General information on the training

D-Island is an open meeting/training space developed in SecondLife virtual world and it is administered by APC. It can be used by development organisations and networks for their own online meetings and capacity building activities. Learn more about D-Island.

APC is organising 2 initial training sessions for D-Island users & administrators as part of its long-term strategy to support development practitioners in using online tools for meetings and capacity building events.

Upcoming online training sessions will take place on November 23 and November 30 on D-Island (virtual island) and they are targeted at APC network and selected partners (see details below). Another large event for development community at large is planned for the end of January 2011.

Please note that you must have a SecondLife client installed on your computer and an Avatar (SecondLife account) registered in order to attend this training. SL clients are available for most common operating systems and both client and avatar registration are free of charge. See instructions on how to get the client and Avatar. You will also need a good connectivity to be able to attend this training, as well as to use D-Island for your activities afterwards (at least 250 Kb/s).

You can sign up for the training here. All details are below:

• Specific training objectives
• Dates/Timing
• Location & sequence of the training
• Sign-up for the training
• Getting started and support for training participants
• Event-specific FAQ

Specific training objectives

This training will orient future D-Island users in how their teams and organisations can use D-Island venues for their activities. It will provide basic orientation for first-time SecondLife users and train them in using specific functionalities of D-Island.

You will learn

• What can be found on D-Island and where
• What can specific D-Island spaces be used for and how it can serve your own activities
• How can one book D-Island spaces for his/her own meeting/training activity
• How to communicate with others (their avatars)
• How to move around
• How to fly :)

Administrators who will stay on for the session for administrators will also learn:

• How to change facilities from a meeting mode to training mode
• How to operate projectors
• How to modify colors of objects
• How to use & assign permissions

Dates/Timing

The sessions will be run by Karel Novotný and Doug Dyson (SecondLife developer) and they will have the following structure and timing:

#	Session	Timing
1.	Introductory session – basic skills for D-Island users	1:15 hr + 15 mins break
2.	Walk through the island (guided tour) with explanation of how individual meeting/training spaces can be used for different purposes	1:15 hr
3.	Admin specific training areas	1:15 (only future D-Island administrators will stay for this session)

Total time – approx. 3 hours (including one break). The training session for administrators will take another 1 hour approximately.

The same training will be organised on 2 different dates (identical agenda):

1. Tuesday, 23 November, 3 pm – 6 pm GMT/UTC, which works well for Americas, Europe and most Africa. See what time it is in your city: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?day=23&month=11&yea...
Download ical reminder for your electronic calendar

2. Tuesday, 30 November, 7 am – 10 am GMT/UTC, Which means early birding in western Africa and London but works well for continental Europe (8 am), most Africa & Asia/Oceania. See what time it is in your city: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?day=30&month=11&yea...
Download ical reminder for your electronic calendar

Location & sequence of the training

Training will take place in 3 different D-Island venues, so the participants get to know these spaces well and will be then able to use them for their own events. We will move from one venue to another as training progresses.

Find links to these spaces above each image. You can visit and explore them anytime before the training date, provided that you have created your avatar and installed SecondLife client:

1.D-Island Conference Centre (first 30 minutes of the training)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/D%20Island/90/34/1000
D-Island Conference Centre

2.D-Island APC Office/Atrium (next 20 minutes of the introductory training session)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/D%20Island/27/233/247
D-Island APC Virtual Office

3.External amphitheater (remaining time of the introductory training session)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/D%20Island/90/131/33
D-Island External amphitheater

4.D-Island hilltop (session for D-Island administrators)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/D%20Island/69/174/55
D-Island hilltop

Check out instructions for getting started and troubleshooting page for instructions on how these urls will take you to mentioned spaces.

Sign-up for the training

Follow this link and register for the training.

Getting started and support for training participants

It is very important that you install and test your SecondLife client way before the training, and eventually let us know if something doesn’t work. The instructions can be found here. Organising team will be providing ongoing support with the aim to get all participants going. However, the earlier you send your support request the bigger is the chance that we will be able to assist you. Not trying SecondLife prior to the event is very risky and it will be hardly possible to provide such specific support while the training is on. Direct your support request to onlinespaces@apc.org. Before you request support related to your hardware/software, please make sure that the information you need is not available on SecondLife knowledge base wiki.

The way to request support during the event itself (e.g. your audio stopped working, you crashed and can’t get back to D-Island, etc) is via a support chat channel.

Any remaining doubts or questions? Check FAQ below or write to karel@apc.org.

Event-specific FAQ

Who are these two sessions for?
APC members staff, APC staff and selected partners

How do I get into D-Island (what is required to use SecondLife)?
Please see instructions for getting started and troubleshooting for all related instructions.

Should I attend also the session for D-Island administrators?
If you can imagine that you will be organizing your own event (meeting/training) on D-Island in future, then at least one person from your organisation should attend administrators’ session.

How many people per organisation can attend?
As many as you want. However, there is a limit of maximum 80 people per room (System limit) so if the trainees who sign up exceed 80, the preference will be given to making sure that representatives of all interested organisations have a chance to attend.

Why 2 trainings on 2 different days?
To allow participants from different time zones to attend. The content of the training will be identical, so feel free to chose the date/time that suits you better.

What are hardware, Bandwidth & other requirements to attend these trainings and to use D-Island in future?
See instructions for getting started and troubleshooting.

Who supports D-Island training financially?
The training is supported by the International Development Research Centre IDRC with whom APC partnered over the development of D-Island.

Other questions?
See “D-Island FAQ”:http://www.apc.org/en/node/11316.