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The newly opened PSG Academy encourages students to learn, create and share-- offering free in-world education for building and LSL scripting at the Kings Bishop campus (183.204.112).
The Academy started as an extension of the Public Sandbox Group founded by Bryon Ruxton. He estimates that since October 2006, approximately 900,000 unique avatars have availed themselves of PSG sandbox resources. Many of these people return frequently, citing the real sense of community that exists there, and pleased with the free areas where people can build and network in a safe environment.
"Building and scripting education has always been an essential aspect of the public sandboxes environment," said Ruxton. "The logical progression was to create a structure to provide teaching, along with the sandboxes and the PSG moderation responsibilities."
Liquidh3ll Carter--director of the academy--hopes people will walk away from the program with "mad skills" as well as a sense of learning and achievement. He said scripting/building isn't this weird skill people just happen to "have."
"We want the students to feel as though they can get more out of their second life, and be able to obtain it in a safe and robust environment," said Carter.
The Academy offers free classes in both building and scripting designed for all levels of expertise. Direct teleports are available through the popular PSG Sandboxes at Mauve, Hyboria and Columbia. Other possible future areas of incorporation include the integration of external software used for Second Life content creation.
Ruxton said that he and Armand Callisto (co-owner of the Public Sandbox Group) have always been interested in providing learning resources and training for new residents since the Public Sandbox Group was created; Callisto donated the land on which the Academy stands.
"Second Life is a place that thrives on creativity and skill," said Callisto, self-described as chief janitor and default prim texture checker. "Since BETA it has always been so, but for those attributes to be fostered we will always need places for minds to gather, learn, build and share." Callisto said that is what a sandbox is all about. Without them there would be no Second Life, it would merely be a carbon-copy shadow of every other environment available on the internet.
"Public sandboxes provide an ordered, casual learning experience to more people empowering them to be daring and creative, allowing them to bring the ideas in their minds into reality (virtual or otherwise,)" said Callisto.
As the PSG group increased in the number of skilled and committed individuals, it became clear that there was a potential to move forward in the direction of a focused effort on education.
"At the initiative of Liquidh3ll Carter, Kiki Vansant and Whodini Krugman, and with an important combined participation of PSG group members, the PSG Academy materialized into the virtual world of Second Life to my great appreciation," said Ruxton.
Carter agreed and said the Public Sandbox Group organization have always encouraged building value in general. Value for the sandbox user has been the key to gaining credibility and trust in the past, and now he said they are extending the value an avatar gets through virtual education.
Carter saw a void that wasn't being properly addressed in Second Life, a hunger for learning; he said so many of the PSG members are excellent at building or scripting, and it seemed a shame to restrict their efforts to idle playing around.
"When visiting the sandboxes from time to time, people are always asking for help or giving advice. It's such a good place to exchange ideas and be introduced to new concepts. We're merely channeling that into a concrete location and formalizing it," said Carter.
Student reaction to the program has been positive.
Mia Garside, a resident of Second Life for six months, took a basic building class with Bau Ur and was pleased with the skills she acquired after only one class.
She said this was her very first attempt at building, and she made her very own bench by the end of the session.
"The teacher was very patient, even though I struggled a bit at first," said Garside.
Garside also talked about the camaraderie of the students, and how it was an open environment that allowed for positive interaction among all present.
"Even though I did not know anything at all about building, nobody talked down to me," said Garside. "It was not difficult to keep up with the pace because the teacher sort of dealt with each individual when possible."
Garside plans to continue with classes at the Academy and even wants to bring a friend next time. Other students agreed with Garside's assessment.
"They are a group of knowledgeable friendly people making the lives of new and old Second Life residents easier," said Ody Naglo- age two weeks- who is focusing mostly on building classes at the Academy.
He said the classes are easy and instructive, and that he has a fantastic time socializing with the group of people who teach classes. He added that he was also impressed about how the staff at PSG Academy help new SL users find their way in this world.
The administrative aspects and course content of the Academy are managed by the three Co-Deans (Carter, Vansant and Krugman) with regular input from both staff and PSG members.
Vansant she is pleased with the way the Academy has materialized and envisions an enhanced Second Life experience for many people, due to the building and scripting skills they will acquire. Vansant is the Dean of Scripting at the PSG Academy.
"Before PSG Academy, I spent a great deal of my time in the sandboxes waiting for new people to ask how to do something," said Vansant. "I would show them on the spot...sort of an impromptu lesson."
Seemingly all involved in the creation of PSG Academy are passionately committed to enhancing the Second Life experience by empowering all to build, script, and basically create anything they imagine.
"My love for content creation in Second Life along with helping people is what enticed me to take on the role as Co-Founder of PSG Academy," said Krugman, who is also the Dean of Building at the PSG Academy. "Our goal is to provide skills of all levels in building and scripting to new residents, as well as accomplished residents in these areas."
Instructors at the Academy posses' superior building and scripting skills, and also have the motivation to want to "give back" to their virtual community. With more than ten years' of combined Second Life experience to collectively draw from, volunteer instructors meet regularly to brainstorm and undergo professional development.
"What better people to offer courses on building in Second Life than the people who choose to spend their free time not only in the sandbox but also helping to govern it," said Gaticus Hax who assisted with security and marketing efforts on the project. "A large part of our role as PSG members is to be helpful to sandbox residents. The academy just allows us to organize and promote that effort."
Others had similar positive reactions to their experience with the program and offer their personal motivation for wanting to teach here. Scripting and building instructor Tari Dilley shared her enthusiasm about the project.
"To me there are essentially two sides to Second Life. Most Residents are only really familiar with the social side of this metaverse, but there is so much more!" said Dilley. "Second Life is said to be an 'online, 3D virtual world imagined and created entirely by its Residents' (http://secondlife.com). It is this imagination and content creation that we wish to empower to our students."
Dilley said the formation of the PSG Academy has allowed her to bring 18 years of
programming and 3D modeling experience to the Second Life community.
"My main goal as both a basic scripting and building instructor is to teach these ideas and methods to my students in a fun and hopefully painless manner," she said.
The strong dedication of instructors allows for a somewhat personally tailored program for students. Carter said that even if they can only attend classes sporadically, students will they be able to catch up, because instructors will advise if such a class is in session, and if it's not a difficult concept, be able to integrate them into the current class.
PSG Academy administrators have proactively set both short and long term objectives, and are actively engaging in evaluating the best methods to accomplish these goals.
Carter said they are already looking into plans to do affiliate and cross-advertising projects with high profile educational organizations in Second Life. Many real life educational organizations have already found Second Life to be an effective vehicle for interactive learning in a variety of subjects.
Another possible long term goal of the PSG Academy would include some sort of formal certification once a series of classes has been completed.
"We'd like people to have something to show that they are proficient and have taken the time and effort to expand their Second Life experiences," said Carter.
The people at PSG are constantly honing their skills and eliciting feedback to improve the overall experience for the Second Life community.
"Second Life is about the people and the experience, so we constantly ask ourselves 'What can we do to enrich that for the public?' said Carter."The PSG Academy is just one of several projects we've invested in to offer the people of Second Life an experience they will value."
"We want to challenge ourselves to offer the most professional building and scripting classes in-world," said Carter.
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