Basic Design: 3D: (But I Wasn't Done!) My Speech on the Second Life Class and Some Imagery

Good Morning!

I’m a graduate of the Multimedia program here, and I’ve been back for about a year to get a few more classes I needed to help me transfer into the University of Oregon.

I work for Media Services here on campus, mainly working with video and web presence. I was this close to being a videographer standing in the back of this conference, today!

My career goals include web design and 3D animation. That is why I decided to take the CIS 125 Second Life course; to gain more insight into the 3D world, which I realized included scripting.

I enjoy learning everything I can about 3D design and scripting, and this class gave me and my peers the perfect opportunity to learn about these things in a fun environment.

How many of you are willing to admit that you are still a Trekkie? Raise your hands, come on, be brave. Well, even if you can’t admit it, I know that you all know what a “Universal Translator” is. It’s where the “computer” automatically translates any alien species language into the language that your ears are more familiar with. Now, we all know this is just science fiction, right? What if I told you no, it’s not?

Second Life has its own Universal Translator that was created in partnership with Babel Fish. The very first friend I made as I struggled to find my newbie way around Second Life, henceforth referred to as SL, was a man from France. He did not speak a word of English. I did not speak a lick of French. And yet, we spoke very clearly to each other, and our words were translated so instantaneously that I hardly even realized it was happening. SL has helped Gene Rodenberry’s dream come alive! Think of all the new possibilities in learning this opens up.

One thing that was really beneficial about this class was that our daily assignments were posted very clearly in Moodle, and this made it so the class could practically run itself, although a teacher or moderator’s presence is still necessary.

I’d like to take a moment to point out that there are a lot of people with social anxiety. There are also classroom settings where there can be too many loud distractions for many people, including other people talking, making it difficult for some to learn. One girl in class pointed out how lucky I was that I got to sit on my computer at home, rather than be in the available classroom where there were many loud boys.

Another great thing about this class is that sometimes when the Mr. Richter would post a short writing assignment, students were instructed to respond to each other’s posts, and they were given points for it. I compared that experience with previous assignments where he didn’t set that up, and found that the points system created an atmosphere with much more discussion, brainstorming, sharing, and REAL LEARNING going on! Exactly what a knowledge-thirsty student, such as myself, desires.

In conclusion, Lane Community College continues adding more and more technical courses to our programs each term, that are going to launch us into a very bright Science Fiction Future!

Here’s to making it Non-Fiction!