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Svarga is a mythical concept world designed to be an interactive and evolving ecosystem. It reminds me very much of one of my favorite games - Myst. You can take a tour of the island via a flying wasp and learn of the many intriguing design elements. This type of world would be a great addition to my developing unit on descriptive writing. It is beautifully rendered despite using proto-prim technology from 2006. A beautiful and inspiring place to visit.

Had to mention this one. I was greatly impressed with this location. It starts you off in a room that is black and white. Gives you a sense that its old. There are artifacts lying around that belong to someone. The room looks trashed and there are propaganda posters all around. It really gives you a sense of place and time. Then you can explore what looks like a German town. The town has been ransacked by the nazis. You can go inside the buildings and looks through peoples belonging, including journals. Its very eye opening and I imagine that anyone that visits would learn something.

When I first heard about this--I think someone mentioned it in class--I thought, "Well, you can just take a virtual tour of the museum. What would be different in Second Life?" Well, it is different. I just got back from the museum in DC and this is just like you said, Veero, like visiting a scene back in time. A place like this would really help my student understand and feel what it must have been like to live and die in this time. We read The Diary of Anne Frank and The Book Thief and this SLURL brings these settings to life. The voices of the survivors was such and excellent touch.

There is a lot here! Multi-leveled world with plenty of interesting visuals. It feels much like any science museum would...you walk around to various rooms/exhibits that have some sort of hands on or interactive display that has something to do with space or science in general. Plus there are artifacts from start trek that you can explore.

This is the coolest place I have been so far on my exploration of SL. I love the daring creativity and the ambience. You land in a globe of cubes, there's a Dive cafe underwater, the scenery is beautiful, and you can check out apartments to rent. What fun! I actually relaxed while I was there.

This was a fun place to visit. My little kids enjoyed walking around this scenic SL Zoo. I liked the graphics and the set up. However, I would have liked to be able to interact with the animals. Also, if there were sound effects, they were not available at the time I was in this virtual site. It would have been a nice touch if the creator added informational cards about the different animals that were displayed. I'm going to search around a bit to see if there are other virtual zoos.

This sounds like a great idea for a vitual field trip to a zoo. This might be the only way for teachers to "get out the classoom" because of buget cuts. Too bad there are no sound effects or information cards.

This location on SL presents a nice collection of artwork that could be used for art student to visit. The environment is visually appealing and easy to navigate. There are neighboring islands to visit as well, including a replicated "Old Globe Shakespearean Theater". There are a few neighboring islands in this particular SL map that I am going to go back to and visit.

The Virtual Ability site is dedicated to helping people with disabilities or chronic health conditions and their families. It is very user friendly allow users to touch various destinations within the site and then be transported to those destinations. As someone new and not very mover able it was a big added attraction. It also has a guided tour including a an air ballon ride. Very cool.

This is a very unique place that many students would find interesting and probably very different from what they consider to be "church". The Shaolin Temple enables the visitor to learn about the different aspects of the Buddhist religion and actually participate by meditating,, doing tai chi, etc. I love that people had remembrances of their loved ones. This place was a peaceful place to spend time and also educational.

This is a virtual Medical Examiner's Office. It is a work in progress but has quite a bit of information and photos that are not for the light hearted. It is a good place for students who are interested in the medical field. It provides scrubs to wear and other free stuff. There are many notecards that provide description of various medical procedures. A work in progress but recommended for those with interest in the medical or forensic field.

This island is a great way to stay informed about current CDC trends. It is place to meet with those that have similar ailments. Judging by the calendar that is available on the informational walkwayt, it looks as if they hold meetings or conferences with individuals that may be suffering from specific diseases. It is calming and peaceful environment, with sounds of birds chirping and refreshing landscape scenery to enjoy while visiting.

Another blog by an educator who is bringing her middle school to Secondlife. Suffern Middle School in Second Life A running account of the process of the proposal, acquisition, development and integration of a virtual presence for education at Suffern Middle School, Suffern, New York, USA.

This site has a list of virtual campuses and a list of Science and Health SLURL's.

The University of Southampton has an extensive presence in SL. One of the projects that they are developing is an exercise in visualization of an ancient Roman port. In addition to SL, they are also developing texture maps for Google Earth. The Portus Project in SL is referred to as Portus 2 and is a developing interactive representation of the entire port city. Posters, video, and other multimedia displays show the evolution of the project.

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/

A well-organized museum of historically significant artwork from around the world, representing different cultures and religions. The museum is carefully divided into topical areas with beautiful reproductions of many types of art. The descriptions are text-driven which calls for good reading skills and some degree of patience; not for young students, it's probably best for postsecondary students studying world religions or art history. There are 45 slide shows available to the user.

Thothica Community is a place where people come together to discuss philosophy, poetry, psychology, culture, mathematics, computer science, physics, cosmology, artificial life, education, and second life. When I first arrived there was a nice schedule of times with topics that would be discussed. Some of the topics included evolutionary psychology and quantum economics, all presented by community sponsors and members. Also listed were poetry readings and philosophy games. This might be a good way for students to join in a discussion or share their own writing.

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.

I have always wanted to visit Morocco because of what I've heard of the outdoor markets, mosques, food, beaches, and the culture from friends who have traveled there. This virtual space was actually constructed by students from Johnson & Wales University who had visited and in collaboration with the Moroccan Ministry of Tourism. When I teleported, I arrived in front of a fez booth. I took and wore one that allowed me to obtain information about my virtual surroundings as well as provide tips; it did warn me of monkeys. As I wandered thru the open markets, it was devoid of avatars but there was a gentle roar of a large crowd when walking in a specific area, and some of the stalls were empty with a couple of them with For Sale signs. Many of the stalls were offering garments, rugs, spices, kabobs, and baskets for sale. There were notecards, photo slideshows, and videos available that included tourism information and website links. I took a walk/fly thru stone-lined streets and walkways around the quaint residential buildings situated by ocean front views and I noticed that all the buildings have satellite dishes. This was a detailed little city with soccer fields, orange tree gardens, beach, outdoor café, and a mosque. I noticed two monkeys on a stand and I was expecting something to happen when I clicked them on and sat next to them; nothing happened.