Shortly before the beginning of the first lesson, there were some last minute problems. The announcements for the course were a bit too late in-world. In addition to that, the Arabic article in IOL announcing the course appeared on the day of the course. The good news was that there was a lot of interest but many were new to SL or even had only signed up to SL because of the course. However, in order to attend the classes, they needed at least some basic SL skills. I would have no time to help them during the class. So, besides one person, who I helped directly, I sent potential students to an orientation station which is available in many languages. 

My original plan had been that students who subscribed to the course would get access to the Moodle course component prior to the course where there are links to tutorials in-world and online. They would then have had time to learn all the necessary skills. I was even planning to offer one session before the actual lessons to help students with SL skills. 

Another totally unexpected issue came up: Some Arab female students from the Gulf did not want to use voice during the lesson. But the lessons will all be in voice. What do do? I contacted the IOL Manager of the Island. They searched the Fatwa bank and found some Fatwas that stated that Islamically this is not a problem. But the students still did not want to do it. I didn‘t want to exclude them, so I agreed finally that they could observe the lessons. 

Another problem. When I logged in minutes before the lesson, my skirt suddenly disappeared! I always hear about these embarrassing moments that some teachers have in class in Real Life. Nothing of that sort  ever has happened to me so far in RL but here I was without a skirt. I was wearing it but it was invisible). Fortunately, changing into a different outfit helped – off the Kimono and into my Vietnamese outfit 🙂 Just in time. Glad this is much easier done than in RL.