A Long Time But Worth It...The NEW TLE Educational Network IS HERE!

This is going to be a short post (I hope!) to let everyone know where the NEW TLE Educational Network stands. Alas Zerbino, our great blogger will be back with more detailed posts this week.

In June, I stood back and watched as the TLE Educational Network had grown. We have a group structure second to none. We also had some great success and some failures. But failures are good as they teach us important lessons as well.

It became clear to me that the method and pattern of many who operate in SL under the guise and altruistic desire to be places of learning and study were making and still are making drastic mistakes in regard not only in SL but to the inherent psychological basics of the normative Internet user as well as the SL user. It also became clear to me, due to my own personal belief that if you do something..well then do it right or do not do it all.

For two months while TLE was operating on a basically much reduced mode, a high tech business plan was written and set up. This demanded a different route than many have taken. It also took into account that SL though a great virtual world, is in the end a VW and as such is in the infancy of its technology. The numbers on the grid at any one given time simply do not allow for the laws of viral networks and social networking to take place without an "extra" push.

Going at this from the perspective of the motto that TLE Educational Network has and will keep "Where Knowledge & Education Are Always Free" and yet combining this with an actually huge high tech plan was not simple. Time for thought, direction and understanding were needed and required.

I am proud to announce within the next week the first central Hub Sim of the NEW TLE Educational Network will be opening up to the public. At this time due to the needs of classes etc. it will not be the final version of this sim, (as TLE plans over the next 8 months to introduce at least 15 Sims). Additionally TLE Educational Network will be divided into the Real World and the SL world both in staff and in endeavors.

We will not at this time make public all our plans nor exactly how we intend to go about it. Suffice it to say that TLE Educational Network will not and is not in the business of exposing SL users to SL users. We have much more ambitious goals than such, and we indeed see the process of SL to SL (as we call it) as a losing battle to which there is no real positive element.

TLE Educational Network will be approaching all this on multi-faceted arena. The University will keep on going, but soon will receive a great deal more let us say, validation for all students. And it will be education for free for the students. This will not nor will ever change.

The Creative Showcases of TLE will no longer be SL to SL. There are different plans for them, with, as some know, huge funding behind it.

TLE Educational Network will be rebuilding its Zoo across at least 4 sims. And the Museum will go back up in a different format. These two areas as well, have benefited from a great deal of planning and thought and will work in conjunction with the real world.

The TLE Educational Network Publishing House, in our age of digital book revolution, will as well get an entirely new face-lift, with new goals in mind (though all the books we currently have will be offered for sale once again). Again suffice it to say, this is a huge undertaking both in time and financially, but I can say now that it will be done.

We intend to give birth to a real theater. This will come in the next few months, however once again it will be run along professional lines, with both real and SL staff working in tandem.

The amount of funds that had to be raised in this venture was by no means small. Indeed, even in a good high tech market the goal is fairly substantial. We are in the midst of it, and things are moving along, and they will happen. Over 150 pages of a business plan was produced to explain in detail exactly what TLE envisions for the future.

But the real news is that our Sim will be open on approximately Nov. 8th 2009, and the University will be able to function there in a full capacity. As time goes on the University will spread over many sims with plans for other avenues and methods of study and long distance learning as well. Again a huge financial and time consuming undertaking but it will happen.

For a long time while TLE was functioning over many Sims, it became apparent to the Board of Directors, that certain other, shall we say, institutions would have their owners come by, find out what we were doing, and then try and duplicate it. For a while this irked me, but then I always say, I don't want to compete with anyone, let them compete with me.

This time around I welcome such visits. I welcome them because the plan behind TLE is way beyond what anyone has envisioned, nor are the financial resources available to these people. TLE has proven in its Beta Stage that there is a better way to deal with education and knowledge. Now we will be working hard on combining the best of Virtual World technology with Web technology and Social Networking Platforms.

It took some time. It took a lot of introspection. It took a great deal of facing our success and our failures. It took an incredible amount of time of laying out the plan, logically, step by step. It is taking a great deal of time to raise all the required funds, but we are getting there.

So folks. TLE Educational Network is back. And it will be there to serve you. It will be there to educate, stimulate, give you knowledge, and hopefully allow all of us to live in a better more peaceful world.

This is an adventure we now embark upon, with our eyes open. And trust me, for all those of you who want to be involved. This is going to be one hell of a Great Adventure, and a lot of fun.

I am proud to have worked with all the staff that was with TLE. And I hope most of them will be back with us. We will grow and sustain and nourish. Because in the end that is what TLE was established for and will continue to do.

Kitviel Silberberg
Owner & Founder - TLE Educational Network