Skills for Second Life

Introduction

Clearly, in order to engage with the Second Life world, you have to develop a number of 'skills'. These include all the techy things to do with registering for an account and installing the client. Once you get in-world there are then a range of additional competences specific to the Second Life environment that you need.

More than Pixels has set up a Second Life Skills Testing Station on Star Island within the Main Grid - where you can practise what they see as being the core SL skills and can get a record of achievement and certificate of competence (assuming you pass their test and pay them some Linden Dollars).

NB - we use the term skills advisely - read it to include, skills, knowledge, competences, etc.

The Second Life world Skills Framework

CCarter at Pepperdine University has developed a higherachy of Second Life skills which we are using as the basis for our Second Life skills metric. We have extended his framework to make draw out the relevance (if any) for these Second Life world skills to real world skills.

The Second Life world Skills Framework
Level	Second Life Skill	Relevance to Real World
1a	Walking (inc turning around)	Spatial awareness; Manual dexterity, hand-eye coordination
1b	Flying (inc changing direction and going up and down)	Spatial awareness; Manual dexterity, hand-eye coordination
1c	Landing (ie stopping flying)	Spatial awareness; Manual dexterity, hand-eye coordination
1d	Sitting	Spatial awareness; Manual dexterity, hand-eye coordination
1d	Teleporting	None
1e	Changing your appearance	None (though does have direct links with issues to do with identity)
1f	Using the Friends options	None (though does link with social skills/networking)
1g	Using the search facilities	Information handling - relevant to any database searches
1h	Text chat	Keyboarding skills Using other ICT text chat systems
1i	In-world instant messaging (IM)	Keyboarding skills Using other Instant messaging systems
1j	Deciding when to use chat and when to use IM	ICT capability - deciding the most appropriate text based communication tool
2a	Inventory	Information handling - file management
2b	Pie Controls	??
2c	Camera controls	Mathematics - Shape and Space - perspective, angle, distance Photography
2d	Movement controls	??
2e	Using the Map	Geography - map reading
2f	Notecards	Reading
2g	Opening boxes	??
3a	Moving objects	??
3b	Creating objects	ICT capability - Mathematics - measurements; shape and space (2D/3D shape; x, y, z coordinates)
3c	Editing objects	ICT capability - Mathematics - measurements; shape and space (2D/3D shape; x, y, z coordinates)
3d	Shopping	Mathematics - money
3e	Textures	Mathematics - shape and space Art and Design - Design Technology -
3f	Prims	??
4a	Building	Mathematics - Design Technology -
4b	Scripting	ICT - computer programming
4c	Video/Machinima	Video / film making, production, directing, editing

A group has been set up by the UK Educators Group (or was it the JISC SL Group) to develop a framework of Second Life world skills - it builds upon our framework - above - you can find out more from http://www.sleducationuk.net/vle/mod/wiki/view.php?id=7