From the curiously-named League for Innovation in the Community College – sounds like superheroes being sent to save education! – comes a report entitled “Using Second Life to Enhance Teaching and Learning.”

The study shows how immersive environments such as SL are helping education. In this case, SL puts students “in” the music and by using interactive quizzes and other educational tools.

The study’s main thesis is that “developing a humanities oasis in SL fosters the combination of synchronous listening and discussion with the rich world of the humanities that surrounds the music.” The author then goes on to describe the successes and challenges of importing a “Music Appreciation” class into the SL environment.

According to the article, benefits include:

- ease of use/functionality

- use of visual clues (buildings, etc.) to represent the different musical periods

- interactivity with the elements

As a result of using SL, the students scored equally as well as their RL in-class counterparts.