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Today's Tutorial Will Take Place on the Virtual Beach
Times Online (UK) (06/18/07) Frean, Alexander
British educational institutions are trying to gain a better understanding of the potential of Second Life to serve as a tool for teaching and research. Edinburgh University and Oxford University are among the educational institutions that are already experimenting with the Internet-based virtual world, where residents create avatars to interact with each other. For example, Austin Tate, a professor at the virtual University of Edinburgh (VUE) who specializes in using artificial intelligence for search and rescue work, delivers lectures via an avatar that wears a skydiving suit, and he plans to create a virtual diorama for students to extract survivors from burning buildings or blocked tunnels. Andy Powell, of the research foundation Eduserv, believes things that are too dangerous, expensive, or impossible in the real world could be done in a virtual classroom, but says the educational establishment is just scratching the surface with regards to what can be done in the virtual world. "It is a bit like the early days of the Internet--everybody knows that it has huge potential, but they are still figuring out what the best uses will be," says Powell. London Knowledge Lab researcher Martin Oliver believes the big challenge will be to devise entirely new ways to use the virtual world as an educational tool.
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