Second Life ™

You are officially invited to attend the DEN in SL 1st Anniversary Gala - “Dressed to the Nines”!

This will be a formal affair so start looking for your gowns and tuxes. If you need help just contact one of the DEN LC or DEN guides.  There are many freebie places or splurge and go shopping for some SL couture!  Don’t forget to scroll down this page to the bottom right, Blogroll, click on the link to ‘Fabulously Free in SL’ for ideas to some free clothing & accessories.

There will be a DJ, dancing, games with prizes of course, places for informal quiet chats and of lots of surprises!!

DATE:  August 20, 2008

TIME: 5 p.m. SLT ( 7 p.m. CDT 8 p.m. EST)

The last two Wednesday Workshops at the DEN in SL are what the DEN is all about, networking and sharing! We are our best resource!!

On August 6th about 20 avatars gathered in the DEN in SL garden and shared various technology resources, tools and best practices that were learned this summer at NECC, Discovery Institutes, state and school professional development workshops, reading blogs, twitter and plurk. There were lots of ideas shared for using DE streaming for collaboration and creativity using some of these Web 2.0 tools. Ideas on using wikis, nings and blogs, ustream and mogulus for collaboration were shared. Tools such as Animoto, Voicethread, Blabberize, Voki, Kerpoof, and Tux Paint for creativity were shared. Please add a comment to share something you learned this summer.

Tonight, up in the DEN Tower, Faythe Fouroux ( aka Melanie Ruiz), one of our DEN STARS and DEN in SL guides,  presented Newbie 102, Avatar Makeovers. She shared many suggestions for how to create a new look for your avatar, including lots of landmarks for free and inexpensive places to shop. At the end many teleported to go find their formal wear for next week’s Gala. Check out our google group for a notecard with landmarks and a copy of the Newbie 102 ppt, so you too can be “dressed to the nines” at the DEN in SL Anniversary Gala on August 20th.

OMG!  Halfway through August already!!!  WHERE has this summer gone?  And will I make it through the rest of my ‘SL Summer To Do’ list before I go back to school?  For some of you, this Wednesday’s workshop will enable you to check off another SL task.  For those of you who are somewhat familiar with SL, but wanted to take your avatar to the next level have we got a Wednesday Workshop for you!  Newbie 102 - Avatar Makeover with Faythe Fouroux (now here’s someone that I would LOVE to have as my personal shopper!).  Here’s a sampling of what Faythe will be covering: Mastered walking?  Doing alright with flying?  Know what TPs and LMs are?  Then you are ready for an Avatar Makeover!  Lose that newbie look and personalize your avatar to fit who you are.  Join Faythe as she explains how you can make over your avatar!  And just in time for our Gala next week!

SLT TIME: 5:00 p.m. SLT ( 7 p.m. CDT, 8 p.m. EST)

NOTE:  We will meet in the Tower room up the elevator or use this landmark to take you directly to the workshop.

O.K.  So maybe not quite for president, but I did catch your attention didn’t I?  The DEN in SL blog is in competition to be the featured blog for the month of September at ISTE’s Blogger’s Hut.  You’ve got the month of August to get over there and vote (you may only vote once….although I guess if you have an alt they could vote as well! LOL).  Below is the information found on the notecard in the Blogger’s Hut:

The slurl is http://slurl.com/secondlife/ISTE%20Island/18/130/23/

And Scott Merrick’s blog is http://scottsecondlife.blogspot.com/

“Click a blog’s voting bar to vote for the upcoming month’s featured blog. The winning blog will appear in the RSS feed here at the Blogger’s Hut for the entire month. When you visit the hut you can check out the nominated blogs in a browser window whilst you enjoy a chat with your friends here in Second Life! Check ‘em out (copy this text, paste it into chat, and view your history–the links will be live!) and vote (click your chosen blog’s voting bar) : You might just find a new blog you need to add to your own RSS feed aggregator! I use Netvibes but Google Reader is also wonderful–and there are others!

For a video tutorial on this voting thingy, visit http://sleducation.ning.com/video/video/show?id=1537868%3AVideo%3A1506, or just click on your media player and have a seat to watch right here. Make sure your video is enabled in your preferences!

