4 Ways to Make the Most out of Virtual Worlds by Rama Ramaswami

"Virtual worlds like Second Life may have lost some luster in recent years (see "Is There a Second Life for Virtual Worlds?"), but educators and technologists say they still have value for higher ed." summarizes Campus Technology. 

 A Year in the Life - Second Life 


Here are four ways to make virtual environments work for you.:

1. Use virtual environments as one element of a blended-learning curriculum.

To a large extent, this is what most colleges are doing right now--adding virtual worlds to a course here and there and combining them with other technologies, disciplines, and face-to-face instruction. Patrick O'Shea, assistant professor of instructional technology at Appalachian State University (NC), uses augmented reality in several of his courses, as well as virtual classes set in Teleplace, 3D collaboration environments similar to those in Second Life. "I like the idea of having mixed face-to-face and distance education classrooms," says O'Shea. "It's not yet possible to read body language and those kinds of things in virtual worlds."
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Source: Campus Technology and Secondlife's Channel (YouTube)