Second Life Classes

I’m super new and I want to learn all I can. I’m sure a few of you have attended classes in SL can help me out on this.
How you go about it?
Do you sign up somewhere?
When you find the class that interests you, do you TP there and wait for the instructor? What are the classes like?
Are they in voice only?
Do you tip the instructor?
What if you crash during class?
I really want to go and learn some new things but I want to go semi prepared and not step on anyone’s toes.

NCI offers a calendar full of classes almost all day, every day, all week. There is no fee, voice chat isn't used, supplies are always available for free, and the instructors are completely helpful and interactive. (^_^)

Simply running an "Event" search for NCI will show you what's coming up next for the remainder of the week. There are other groups, and I hope more people chime in with their names and locations. (^_^)

I, myself, am just starting on teaching NCI classes for Flexible Path & Light properties and another for Low prim furniture on alternating Thursdays at 6pm SLT. Hope to see ya' there some day! (^_^)y

Classes are held by various in world organizations. The details of the classes vary, depending on who is offering them, and what the subject matter is.

NCI was mentioned.

I teach classes at a school for newbies called GQ Start. It's in Zugspitze, on the mainland. Find it in Search, pop on over, and pick up a class schedule from a giver box to the left of the stage in the main classroom. Join the GQ Student group to get notification of upcoming classes.

Classes are free, attendance is open. Just show up. Most classes are presented in text chat.

Those are the ones I'm personally familiar with. There are others...use Search on education-type events to find more.

At the bottom of your screen click SEARCH. Then click the EVENTS tab. Then click the circle to the left of DATE. go to the drop-down menu to your right and change it to EDUCATION. Then click SEARCH. Scroll through your results and click on the classes you want to attend. You can click the REMINDER button to the bottom right once you have the class you want to attend selected.
No, you just show up at the designated time and grab a seat. (unless the class post indicates that you must contact someone prior to the class to attend)
Yes you just TP there and wait for the instructor. Classes are like usually low prim seats with an instructor that gives you a folder of information and/or items to be used in the class and a board used for demonstrations.
Not usually. Most are typed.
Yes, it is appreciated.
Try to get back as fast as you can. if you miss too much, then just find out when the class is happening again and attend. Or perhaps the instructor can fill you in with what you missed or someone can notecard the text from the class and pass to you.

.

I have put up a large TV at my store that has a search function for second life tutorials on youtube..

I learned so much from those video tutorials myself. IM me in world and I will give you a LM you can learn at your own pace. ; ))

i am also available to answer questions and offer suggestions. I do not claim to know everything about SL, but I have helped many new people get their bearings.

Yes, Torley's videos can be quite helpful. He's very, very enthusiastic too.

http://secondlife.com/video

or

www.youtube.com/user/Torley

Ooh, ooh, ooh, here's our chance to go annoy Immy.

Does anyone have a paper airplane they could share?

As mentioned above I'd suggest NCI since they always have great classes and a great staff, I'd also suggest looking up "The Shelter" (without the quotes) which has a lot of hands on stuff for new residents and is a good place to start out... Actually those were the two places where I started out as a matter of fact.

I'd also suggest staying away from places like TUI that have gone totally for-profit and will want you to pay an arm and a leg for information you can get for free, and in my opinion from better teachers and in a better environment, from NCI.

If you're looking for classes, NCI is your best bet, in my opinion. They have nearly an army of instructors, and a huge selection of classes - all free.

The Shelter is a great place to meet other new folks like yourself in a social setting, ask freeform questions, and participate in events specifically geared towards people new to SL.

Good luck, and welcome to Second Life, Caiden!

Ya' can't annoy the annoying! =^-^=

And... I'll have freeze/kick privileges... Be afraid... Be very afraid. (^_^)y

heyas;

absolutely, the events:educational search is your best friend.

the educational listings have changed since i arrived a year and a half ago, though. have you noticed? there's a ton of non-sl-related classes, and barely any building classes. in a way, that's good, because education is becoming more broad and becoming a big thing in sl. but mostly it makes me sad, because i like the building classes.


i recommend the following educational institutions:

mystical mastery (specially cuz i teach there ;) )
asl - academy of second learning (actually, do these guys still exist? :/ )
mystic cove
csk - college of second knowledge
nci -- note that nci has a fixed schedule of classes. that means if you miss any one week, its no big deal, because you can catch it again next week or whenever. it also means that once you catch all of them, you're done until they get some new ones in there.

other institutions have irregular schedule repetitions. classes will repeat, but you never know when.

oh. there's a group specifically for educational class annoucements. search for SLEdu Events i think it's called. teachers from many/most of these educational institutions will make class annoucements on this group.


i DIS-recommend the following educational institutions/setups:
tui. although they are striving to be better. so... okay, maybe a little ambivalent on tui :/
self-paced classes. these are just slide shows of stuff, with no instructor or guidance, and usually indicating you should buy other of their slide show tutorial products.



scour the events listing (you can plan out your whole weekly itinerary on it ;) ), use the notify button, and when the class notification pops up, hit the teleport button and you're there (more or less).

tips: make sure you check the listing for any fees. most classes are free, but yes, the teachers do take tips. do NOT worry about tipping. i went for three months without a single ell to my account name and took several classes per day. you can always make it up later when you become a rich, famous builder. ;) the first 2 ells i ever made, i tipped to a teacher. it's all good.

crashing: im the teacher and say you crashed, and figure out where the last thing is you left off on. they can usually catch you up by pasting the instruction notes to you from that point on. make sure you im instead of just asking aloud, because it's easier to paste private stuff to you if you open the im window first ;)
if you have a BAD crash and miss a lot, you should be able to wait til the end of class to get notes. most classes hand out notes at the end.


