Aussie Second Life Good for Education?

Earlier this week another tech director asked about using Second Life in public schools. I mentioned an article I wrote for TechEdge, the journal for the Texas Computer Educators Association, that discussed virtual classrooms in some detail. However, I pointed out that with Second Life’s active red light district, it was perhaps not a good place to hold K-12 classes (even though there are separate areas for folks under 18 and folks over 18). It seems Active Worlds has been more successfully appropriated for that purpose, with Harvard’s River City and Indiana’s Quest Atlantis both using the Active Worlds engine.

Now, Robert Scoble blogs about Outback Online, an Australian MMOG that is being designed from the ground up as a technically superior persistent world. Of interest, one of the improvements Scoble mentions beyond the technical aspects, is increased controls allowing for strict G and PG experiences.

It’s an interesting idea, and one that may see educational benefit. Online worlds are like school worlds in that they need to be policed by somebody who can prevent all the nasty things said and done by school children to one another, and encourage a wholesome, healthy, and happy environment that is conducive to education (think of the safe schools movement). In real schools, the principal or hall monitors or teachers fill that role. In a virtual environment, a technological and/or human solution will be needed so that tender eyes and ears are not exposed to coarser discourse (and intercourse).