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Here is an interesting letter from an associate professor of physics at Elon University about his experience with using Second Life in his courses. He seems to really enjoy using new creative tools in his courses and is constantly looking for new ways to do things. He has tried many different representations of virtual reality. In general, he had assumed that all of his students would be fairly technically competent, especially in building in Second Life, but found that most of them fumbled around at first. Once they got on to it, they did quite well. He also took part in the Second Life Planetarium that has already been mentioned by one of the other students.

This is an excellent video which could be used in Edtec700. It elucidates the seven sensibilities of virtual worlds, convincing the viewer of the value of these environments. I am ready to take the red pill. (You'll see what that means if you watch the video.)

I explored Vito's Dogland Dog Park and you can interact with various dogs. The dogs sniff and make other sounds and you are able to pet them as well as a polar bear which you're able to hug. There is also an underwater area where you can walk your dog. If you touch a floating ball, your avatar begins swimming. There are a few things here that are a little different from what I experienced in SL. I can see how this could be a therapy for victims of TBI.

Excellent Ning-based resource for teacher and student cross-collaboration. Its aim is to promote the use of virtual worlds as educators. Blog, video, photo, and SLURL meeting locations make this a great one-stop shop for ideas on incorporating second life into the curriculum.

Virtual Med School? Ok, maybe not quite yet, although this blog post by Clare Linden shares an interview with Dave Taylor from Imperial College London regarding the use of SL as a tool for teaching medical procedures before trying them out on actual patients. Apparently Dave Taylor also built the NPL pavilion for the International Spaceflight Museum in SL as well. The virtual hospital, Second Health, was developed to provide lower-cost simulations of medical devices and help decrease incidents of errors in clinical settings. There are day surgery centers, a "keeping healthy showcase," and a really cool teleporter, reminiscent of Star Trek so you don't have to walk/fly to find things. Some areas are off limits, but there are plenty of things for the public to see. I'm interested in creating something along these lines for health care in a different setting. Blog site: http://blogs.secondlife.com/community/workinginworld/blog/2009/06/01/the-future-of-healthcare-3-questions-for-dave-taylor-of-imperial-college-london SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Second%20Health%20London/131/223/25

What originally piqued my interest in this site was the "Training for Traffic" that I read on the SL Work Success Stories site (http://work.secondlife.com/en-US/successstories/case/tuvnord/). No small wonder that that topic caught my eye, what with my 15 year old constantly begging me to let her drive. TUV NORD created several traffic situations that they turned into interactive driving tasks. I vaguely remember being in driver's ed and watching a movie in a "simulator" when I was 15. Once I found out that I could spin the steering wheel in any direction and it made no difference, I went on to what was, at the time, my next priority: sleeping. Parenthood brings new perspectives; I shudder at the thought that my child might do the same during her own driver's training class. This sim sounds realistic enough to not only keep a kid awake at the wheel, but give them experience before they get behind the wheel of a deadly weapon. Unfortunately, the sim was not up and running when I visited. This island also has some other interesting items of educational value. You can learn how to use ground penetrating radar (GPR) to find tree roots and underground electrical lines that you might not want to cut through. There is also a huge interactive fuel cell that you can fly through to investigate the inner workings of the thing, which would be useful in a discussion of chemistry, even at the grade levels that I teach (4th & 5th). The only drawback is that most of the notecards you get are in German. Most of the signs do have a translation tool, though (click on the British flag for English). SLURL: http://work.secondlife.com/en-US/successstories/case/tuvnord/

Game challenge learning applying Learning in 3D book principles