am still marveled by the Online Educa Berlin 08 experience. It mainly has to do with the fact that I was able to meet and talk to so many interesting people, and to learn what they are currently doing. NAd these are people I met sometime ago online and have been collaborating with despite or location differences. It hasn’t stopped us from truly connecting and bonding. And the proof is that our first face to face get-together just reinforced the learning interactions we had started online.
Like you must have gathered from my last post, Online Educa Berlin 08 unexpectedly become a webhead meeting too. It doesn’t take much to organize one. Webheads are quite spontaneous in teh way they bond, and any place is good to host a get-together. All it takes is willing to meet our like-minded online real friends. Berlin, in this sense, was a stupendous meeting point. We had so much fun. I have learned also a lot from this get-togethers. OSmehow I feel I had met them before, ANd in a way I had.
In the last post I talked about Buthaina. Today I will talk about Heike.
I have been in closer contact with Heike Philp since the Training the Trainers Online Conference. Although she’s also an webhead, we hadn’t actively engaged in many discussions at the webhead’s headquarters…I am not even sure why… However we knew each other, and after the online event we started skyping more and talking about our projects. Once Heike learned Buth and I was going to be in Berlin, she decided to come too. That was quite a surprise 
and I am gald she came, because we sure had a great time.
Heike has a new project starting soon about Second Life and Language Learning. Teaching and learning Languages in SL seem to have a big impact in environments like this. I personally like the fact that I can embody my presence through an avatar, and use voice activated speech to interact with others. The fact we can visit different places, and construct artifacts is also appealing to me.
.… the way I see it it should make me feel I am part of that environment in a rather meaningful and contextualized way. However, even SL is not a perfect world. There are still I still struggle with when it comes to my secodn me (=kayla Helgerud). I am still fascinated by the fact my avatar represents me in a more tangible way, and that I also get to go places while there, etc… but at the same time I usually feel frustrated by the fact I can’t figure out how to control my avatar’s movements, and body language signs, with proficiency. Constructing stuff in SL is even harder… Equally upsetting is the fact that when I don’t crash, someone else does. Even though this is becoming less frequent, it is still a reality for many people who are running on older computers or have a slower connection.
Nevertheless, I really want to learn more about SL, and hope to include it as part of my Personal Learning Environment and Network. I still see many limitations for it to work at a larger scale and for a wider group of people. As my dear friend Hala Fawzi says – she is not a Second Lifer – and she does not say that because she doesn’t see the learning benefits of being part of such environment, but simply because her internet connection is still not fast enough to ‘enter this world’.
Despite all of this, things look like they are changing. Heike’s project – Access to Virtual Action Learning live ONline (AVALON), seems to address some of the issues mentioned above, and she does talk about accessibility and usability. I hope you enjoy the video. It was recorded at the Xmas Market in Berlin, as you can tell from the background music. 
Also, if you want to be introduced to SL in a friendly, supportive environment, then you should consider the Virtual World Session Graham Stanley, Nick Noakes, Dennis Newson and Nergiz Kern are going to offer as part of the EVO Sessions. They are totally free and a lot of fun! I will join them myself…as I need to challenge myself on this one. All it takes is an open mind…and the willing to keep trying… I guess …Hopefully I will get there!
Cristina Costa