Second Life in the Classroom?

I'm always open to new ideas. I have to be in my line of work. But I have to admit here, this wanders in to territory that even I need to continually rethink. I'd like to try it, but am still, admittedly, pretty unsure. What am I talking about? Second Life.

Second Life is an online community where you can create your own avatar and live a literal second life online. Some people have abused this idea, and this is where online communities get their unfortunate bad name, but I'm hopeful when I read articles like this one, which talk about universities/colleges like Elon in NC who are now using Second Life as a regular and required part of their curriculum. When I read the article, I was beyond impressed with what the students could do, and it is candid about what the downsides are to using an application like Second Life (giving up a week of class time to allow students to learn the application). However, when you see the final products, you perhaps can see that these couldn't have been created in a real life environment, which is the ultimate online capability, giving students the chance to create something that couldn't otherwise be created in real life. This is where I need to think outside the box, and challenge myself to rethink my curriculum and allow my classes to explore a genuinely life-like virtual world.