Virtual Environments

Virtual environments are a great way to keep up with technology in the classroom. Technology consumes a student's life and virtual environments could be a great way to really connect with students.

The MUVE (multiuser virtual environments) could be a great way to really teach students how things work. Instead of lecturing how a space ship works and takes off, perhaps the students could virtually take part in building and launching a ship on their own.

Another great attribute is that with such a huge video game industry, students participate in these games and learn a lot of knowledge (such as how to build an empire) without even realizing they are learning about history. Or as mentioned in the article, Everquest has 77th largest economy in the real world. It's not only a game, but a link between the real and virtual worlds. The same goes for Second Life where many companies advertise as well as people promote political candidates.

There are still some limitations. Not all students have access to computers and not all teachers know that much about technology. Some schools may only have enough access for a class to visit a computer lab once a week or less. On top of this, teachers will need to know how to use virtual environments effectively. Not all students will have the same technology knowledge and teachers don't want to overuse this tool. At that point, students will not be as interested as before.