Iggy's Syllabus: Tenchi's Law

Iggy’s Syllabus: Tenchi’s Law

College teachers often ask me where to begin in Second Life®. I say “Sarah Nerd’s Freebie Paradise,” then realize that they have no avatar yet and consider me insane.

Then, with my teacher’s hat jammed firmly on my head again, we discuss lesson plans and a general philosophy for a class using SL™. Those will vary by the subject and students’ ability.

Still, most classes can begin with a principle given to me by Tenchi Morigi, who served as a mentor for my last class, “Invented Worlds.” She wants to get 18-22 year olds past their initial loathing for the metaverse. She and I, over virtual tea, have discussed this common problem. In this installment of Iggy’s Syllabus, Tenchi rides to the rescue, and I provide a first lesson plan.

It’s the mark of Millennial students that open-ended engagement without clearcut rules—something “Gen Xers” loved—is scary and unpopular. My students are not little pod-people, however; they just prefer to move in dense social networks among known friends.

That means SL can be a nightmare for under-prepared teachers stunned by "the wonder of it all."

Such teachers, of course, will fall as flat on their faces as avatars without animation overrides. Their students, like mine in my first class to use SL, will lash back that it's "lame," "full of losers without lives," and so on.

How do we get a more conformist generation of students past this under-informed emotion? Here is what Tenchi advises:

Break the Ice: What I found interesting in working with Iggy’s students was that the general attitude towards SL tends to be a negative one coined by the image of SL created in the media which is (partly deserved) not the best one. Tackling this early and showing them a different approach towards this world which is only inhabited by social failures, sexual deviants and virtual copies of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (to stay with the media pictures) is mandatory.

Most students get online with a classical game concept in their heads that has to be hammered out of them. Once this is done they have to be confronted with the SL which generally can be achieved best by totally breaking the media-spawned clothing conventions or showing them around some user generated content which is not on the assigned route, to show there is more.

The funniest result of one of these tours was a group of three Matrix-style figures who where clog-dancing in the middle of a sunglasses store...simply priceless.

Iggy’s Lesson Plan:

I'm lousy at clog-dancing, but why not use teacher's ability to work the "honeymoon" at the start of the semester? In a small class (I will have 18 enrolled) I can hold one-on-one conferences so writers can have me there, in person and by laptop, when they create their avatars and arrive at Orientation Island.

That will help with some start-up frustrations, but the more important part of this will be an assignment to make every second meaningful for goal-oriented Millennial freshmen.

The first assignment will be a low-stakes part of the writer's portfolio. Writers will discuss, in terms of classical rhetoric, WHY they chose the default avatar they did. They'll note the appeal to emotion--pathos--and the appeal based on one's person--ethos. And if they chose randomly, I will ask the writer to record the reaction to his or her avatar for the first few visits, and speculate as to how the choice influences others.

This type of assignment--minus the classical Rhetoric--could work in a sociology or marketing class in SL. It would enable students to consider carefully the choices made when changing wardrobe, hair, or skin. As soon as they find Sarah Nerd's or other freebie shops, they'll begin doing just that.

I imagine that the cardboard-box-man avatar, a default choice a noob was lamenting recently on Orientation Island, will crop up a lot. And I also imagine that the reaction to box-man by others will be sympathy or lighter-fluid and a match.

Final Note: While I think Tenchi's Law is nearly flawless, I must disagree with her remark about Dr. Frank-N-Furter. He is the future of SL, or at least my Halloween outfit in-world.

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