This month we’re voting on:

“Rambling Reflections”  — Lynne Crowe
http://lynnetai.edublogs.org/

“DEN in SL” — collaborative
http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/secondlife/

“Muve Forward”–Topher Zwiers
http://muveforward.blogspot.com/

and
“Phasing Grace”–Grace McDunnough
http://phasinggrace.blogspot.com/ ”

Hope to see you in two days at ‘Conferences Unplugged’ - a sharing out by DEN members of things they learned at various conferences over the summer.  Think of it as your own ‘It’s a Wrap’ session.  So come prepared to share a thing (or two,
or ten) with the rest of the group.

TIME:  5:00 p.m.. SLT ( 7 p.m. CDT, 8 p.m. EST)

The competition was tough, some of the questions were very difficult, but fun was had by all. Lots of lindens were given away for correct answers about sharks.  Vita was the big winner answering some scientific questions as well as ones about sharks in movies and television shows.  It was a great end to Shark Week at the DEN in SL.

Next up - Join us this Wednesday:

August 6, 2008

‘Conference Unplugged’ - a sharing out by DEN members of things they learned at various conferences over the summer.  Think of it as your own ‘It’s a Wrap’ session.  So come prepared to share a thing (or two, or ten) with the rest of the group.

TIME:  5:00 p.m.. SLT ( 7 p.m. CDT, 8 p.m. EST)

That would be TODAY!!!

Spend the day reviewing shark facts and viewing some of the great Discovery shows on sharks and then head on over to the DEN in SL for another F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S Triva evening.  Oh…and did I mention that you can win some Lindens?  Could come in handy as you get your outfit together for the 1st Anniversary Gala on the 20th.

TIME:  5:00 p.m.. SLT ( 7 p.m. CDT, 8 p.m. EST)

Some of you are already back in the classrooms, others are about to return, and yet others (like me) still have a month to go.  The beginning of August always marks the ‘end of summer’ in my mind and I start gearing up for the new school year.  I’m like a kid all over again, I get excited about new agendas (ready to fill with fabulous DEN Webinars), I’ve already bought a whole bunch of funky binders to put my various projects into, I’ve stocked up on my ’signature’ purple pens, and I’m on the lookout for a new ’school bag’.  In two weeks my office loft will be a maze as I attempt to navigate the various piles on the floor to get to my desk. 

In SL we’ve got some great Wednesday Workshops planned, some to share out, some to learn, and a MAJOR, MAJOR event on August 20th all of which will help to bring summer to a close.

*****

August 6, 2008 
‘Conference Unplugged’ - a sharing out by DEN members of things they learned at various conferences over the summer.  Think of it as your own ‘It’s a Wrap’ session.  So come prepared to share a thing (or two, or ten) with the rest of the group.

TIME:  5:00 p.m.. SLT ( 7 p.m. CDT, 8 p.m. EST)

*****

August 13, 2008

‘Newbie 102 - Avatar Makeover’ presented by Faythe Fouroux

Mastered walking?  Doing alright with flying?  Know what TPs and LMs are?  Then you are ready for an Avatar Makeover!  Lose that newbie look and personalize your avatar to fit who you are.  Join Faythe as she explains how you can makeover your avatar!

TIME: 5:00 p.m. SLT ( 7 p.m. CDT, 8 p.m. EST)

*****

August 20, 2008  

1st  Anniversary Gala - “Dress to the Nines” - if you’ve attended other DEN in SL parties you KNOW you’ll be in for a treat.  Can you believe that we’re ready to host our 1st Anniversary Gala?!?!  Where has all our SL time gone?  If you need help shopping just give a shout out to any of the DEN Guides or any LC member and we’ll make sure to get you decked out for the event.

TIME: 5 p.m. SLT ( 7 p.m. SLT 8 p.m. SLT)

*****

August 27, 2008

‘Making Your Second Life ™ Easier’ presented by Celestia Cazalet

This is the second in a series of workshops in which Celestia will introduce you to free programs and websites that can enhance your Second Life(tm) experience. This week’s topic: Sculptypaint. Learn how to build those cool sculpted prims. Come prepared to share your own discoveries, as well.

TIME: 5:00 p.m. SLT ( 7 p.m. CDT, 8 p.m. EST)

We hope to see many of you at the events throughout the month of August and ESPECIALLY at the Gala on the 20th.