As a massive virtual world there are a few immediate thoughts on how Second Life could be used in education. Just the ability to create a meeting space for people separated by distance is a huge boon for education. As more and more online classes are created the problem of how to maintain a human touch in our learning grows. The ability to create virtual classrooms were students can interact and use familiar symbols like chairs and tables give us a better feeling of community. We can all see the same things and discuss them even though we are separated by distance.
We can use a virtual world to go to places and things that we could not afford to in real life. You may not be able to take your class to the Statue of Liberty in real life but in a virtual world it could be easily done. Famous landmarks, world culture, historical settings, or maybe a walking tour of the inside of a living cell could all be done in the virtual world for practically nothing, once they are built.
And there comes the major drawback to a virtual education experience. Sure you can see the Eiffel Tower once it is built but what if it is not there? It would be a lot cheaper to build a virtual Statue of Liberty then a real one but remember that everything has to be built. Building the virtual desks and chairs to sit in could be just as hard. I saw an estimate of about $15,000 to have engineers build your plot of land up. So while it may be cheaper then flying all of your French students to France it is not that cheap for a public school system that is already strapped for cash. As Mr. Linden himself explains in the TED video below the whole virtual world process is still very young. In an almost Wild West type growth and rules system. The Linden Dollar is king and people are buying and selling anything they can. I think that this technology will have a profound impact on education but I do not see it for at least 5 to 10 years from now. Until then it will be like the earlier days of the internet where if teachers find something useful they will of course use it but who would have ever thought of teaching completely online in those days.
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