[Ralph Hinkley]

Hello everyone, 

I am a primary school teacher and I am familiarizing myself with this whole world of copybots to be able to create an education system for children between 5 and 11 years old through the worlds of secondlife and opensimulator. Pandemic rules, but I imagine that, in any case, future will be a better one if I am able to adquire these skills and knowledges here even when we all win the tragic game to this horrible pandemic.

My immediate intention is to show my husband that in SL worlds one can do many fantastic and educational things despite the SL bad fame as worlds only for sex, because he is not very much convinced and is worried because he sees me as too much enthusiasmed lol

I hope to be able to help everyone as soon (and simultaneously) as I begin to learn well how this whole world of the copybot works You all can count with me!

Kisses to all.

Lots of good advice from others.  I do agree that the realm of virtual reality based on the construct of these viewers has enormous educational potential, but you will need support from the administration that oversees your school district in order to implement your project. 

A couple things I recall about minors using the SL platform: one is that SL has/had an entirely separate Grid for kids to avoid the liabilities of being an avenue for pedophiles to find victims.  The other, as Showbiz stated, is that there may be a minimum age to gain an account on that Grid.  There is also likely restrictions concerning adults acquiring an account on that Grid, and SL may not give adequate oversight in the way your school administration desires.

You can always construct your own OpenSim on a private server for the purposes of your classroom, but I would advise submitting a curriculum to the administration that oversees the remote platform used to interact with students in your school district.  It could result in some serious frustration from a parental complaint if the administration has not agreed to support your endeavor prior to involving the students.  It is very likely the administration will want to have power of prior censorship and arbitrary oversight of all aspects on the Sim you construct for classroom purposes.  The OpenSim would likely need to be on a server kept on school property in a secure location with limited access for a number of reasons regarding the district's liability for safety and privacy of the students as well as control of content and curriculum.

Copybotting for your own purpose is a good way to learn a lot about assembling a sim world for your students, but your administration may not see outfitting a Sim with copybotted content as a particularly legal way to assemble a curriculum.  Legally speaking, it would be like pirating software for use on classroom computers.   You CAN say it is your own creation in an OpenSim since everything you bring in will appear as your name on creator, but that leaves you open to the questions on how you created the stuff.  Blender is free, and capable of anything for an SL world, but it does take time, dedication, and some talent to master Blender.

I wish you luck with your project. 

Ralph Hinkley
The Greatest American Hero