I need to get a first life first

A friend of mine, in discussing Second Life, once commented that it was named incorrectly, in that it implied that its users don't have a life to begin with. Evidently satisfied with this piece of scurrilous slander, he turned back to his PlayStation, chuckling to himself, but I got thinking: what is Second Life and, more importantly, what does it mean for e-learning?

It would seem I'm way behind the pack here, so I've been reading up on it. I've even joined up with Second Life and created my own avatar. He's not as starry-eyed and windswept as I, though to his credit he is swarthier. It's so sunny in Second Life. The closest you get to a tan in rain-sodden, real-life Dublin these days is a tinge of rust.

And okay--it would seem that second life is more than just a playground for folks who want to knock around in virtual worlds. There's real-life (sort of) education stuff going on there! There's even a non-profit resource, Educause, who really take it seriously as a meaningful educational tool. Universities like Harvard are even delving in and arming up with bigger muscles and angular jaws. And you can learn, say, languages on dedicated "islands". So I suppose it's about time I started taking it seriously too.

More about this tomorrow.