability that most businesses and schools cannot tolerate. We need you and your vibrant perspectives. You are our future.