Scaling the Instructors Program

Ok so has anyone else been contacted regarding Lucy's plans for revamping the instructor's and how education is working in SL?

If so, I'd like to hear some FEEDBACK on all of this.

I have my own thoughts on it, but I think it's time to get a good open forum discussion on what's happening with it.

I personally would like to see an OVERVIEW of what she and the LINDENS are thinking of doing here. Where we all can discuss it.

The sooner the better I hope.

Lucy has been an amazing Liaison ever since i met her. And along Tesla and so many Lindens she's an awesome sport (and hawt too)

I would suggest you guys give her some slack and await whatever she's aproved from LL to work on.

also, we're volunteers, hence, we've been granted a privilege (not a right) to help out, and Lucy has a chain of command to whom she has to report to before us.

Keep doing what you do volunteer dudes and dudettes, enjoy it and updates will come when its time.

G'day all

Nobody is trashing them aleast not me? I always clap for them...........They are the life blood od the game ( well atleast 98%) the otehr 2 percent i can`t say that about. but in whole of the rest the are very well repoected. Love a Linden.............

I'll try to put this as clearly as possible in 3 languages even:

Usagi, no one is trashing you.

Usagi, nadie te esta amedrentando.

Usagi, kokujin san shimpei shinaide kudasai. m(_ _)m

shakeshead why why why....... Its Lindens your talking about not me......I was talking about the linden silly..............

"Nobody is trashing them aleast not me? I always clap for them...........They are the life blood od the game ( well atleast 98%) the otehr 2 percent i can`t say that about. but in whole of the rest the are very well repoected. Love a Linden.............
Yesterday 10:29 PM " Where in this do i say refers to me? ........total confused
here............

Well I would also suggest your reread this the first message in the Thread. I don't see anywhere someone wasn't giving her some SLACK. I'm asking for some open discussion on what's coming and what things you think need to be improved in the program.

Good healthy discussion of what you see as are the issues with the Instructor program and how it needs to be improved.

I've spoken several times with Lucy and found her to be a very knowledgable person and is wanting INPUT from instrutors on how to help this program. This forum has the opportunity to help with that. That's what I'm after, I want to hear how we can improve what the instructor program is, or if it needs any improvement.

Only improvement I would say, personally is that I would like to see they PAYMENTS from Linden Labs to be faster. I didn't get into this for the money, but it's does get hard to track when you teach 2 classes per day what is owed and when it was paid or not paid.

I'm pretty sure that if Lucy needs help she'll ask for it.

Like i said, do what you've been doing. And stop making a storm in a glass of water.

Edit:

Besides, if you really want to help, make it your own iniciative to ask other mentors what they need help on. It'll be even more apreciated.

Withdrawing my initial posting, until more information is sent our way

So, "We've upped our standards, now up yours"?

I don't know that the point is that someone may ask if they need help, more rather that if someone's going to change something that affects a lot of people under the guise of "making things better for all of you", it would make sense to ask for input from the people whom you're trying to help.

Some of the things I've heard sound like a reinvention of the wheel (ie, there already exists systems to do just this in world now), only it's more of an inventing the wheel in 2000 and laying claim to being the first to do so.

Hello all.

I am not going to comment here on what specific changes we are considering for the instructor program, because it would be premature. If you have concerns about problems with the current program, now would be the time to make suggestions. However, rumors about us publishing course materials are a misinterpretation of a simple request for more information on existing classes. The goal is better accountability, fairness, and expediency for volunteers.

There are several Lindens (including me) helping out with this effort, it is incorrect and unhelpful to characterize the project as "Lucy Lindens Plans", as she's just collecting information at this point. As this program develops, we will continue to receive input from volunteers to find an efficient way to monitor and subsidize education in Second Life. Our first priority is to provide a good experience for the students, and to encourage those who would provide that experience.

-Tom

Thanks for shedding some light on things, Tom. I think a big part of the problem is that all many of us heard was, "There's changes coming, they'll kinda deal with X Y and Z, and by the way can you give me the following information..." Without knowing what is coming, or how soon, it made quite a few that I know immediately jump to the defensive, but I don't fault them for it either.

Hopefully we can all work together to make the education system throughout SL as excellent as it can be. And your response at least lets us know that others are listening, which is a good start :>

We were recently "warned" by an avatar who claims to be "in the know" about everything going on with the instructors group and these new up coming changes and were told that this person had inside information straight from the mouths of the almighty Linden (with all due respect of course). However, if this same person were to tell me my in-world name was Billy Maradona I would have to check my profile to be sure. Not that this post matters to the thread but gave me an opportunity to vent... thanks! We will wait for Linden to speak not some wanna-be education Baron!

But yes, we were contacted to some degree about things and to be honest, I just don't have the time to concern myself with them. I trust whatever is done will be for the best (famous last words... I know).

*SIDE NOTE* Lindens reply with red font... find it interesting that red font is used in bibles to be the words of the christians messiah... hmmm... now a good conspiracy theorist could certainly have a grand time with this connection!

At this point, having seen a bit of "Lucy's Plan", I have some comments.

Lucy and Jesse have sworn up and down that they intend to steal noones curriculum. The plan that they have ostensibly come up with does appear to be a lot like what Teazers has had in place, i.e. education grouped into categories and levels, allowing more standardized and automated class approvals, and a payball. Is she reinventing the wheel here? Yes. Should we consider it stealing yet? I don't think so (with the possible exception of the payball.) Teazers could not and should not have hoped to monopolize these features forever, even if we did think of them and set them up.
I feel this reorganisation was inevitable the day the Labs (as I'll refer to them on any post concerning Lucy, cuz I wouldn't want any rant about LL to be taken as meaning her) started paying out more than 50 USD a day to education. They want a system that is easily accountable, and who can blame them? (they are, however, being a bit heavy-handed about it)
There are a lot of things they could do to make our lives easier, so lets give them input. I think that the best way, at this juncture, to assure that free thinking, individualized, and constantly evolving education, continues in SL, is to work with the Lindens right now on their "structure", into which they intend to fit our events We need make sure that it is written and structured in a way which will not stifle our creativity as teachers.
I am not entirely convinced that the Lindens don't intend to screw us as a whole, and toss us aside, as they've done with people before, but I for one think we need to focus on making the system, that they will inevitably roll out, as suited to our unique needs as teachers as is possible. Maybe this will be a kick in the pants for us instructors, to start communicating more.

