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State Curriculum Content Standards and Virtual Worlds New Jersey becomes the first state to incorporate virtual worlds (and the ability to use them) into their "Core Curriculum Content" state standards…. Via New Jersey State Dept. of Ed. web site at http://www.nj.gov/education/aps/cccs/2009/tech/index.html Particularly "….. collaborate adeptly in virtual environments and incorporate global perspectives into problem solving at home, school and in structured learning experiences with the growing realization that people in the 21st century are interconnected economically, socially and environmentally and have a shared future."

The Federal Trade Commission today issued a report that examines the incidence of sexually and violently explicit content in online virtual worlds. The congressionally mandated report, "Virtual Worlds and Kids: Mapping the Risks," urges operators of virtual worlds to take a number of steps to keep explicit content away from children and teens, and recommends that parents familiarize themselves with the virtual worlds their kids visit.

Hypergrid Business: List of places to obtain OAR terrains, terrain tools, objects and textures suitable for Second Life and OpenSim

Excellent Photoshop tutorials for skills needed for Second Life and similar virtual world graphics and mesh content creation.  Also see her site at http://robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/PhotoshopTuts

Annenberg Media provides wonderful resources for teachers of almost any discipline from kindergarten though college. I use the American Passages series in my American Literature classes. Students can watch brief videos, which really bring content to life, but what is great is that Annenberg includes so much more than just videos -- discussion questions, other links to more information, glossaries of key terms, project and essay ideas. The drawback is the passive nature of the site. Students watch videos; they don't create them or edit them. The activities surrounding the videos incoporate reading, writing, and possibly discussing, but these approaches in isolation, as we have seen, do not always provide the most immersive or effective learning experience.

Project Based Learning in Second Life. Easily applied to other MUVEs - especially those that offer learner content creation in-world.

SL murder mystery game running February 2010. Example of environment context, role playing, collaboration, problem solving?, fun. How could this strategy be used with educational content?

I liked the idea of this second life campus created by Free-Ed.net. Free self paced courses are provided for students who are interested in learning a variety of higher level topics. I like this idea because it gives people a taste of study in another major. For example, if you are interested in pursuing a degree in history, the courses through free-ed give you a taste of what work in that degree may entail. There is even content for students preparing to take the GED, AP, or SAT exams. The second life forum also allows students to meet in rooms to study for exams or discuss course content.

Great example of middle school student created projects on Teen Second Life. Note how sixth graders hire 8th graders using Lindens and project manage collaborative problem solving. Doable, highly engaging and tied to core content.

Textures, folds, brushes, clothing templates to make clothing for virtual worlds. Permissions do not indicate SL exclusivity.

This is a virtual representation of red square. It includes realistic architecture and information. Interestingly, all of the content is available in English or Russian

This is a wonderful place to be. There are people there that will help you or just offer some conversation. I went INTO a space ship and sat on the Lunar module. I read so much information and was able to see things animated, but my level of understanding of space could not keep up with all the choices. I enjoyed being here, but I think I'll stick to my history and/or literature content so I can fully appreciate what a place like this has to offer. What a wonderful place to spend an afternoon!

Doh! You scooped me. I spent two hours there last night and had a great time. I picked up a free t-shirt as well that I am currently sporting. I agree, this is a fun and creative learning environment. I rode the space shuttle, took an automated tour, had my photo taken on the zero G bed, and picked up a bunch of freebies. I liked the theme park feel, but got a bit lonely as I was the only soul there.

Great minds . . .

This place was a dream for those who love the Renaissance Era. It is complete with Ren Art, merchant shops, jousting competitions, and friendly people throughout. I found the content to be right in line with the seventh grade HSS standards, however, from and interactive standpoint, there wasn't much. It is a fun place to be to interact with others who love this sort of thing.

I definitely would push for the use of Second Life in teaching Geometry.

This is an excellent site that would be great for educators or business people who want to improve their virtual skills, expand their virtual contacts, or hold meetings. This site was created and is maintained by a university in the UK. I found a place for educators to make appointments to get help for improving their skills in the virtual world, many educational tools such as interactive slide shows and art exhibits, and a group I could join that connected me with other like-minded educators. The site was easy to navigate, well-designed, and loaded with content. Even though I spent nearly two hours here, I felt as though I barely scratched the surface. The only thing that I still find a bit odd is that I do not know why the title is Sexual Health SIM. I did not find anything related to health care. But again, there is so much more that I did not search.

This is the best site I found. You are greeted by a sign and welcome notecard that describes the origins of the project and how it has grown to over 100 region and explains the vision of the project:"… has been to inspire and influence future development, to expand working knowledge, to showcase creativity and ideas, and to encourage collaboration both inside and outside of Second Life." You can instantly access a map that allows you to teleport to the location of your choice including four different teaching sites, one for the arts a conference center, Learning, and Red Rocks. There are a multitude of resources here for the educator. Everywhere you turn around there are billboard that advertise upcoming events, signs that connect you to groups, and free things to collect. There are many places to hold meetings from small and intimate rooms to large amphitheaters.

The Literature Alive! group creates immersive and interactive literary locations in SL. The maze-like dungeon of this address, for example, has the visitor explore archetypal literary themes. I think upper middle schoolers and high school students would enjoy this adventure. The note cards and objects contain instructions, quizzes and information. Passage through the mazes requires answering quiz questions. Comparisons to modern literature and movies keeps the content relevant. You can also discover links to additional websites about the topic and teaching literature. Here is a link to the Literature Alive blog: http://literaturealive.blogspot.com/ and wiki: http://literaturealive.wikispaces.com/

This website is an article about the writer's experience in Second Life. It is a good website for someone who is new to Second Life and wants to know what to expect.

One of the greatest challenges we face as high school physical education teachers is getting our students to be motivated. Although it is costly to have this sort of virtual reality equipment at our school, it is something that we can possibly plan for the future and have as an activity for days in which our teaching areas are affected by rainy day, construction, testing, or for students who cannot have long exposure to the sun. Sounds fun ☺

Yeah, I think in PE (or in any content area), finding a way to connect with our students and motivate them is crucial. I envision being able to integrate a Wii game system with a 3D Muve so that our students will actually have to be physically active in order to move their avatar in the virtual world,

Carolina, Does the P.E. curriculum call for daily physical activity? Perhaps one or two days a week students can meet in a computer lab and work in SL. They could build a gym, and post fitness goals on its walls. Also, there are many web sites out there that they could use to calculate calories in and calories out. Just a thought... Great article. ;)