Many universities have an online presence, but San Jose State University is doing something different by setting up a virtual campus in Second Life, the popular virtual world everyone's still buzzing about. Instead of offering the usual webcast courses, or podcasts, the school has set up a virtual university in Second Life that spreads across 16 digital acres filled with buildings designed for students in the Library Sciences Department.

The experimental classroom setup already has 30 students on its roster who will spend 15-weeks in a virtual classroom lead by professor Jeremy Kemp. Students attending these special classes are encouraged to learn more about the application driving the Second Life program, but in the future, educators hope to see students using this tool to give public presentations to help them overcome their fear of public speaking. I would think speaking to an actual audience, rather than a virtual one, would be more beneficial to someone trying to overcome such fear, but what do I know.

I can't wait to see how this program will do in the future, although I can't say I have a lot of faith in it. I've attended plenty of online classes, and while I think it's great that schools now have some sort of an online element, I don't think anything can ever replace the learning experience you get in a real classroom. What do think?

Link: Schools eyeing virtual campuses (AFP)

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