The Rise of Second Life

I am shocked to learn how popular and advanced Second Life is. Anytime I have heard the term "Second Life," I immediately thought of "those guys" who lived in my dorm and spent way too long making Sims characters on their computers. Are these two things even related? I don't know.

Regardless, Second Life seems to be popular among a larger, more diverse population than I would have ever thought. Second Life is being used by some universities for teaching and recruiting purposes, and researchers are performing elaborate studies to better understand virtual environments and further enhance their effectiveness.

Having not graduated from college all that long ago, and as a current graduate student, I am unable to imagine what it would be like to have a virtual classroom experience in Second Life. Or to use Second Life to tour a college campus. While it appears a small number of institutions are taking this technology to this advanced level, I have to believe that with all the hype and research, it's going to catch on fast.

Will the next generation of students be "fluent" in Second Life and other virtual environments? Will the use of Second Life become standard practice for the corporate world? Will I actually have to use this? Thank God for ITEC 656...at least I'll have some idea how to navigate my virtual self into a meeting, should the need arise one day.