etiquette:
1: showing up before class to scarf the free class supplies and then run off with them is considered REALLY bad form.
2: asking for notes before --or especially instead of-- taking a class is also bad.
3: showing up for class and not really participating... is a grey area. personally, i don't care. you want to learn or not, you want to put an effort in or not, that's up to you. others may think its the same of showing up for free stuff and notes to run off with.

the thing about notes is kinda touchy. first, most teachers want you to stay and TAKE the class (and hopefully tip ;) ). or they feel they put the time and effort to give the class, you should stay and work on it. also, the institutions could use the traffic of people staying around.
the other thing is the propensity for classes to get 'stolen.' that is: for someone to take the notes from one class and... teach the same class, at a different place, from those notes.

some institutions/teachers are more uptight about it than others. personally, i don't much care. i put building notes in the class supplies so people can have them at the start to work from if they get lost. (for scripting classes, i hold them til the end because that class structure is different.) i don't hand them out to just anyone to have any time, due to class policies. one institution doesn't give out notes at all, because of a class that was stolen from them once.



enjoy the classes, caiden! :) maybe i'll see ya at one soon!

I still like TUI. Islands are not free so I have no problem paying for classes when I go.. usually it is a tip jar that I have seen.

Watch out for all the do it yourself places popping up. They offer a sandbox and notecard with steps on how to do stuff for around 500L. Not that I am against the idea, but you can get live classes with similar projects and help when you need it.

I still go to classes. It is always fun to learn something I may have missed or just to get a little inspiration.

Have fun.

I haven't been in SL as long as you, but I sometimes go to classes on things where I consider myself an expert. I often still learn something.

And I do have fun.

My 2 linden's worth of opinion is first- use the event search window and hunt for education. The big names are NCI and TUi - they've been around for what seems like ages and tend to have the most variety. If a fee is impossible (usually only 10 L), avoid classes that have a cover charge until you get to know the group/teacher. Do check both the top and bottom of the right hand side of the search window when deciding on which class to take. (right hand side is where individual descriptions are shown. top is a short notice. Bottom is a fuller description of skills needed/taught, etc)

Secondly, there are several other groups like SLLC, CSK, ASL, Mystica, Mischief Cove. . .and others who I am ashamed to have forgotten. Each group, big or small, new or old, have different styles of both teaching and content offered. Try them all. Some business' offer educational classes and the quality varies but so long as you are aware they might be selling, go for it.

I will confess, I hate the number of blatant advertisment only things that pop up occassionally in an education search. Also, I worry just how informative (and honest or comphrensive) a class on renting land is when it is taught by an agency who encourages you to look around their sim at their rental property before or after class. (I saw such an ad a few weeks ago, lol) But, SL is like life sometimes, buyer beware. . .

Okay - confession time. I'm a junkie when it comest to class taking. I remember when LL paid teachers and worried when they stopped that the classes would stop. See, the teacher almost always gives you a folder with free textures, sound(s), poses and or script(s). The more advanced the build, the more items given in the folder. Some of these come from the Library at the bottom of your inventory or are freebies you might find by hunting. Many are created by the teacher or one of their friends. Free. I have learned even more than the original class set out to teach by studying the textures (or scripts) later at home, redoing the lesson but changing the build to something I designed, etc. Yep, a class junkie and loving it.

When you're not inworld, you can access the same Events list of classes mentioned above at:
http://secondlife.com/events/

Select "Education" in the Category pop-up.

I prefer to search for classes that way instead of the inworld list. It does not, however, provide the reminder button that you can get from the inworld Search list.

(Speaking of the reminder, I don't use it. It sends a reminder to you five minutes before the class time, but that's often too late. Many classes will be filled by then.)

We sure do!! I just completed my mentorship and teach a series of classes on "Personalizing Your Avatar - Ways to Make a Unique Statement." Haxby Daviau and Gaia Rossinni are also the most active instructors atm.

When I first came to SL, the first (of probably now hundreds of classes - that is what I do for fun!) class I took was at ^ASL^ and I thought it was the ONLY school in SL until I met my partner and he told me about NCI.



Agree with these recommendations...TUi for me is highly dependent on the instructor. I've taken some great classes there and others I have walked out of. Being an instructor (with a RL background of 12 years) I have ZERO tolerance for lack of professionalism. Someone sitting calling out a list of numbers to enter in the building pane does not necessarily a good teacher make. But again...I do take a lot of TUi classes so I would add them to my recommend list...with that caveat.

Others I have attended are:

*Mischief Cove
*Avatar U
*BLC (Buddy's Learning Center)
*Class by Lily
*College of Second Knowledge (CSK) that has now joined with Crackerbox as one school
*Dreams - Golda Stein teaches some really fascinating classes for new builders. One I particularly like is how to use modifiable freebies that you might not like the freebie BUT like the texture and make something else out of it. I used a really ugly (imo) nightstand that is in about every freebie shop around, but it was the EXACT coloring to make a lovely red lacquer tray for my Asian tea set from. (NOTE: This was for personal use...not to resell!)
*Fermi U - That is one I am very lukewarm about
*Insight Virtual College (IVU)
*SLIP - can't recall now what that stands for but many former TUi instructors went there
*SLLC - Another one I can't recall the full name of
*UEU (Ditto)
*Virtual Education

So, you can see there are a LOT to choose from and different schools seem to develop a "following."

I personally think attending classes is one of the BEST ways to get acquainted with SL and even in some basic classes I attend for one reason or another that I think I already know everything about the subject...I still always learn something.

Welcome, Caiden to SL and have fun!