Terra Nova has an interesting interview up with one instructor at the Harvard Extension School; the topic is teaching in Second Life. The project at Harvard started with one course - CyberOne: Law in the Court of Public Opinion - and was successful enough to warrant adding new classes using the online-only format.

... we were basically faced with the challenge of having to develop a whole new set of classroom norms that worked in this environment. Once we got that going, everyone got much more comfortable with the environment. By the end of the semester, people were really enjoying it.

The instructor, Rebecca Nesson, has a lot more to say about the experience, challenges, and positive points of conducting class entirely out of the brick-and-mortar setting. I have to admit the idea seems so out of the realm of what I like in 'brick and mortar' classrooms that I'd be pretty damn resistant to the idea of taking such a class, but I'm always interested to see how universities try, with varying degrees of success, to incorporate 'new' technology into the stodgy quagmire of the Ivory Tower. Maggie Greene

Teaching in Second Life: One instructor's perspective [Terra Nova]

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