I wasn't serious...

But it seems the uni is! Check it out - this is what I received in a uni email today:

SECOND LIFE

La Trobe University is joining universities around the world in exploring educational applications of virtual worlds. The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences is developing a campus in Second Life as a two-year social learning project. To visit the virtual campus as it evolves, log into Second Life and go to La Trobe University.

Wow.

Welcome to Second Life

It seems I've joined Second Life. Our introductory lecture for Practicum C today involved the lecturer telling us about how exciting this new 'blended learning' experience was going to be. The most 'exciting' part was the online learning component, where face-to-face learning has been replaced by involvement in a 'virtual world'. In this virtual world, we go on a kind of treasure hunt to collect marks. The lecturer can check up on us and see what we are up to there. In fact, she says, if we wish to speak to her, it will probably be easier to catch up with her in this virtual world rather than calling by the office - we'll be sure to 'see' her around there often.

This isn't really Second Life, or any real virtual world at all; it is merely WebCT. Although the lecturer's excitement and enthusiasm makes it easy to pretend it is such (and wouldn't that be fun!), after many years of distance education I'm all too familiar with online learning.

Maybe I should suggest getting avatars?