My First Time Volunteering At VWEC Eduverse

 
By Marcel Mosswood

On April 6, I joined the VWEC (Virtual World Education Consortium) Campfire, at that time we were introduced to the VWEC Eduverse. This place serves as a HUB to help learners and educators to learn and build connections with others. It's a very good idea to build a place like this in Second Life because in general learners or educators who just enter Second Life with the aim of learning will have difficulty starting their exploration, so people need to guide them.

That day we also took a tour to show the various places in this area and their functions. The place I like the most is Commons, it's a place where visitors can relax with colleagues, or hold casual discussions.

The info center

In addition to tours, VWEC also opens opportunities for volunteers who work at the Info Center. On the occasion of this tour, Valibrarian Greg said that it would be good if the Info Center could provide volunteers for 24 hours because Second Life is a platform that can be accessed internationally, that's why I offered to be available at 09:00 PM. I live in a country with a timezone GMT +7 so if there are visitors who come from a country around that timezone then I can talk to them. I'm very happy to have the opportunity to volunteer here, and today April 19th is my first day at the VWEC Info Center for an hour, starting from 09:00 - 10:00 PM.

My job is to converse with visitors to help them become Second Life users for the first time, show them the learning tools they can use, show them various educational communities they can join, and show the possibilities for using Second Life in education.

The Education Resources is a place to find free educational resources

The landing point with some teleporters

The Commons, my favorite place

However, when I became a volunteer there was not a single visitor, maybe because this place is still new and has not been widely introduced, or maybe because there are no visitors from the timezone where I am. But I'm sure one day this place will function as it should and be used by visitors from all over the world. For me, VWEC is a community that is needed by educators who want to use the virtual world to reach students through technology.  

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/VWEC%20Eduverse/219/105/45

Marcel Mosswood
 

Klub Sinau on NonProfit Commons

By Marcel Mosswood

Klub Sinau, A Nonprofit Family Learning Center In RL Come to The SecondLife Through The Nonprofit Commons (NPC)

I'm so thankful for the Nonprofit Commons in SecondLife for the parcel so I can build a virtual office for my nonprofit family learning center in the real-world, Klub Sinau, among the other nonprofit organizations. With this virtual office, I hope what we are striving for at the Klub Sinau will be known internationally.

Klub Sinau ("Klub" has a similar meaning with “club” in English, Sinau is Javanese means learning) is an institution founded by four homeschooling families in Sidoarjo, a small town on the island of Java - Indonesia in 2007. Starting from a desire to mutually help our children's learning process, in the following years, Klub Sinau has developed into a national institution, and now it has become an institution that serves as an information center about homeschooling for anyone who wants to implement homeschooling in Indonesia.

So, this virtual office will contain information about Klub Sinau activities, learning materials, and parenting ideas which can be read for free. If you want to know about the implementation of homeschooling in Indonesia and get the benefits, please visit Klub Sinau virtual office at Nonprofit Commons: LM : Aloft Nonprofit Commons (125/69/23)

From the beginning I’ve joined SecondLife I knew about NPC, but because I live in Indonesia, which has a timezone difference of 14 hours from SLT, I often can't attend the meetings. Several times I visited the two NPC sims and saw various nonprofit organizations there, I wish I could have a virtual office there and be able to collaborate with them or at least listen to their stories in fighting for their ideals, of course, it will be very fun and encouraging for me who often work alone in the Klub Sinau. As you can see, I'm so excited to be a part of Nonprofit Commons in SecondLife right now.

In accordance with the Klub Sinau vision and mission, I represent this virtual office in a very homey house model. Each room represents a section served by the Klub Sinau . When you enter the house, you can see a welcoming room. The first door is access to the office and family room, this office will connect you to the Klub Sinau's admin in the real-world. After that you will enter a room that is quite wide, here you will see a portfolio of the kids in the Klub Sinau who are doing activities together. Then you will find a door leading to the garage, this is a craft room where you can find various craft ideas and photos of the kids' activities working on a craft together. From the first room, if you choose to go up through the stairs, you will find several rooms that represent various academic subjects, arts, and parenting ideas.

I hope this virtual office will become the center of ideas for learning in the family. So that we can help more families to educate their children.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Aloft%20Nonprofit%20Commons/125/69/23
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Regards,

Marcel Mosswood  Artist

The Borobudur Temple

by Marcel Mosswood

Borobudur as one of the seven wonders of the world, is in Second Life! Now you can see the temple also with the Prambanan temple. Marcel have the opportunity to interviewed Aryluke, the owner of the Borobudur Temple sim, in the middle of the fresh tropical view of the sim.

Marcel: Hi Ary, what inspired you to build the Borobudur sim?

Aryluke: I am very glad to share our local content of heritage to more people all around the Second Life virtual world. So in 2013, I and my friend spent two months to build the Borobudur and also Prambanan Temples.

The Prambanan Temple

Marcel: Can you tell us a brief about the Borobudur in real-life?

Aryluke: Borobudur is the largest Mahayana Buddhist monument in the world, built around 750 AD. Located on in the island of Java, Indonesia, 40 km (25 mi) northwest of Yogyakarta. Discovered by the British in 1814 under Sir Thomas Stanford Raffles, the magnificent temple is a three-dimensional mandala (diagram of the universe). This structure is square shaped with four entry point and a circular center point. It is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues, a visual representation of Buddhist teachings.

Marcel: What about the Borobudur sim in Second Life, including the Prambanan Temple and the environment surrounding the temples?

Aryluke: We built the sim with real-life concept, everyone can visit and see those stunning stoneworks in real-life around the tropical environment I've tried my best to perform.

Marcel: Please introduce your team members in building the sim.

Aryluke: I build this sim myself, started with the terrain level and rezzing all the pieces of stuff. It took 2 days but before that my close friend Passie (Pascale Boucher) the creator of Brussels Sim which was very famous before, helped me a lot to build the temples and monument. My faithful friends Kiara and Benq, and some local Indonesian friends also supported me in promoting and fund raising as well. We really enjoyed working hand in hand until finally our sim was elected to be shown in SL Editor's Picks in 2013.

Marcel: OK, is there a regular event for the public that is held on Borobudur sim?

Aryluke: Not yet with the new Sim, we had some with the old such as exhibition, 'open mic' cafe for language practice, photography, etc.

Interesting to visit and enjoy the beautiful sim of Borobudur Temple? Here is the LM:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Gentility%20Land/236/170/48

Marcel Mosswood