Different spaces but same places: Possibilities, pitfalls and persistent practices in Second Life

Second Life is one of the social sharing spaces of Web 2.0 that is being employed for educational purposes around the globe. Over the past few years many conference presentations on Second Life have highlighted the potentials of its use in the formal education of neomillennials. This paper takes a different perspective. It documents the possibilities and the pitfalls of Second Life as a formal educational space, including the persistence of traditional teaching practices in the environment. The paper concludes that it is the quality of the learning design, and the fundamental philosophical underpinnings behind that design, that will lead to deep learning, irrespective of the technological space or place that is utilised. © 2009 Julie Willems.