>> That transmission/presentation media differs from research discipline? ;)

Close but no cigar. One professor there wanted to use Second Life as a means of teaching psychotherapy, via roleplaying within a consulting room detailed all the way down to a virtual box of tissues. Were this online teaching, hey, no problem... but she has her roleplaying students in her classroom, which, to me anyway, would seem a more realistic way of teaching such methodology.

Another one has an even more bizarre use in mind for SL. She teaches creative writing -- again, in a classroom situation, not online. But she wants to build an island at SL for her students to use for "creative inspiration"... uh, right...

Cut through all of it, and what's really happening is that folks like these see SL as a means of getting grant funding for projects that has zero use, either in or out of the classroom... but it gets them the money and supposedly demonstrates that theyre staying ahead of the technological curve. Given that the professors who decide who gets what funding are just as (1) clueless and (2) utterly dazzled by things like SL (not to mention other truly bizarre and misguided applications of technology within the education environment), these "instructors" will no doubt get their cash.

Oh, and with no after-project accountability. Hmm.

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