My specific fear is that the "beg, int, adv" and "scripting 101" might be conceived of as a fixed system. Boxing classes into one irrelevant category or another to fit. Most of my favorite classes in SL, involve prim manipulation, texturing, scripting, and particles, basically, all the basic skills of SL. Whether these are beginner or advanced, basically the same 4 areas. I think item creation classes that involve all of these skills are the most effective in really helping students understand how a 3d environment works. I for one, will never think of any 3d world the same after having created simple items. In fact I tried to play a First Person Shooter the other day, and found myself marvelling at the skill of the texture artists, to my inevitable flurby demise. The last time the Lindens came up with a system (with our help) it involved key words "prim building, scripting or script use, texturing". We found ourselves typing out these words over and over again in our posts.
I guess what I'm getting at, is we should provide them with, recommend class descriptions that are vague enough to suit our everchanging needs.

Intermediate Item Creation
these classes typically involve most or all of the following elements:
Basic Script Use, Simple Script Creation
Texturing and Texture Manipulation
Prim Manipulation and Cutting
Particle Manipulation

If the plan is to get much more specific than that, I think we should line up against it. Also I see a need to specifically send them course descriptions that allow for prim building games, cooperative learning experiences, and many alternative format classes, that have already enjoyed great success in SL. Descriptions like:

Intermediate Creation Game
these games are supervised, cooperative or competetive learning experiences, and involve most or all of the following elements:
Basic Script Use, Simple Script Creation
Texturing and Texture Manipulation
Prim Manipulation and Cutting
Particle Manipulation

Once we get much more specific than that, we'll have restricted the possible valid class formats to a number less than infinity, which I'm not at all comfortable with. If we can make sure that the framework is loose enough, it will serve us all well when it is imposed upon us.

Another plus to a framework such as I have described, is that it alleviates any fear that classes might be stolen. A lengthy description of a class even, does not give one the knowledge or inspiration to teach said class, much less the materials, experience, drive, and organisation. This is why I don't feel we are threatened by their request. In that vein, I think providing standardized classes to instructors might be a mistake entirely, because it allows them to teach material that they have not designed. Teazers has long since recognized this and has moved to make each class more customized to it's instructors, and encourages class creation. The Labs, hopefully, are not travelling in the other direction along this path.

That's all I have for now, except that, like Jeffrey suggested, and in the spirit of a number of great posts on this thread, lets keep the bickering down, and the productive ideas flowing. As one of my friends said recently, "the can of worms is open, and the worms are everywhere"... let us not now scurry in all directions to be picked off one by one by the bait fisher, and fed to ungrateful salmonids, let us form a united front of worms, feast, and make rich castings in which education will be able to root deep, and we can dig our tunnels happy, for many years to come.

Molten Magpie

ps I hope we hear from a Linden or two eventually on this thread. It would be nice to get their perspective. I've gotten some very confusing signals in deciphering their latest round of " I need this from you's".

I really like this quote!! Time to salmon fish!!



This is what I really wanted and intended by bringing this to an OPEN forum. Some real dialog with us and the Linden's participating to do what is best of all affected by the decisions that may be made here soon.

hehe you may want to check your monitor settings... Lindens use orange font

On topic:

I do feel that there are flaws with the current education system. I'm not going to get into speculation here. I only hope we all take the time to give them (the lindens) input and that input is listened to

And the plot thickens... hmmmm.

Sorry for only naming this Lucy's plan Yedwab, since we don't know of the other lindens involved in this plan and have only had contact with Lucy at this point on this kindda fell as to her.

More information would have avoided this. Thanks.

yep... very little info was given to very few people and rumors have run rampant

*squints* Looks like raw sienna to me. I'd prefer green or maybe purple, but that's me.

Lucy KICKS ASS!! Simply the best!


(Although I don't know why she didn't approve recess as a class)

all lindens rock hard and steady.

Where are these proposed changes?
What is being discussed?
How can I find out?

May I be included in the discussion. This is something I am VERY interested in.

This is exactly the prob soj Too few people were given too few details and rumors have run rampant.

Basically the Lindens are giving the education system an overhaul. Even those with info have precious little and are left to speculate about what it all entails.

Here's what I know:

The lindens seem to be working on a new system for payments and class approval. Their new system will also hold class approvals to some kind of new standard and they are working on some wort of curriculum system (creating a list of classes and subjects).

Now here's what's being speculated (that i've heard at least and do NOT mean to say these are accurate in any way):

- the classes on the list will be open to anyone to teach (without approval)
- the classes on the list will be the only classes that will get the $500L compensation
- the classes on the list are being ripped off from current classes being taught
- basically just ideas in general are being ripped off and people are going to get stomped on

What does this all mean? Nothing until the Lindens formulate some kind of a plan and clue us in as to what it is. I do know they are looking for feedback on the current system so if you have comments or suggestions on the current education system sending them an e-mail is probably a good idea

I would like to see suggestions also posted here on the forums, so we can all throw around ideas about what will work and what won't. We haven't had much action in this forum and maybe it's high time we instructors decided to get organized and utilize this forum to help shape what changes are needed.