VW+Platforms

SUNY Learning network has virtual land which we can use in Second Life, which is a commercial virtual world. The pros are that it is one of the more advanced building environments and there is a massive community (60,000 people online at any moment) to draw upon including educational materials that already exist. Voice and Text communication. Websites can be rendered within the world. The cons are that it is only for people 16 and over (so teachers can learn here but won't be able to bring younger students here) and some of the content is mature. It is expensive to buy virtual land if you have a need to do so - we wouldn't.
 * Second Life**

Second Life is a platform and a location. You use the Second Life software and you must use the Second Life servers.

OpenSim is an open source virtual world platform. It is free to install on your own server. Pros if you create your own. It is free to get the software. You have complete control over who has access. It has pretty good building tools (It is a sort of second life LITE) Cons no larger community to draw upon for interaction or content. You must manage server. Everything you need you must make. Text only. No website rendering in world.
 * OpenSim**

Commercial, educationally-oriented, hosting site of OpenSim. Inexpensive. You get opensim without the headache of managing the server. You have control over who has access AND there is some community if you want to relate to it. (though there are frequently 0 people in world at any given time) Same pros as OpenSim. Plus you don't have to manage server. Some community. Cons, not much of a community, Text only, No websites rendered in world.
 * Reaction Grid**

Nonprofit educationally oriented hosting site of OpenSim. Inexpensive. You get opensim without the headache of managing the server. You have control over who has access AND there is some community if you want to relate to it. (though there are frequently 0 people in world at any given time) Same pros and cons of reaction grid. Management is in Australia so time zone for support may occasionally be an issue. But they are more responsive than SL.
 * JoKaydia Grid**

Educationally oriented university created. Expensive. You can use the platform with very little functionality on their servers or set it up with your own modules. Developers available. No creation tools but very interesting teaching functionality. Don't remember much about this.
 * Active Worlds**

Premade educational quests developed by harvard or one of the big Us (whereever Sacha Barab is) employing the Active Worlds software..
 * Quest Atlantis**