Second Life Mentor Coaches

Welcome to a brief look at Coaches 2.0! This page is a work in progress.

Second Life Mentor Coach is an entirely opt-in role within the Mentors group that is perfect for Mentors out there who would like to provide education in a classroom-like setting. The role of the Mentor Coach within this program is made up of volunteers that, aside from usual volunteering at their leisure, help other Mentors and residents excel in skills that can increase the ability and efficiency of volunteering by offering classes.

Mentor Coaches Responsibility and Requirements:

A Mentor Coach's responsibility is to host classes for other residents, especially new residents, which can help develop a certain skill or help build certain characteristics that can increase the ability of the learners to become immersed in or accustomed to Second Life. Classes are not run or maintained by Linden Lab. The role of a Mentor Coach is entirely opt-in, so the responsibilities and class development are left to individual Coaches to maintain. Beginning August 1st, a Coach must host and report at least one class per month.

A definition of a class in this context: a class that can be reported for credit must be a scheduled teaching event open to a group of students or to public. Scheduling for teaching on the mainland is defined as being listed in the Events category in Second Life's search tool, or for Mentors teaching Mentors the event must be listed at Classes Offered By Mentors.

Tracking activity is important for morale and as a variable in gauging support of the Coaches program. Members who do not meet the minimum upkeep of one (1) class held each month be temporarily removed from the Coaches role to keep tracking of the role succinct. The running total of Second Life Mentors in the Coaches role will thus only reflect an active number of Coaches. Removal from the Coaches role does not inhibit your ability to volunteer or prevent eligibility to re-join the role when ready, and is not meant to deter you from hosting classes in the future.

Existing Coaches joined under different requirements, set in Q3 2007. However, as needs have changed in the last year, all Coaches must meet the new requirements. Questions about this should be directed to VTeam. A meeting regarding modifications to this role was held in July, 2008. Further information about guidelines and how to report class results are described below.

Important Guidelines Before Hosting

• As with any Second Life Mentor activity, the Tao of Volunteers, TOS and Community Standards apply.
• You should be sure to mention at the start of your event that your opinions and methodology are not necessarily endorsed by Linden Lab as well.
• Classes must be PG.
• Classes should not offer any L$ incentives or prizes. Likewise, classes must be free, and free of advertisements, please! Classes are not for commercial or financial gain.
• If you hold your class on Linden or communal land, be sure to clean up your belongings when your event is finished. Visitor counters included! :)

How To Schedule Your Class

• Classes on mainland should be scheduled as an Event in the Education category. For information on posting Events, please see this link.
• Priority use of shared space on the mainland is based on scheduling through the this wiki page. For example, it is okay to host a class in Tenera the same day you published the Event, but make sure to check this article to make sure that space has not already been documented for use at that time. The first to list their class has fair use and rights to the land for the event.
• If you are hosting a class at SLVEC for Mentors specifically, these events may be scheduled alternatively here.
• A nice touch for the classes would be to have the materials set up on a wiki user page for fellow residents to reference during and after the class, but this is not required. Wiki editing can be alarming at first but it’s pretty easy once you get the hang of it – feel free to contact a Mentor Scribe or check out the Quickie Wiki Intro & Help:Contents pages for tips on getting started.
• Looking for special Coach-organized events and programs to take part in? Check out the Mentor-Managed Event Organizing page for ways to organize with other Coaches and view a list of opportunities.

Hosting Information

• Please feel free to introduce yourself as a Second Life Mentor for these events! This is a great way to show the community our collective contributions.
• Please make sure your activated group tag is one of the official Second Life Mentor tags while hosting the event.
• Any dispute arising from Second Life Mentor Coach led classes needs to be handled through resident-to-resident peaceful, TOS-abiding resolution, Abuse Reports as needed, or the support portal at secondlife.com. VTeam will not be able to respond to issues of abuse at these events. In some cases this may pose a challenge; please teach at your discretion, and when you are in good spirits! Hint: Find a way to explain or plan for this at the start of the event!’’
• Class management (quantity of attendees/delivery of the content) is solely at the discretion of the host(s). Good teachers know that improvements to education is fluid – aim to improve and excel!
• Many Coaches like to co-host classes. THIS IS OKAY! However, the Coach who turns in the class report (see the Class Reporting section below) will be the one to have their class tallied to their name. If you co host classes often, we strongly urge you to take turns in providing the class report so that your contribution can be recorded in your name at least once a month. Only the reporter's name will be recorded, not the co-hosts, so take turns!

Possible Class Locations

Tenera Volunteer HQ

• Area 1
• Area 2
• Area 3
• SandBox

Oak Grove Stage

• 60 minute auto-return
• Located Here

Lime Stage

• 60 minute auto-return
• Located Here

YOU MAY HOST CLASSES ON YOUR LAND IF THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS ARE MET FOR THE PARCEL ON WHICH YOU HOLD THE CLASS:

• The class and parcel content must be PG.
• Land must be a not-for-profit space.
• Should be advertisement free.
• No classes in shops or at malls! :)

Suggested Class Focuses for Q3 2008:

• UI Basics
• Search Basics
• How to Find and Join Communities and Projects in SL
• Traveling in Second Life

A major focus for Q3 will be to help out brand new residents. Bonus for topics that attend to that focus, but do not feel limited by these options!

Class Reporting

• Coaches must create a notecard that states their name, the title, date, and time of the event, and optionally, how many attendees showed at the event. IF YOUR CLASS HAS NO ATTENDEES: Be very sure to include your method of scheduling for the event in the class report; this information can be used as a metric to help us focus on better scheduling methods to assist with better attendance turnout. This notecard should be placed in the Coach Class kiosk at SLVEC, across from the volunteer orientation stage, in the same terminal as the Voucher receptacle. If you provide an attendance count for your events, feel free to contact a VTeam member at the end of the month to get a running tally of how many residents you personally have helped!
• If you submit a notecard with the above details, thank you! You will maintain your group role membership for the duration of the month and help us to track activity in the program. The kiosk receptacle will let you know immediately if the notecard has been received. VTeam will keep a running tally of the number of events you have hosted in a given month. If you have any questions about how many classes you have reported or the number of attendees you have helped, feel free to contact a VTeam member.
• Orientation Coaches: To remain in good standing, you do not have to host separate Coach classes. Orientation sessions count for our tracking purposes. When you submit the attendance list of your orientation via email, it will be recorded so you do not have to submit a notecard to the Coach Class receptacle.
• Co-hosting reminder: CO-HOSTING IS OKAY! However, only the Coach who turns in the class report will be recorded as the host. If you co host classes often, we strongly urge you to take turns in providing the class report so that you can share the reporting contributions and maintain your Coach status.

Second Life Mentor Coach 2.0 Sign Up:

Mentors Teaching Mentors Sign Up

How to Voluntarily Exit this Role

Leaving the Mentor Coach role behind and returning to the Everybody role can be accomplished by speaking to a VTeam member during one of their office hours, found here: Volunteer Specialist Office Hours