One of the reasons that I elected to mentor these Blender classes was because I felt it was good. for personal transformation. That’s one reason. Everyone can benefit from that. By the way, here’s a bit of good news. Even a very beginning total noob level of building skills with Blender can provide the context for the spiritual transformation.
The second reason is that with practice some people will learn Blender well enough to make objects, to use in the SL Virtual Ashram and to use in our Kitely building project. In addition those objects can be used in the games that EJ is creating. Not everyone will get
to this level. But many of you will.
A third reason for offering the Blender classes is that working in Blender can actually be turned into a livelihood. I’m saying that you can actually make a living. Some of you might attain this level of skill. Perhaps a small portion, but some of you can.
The fourth reason or advantage to the classes, is that it gives us a way of working together.
There are two conditions that arise in these Blender classes that make the classes excellent opportunities for work of a special sort. The first is the need for translation. I don’t speak Spanish, Hindi, or Gujarati. Hence, translation is required. This means some folks have the opportunity to insert themselves in the delivery path. That’s good. The second condition that offers an opportunity for work is: Blender is a skill that requires learning — and, each of us will learn at a different pace.
That means each of us can offer help to others in those areas/skills which we happen to know a little better. This is very much like the Montessori method of teaching. Rather than one teacher and many students, every member of of the class is both a mentor and a student. I like this. And Blender offers many opportunities for this to happen.
In graduate school our profs would give lectures and answer questions. But, really it was the study groups we formed (along with hours of personal work) that was the backbone of the educational process.