I'll stick to my first life, thanks...

I remember almost three years ago, when I was brand new to the firm where I work, we held an Extreme Learning Lab for about forty of our 200+ learning and education staff. I was fortunate to get to participate, and while wandering among the Wii, the Playstation 360 (or whatever was the current model then), Rosetta Stone software, Second Life, info about blogs, wikis, and Twitter, I was patting myself on the back for joining such a fun company. Of course, every day can't be that way, but in my department we often look at emerging technologies and how/if they might be useful in the learning programs we create.

When I saw Second Life at the lab, it was my first peek, and I thought it was pretty cool. Since that introduction, I've seen at least a dozen cover stories/feature articles on the use of Second Life in training (particularly in Training magazine, the eLearning Guild's online magazine, and ASTD's magazine). Interestingly, for all its popularity in the industry, I have yet to see a use of Second Life in learning that really impresses me. What can you do in Second Life that you can't do with videoconferencing or other eLearning solutions?

I've downloaded and used Second Life on a half dozen occasions, and I'm beginning to wonder why I just don't get it. The graphical user interface is impressive - the graphics are fun, and the ability to build your own stuff is interesting (and costly, from what I can tell...), but I'm simply not buying it. I am all for embracing new technology and using it in learning programs, particularly given that the average age at my company is 27 - we need to think young in terms of how we deliver training (to an extent.) But I just think too many people are making training fit Second Life rather than using Second Life to enhance training. Your thoughts, please - I'm willing to see it differently!