more on virtual classrooms

For some reason, many law schools have jumped the opportunity to create virtual learning spaces (or maybe funding has been strategically devoted to law schools). Either way there is some amazing stuff going on and I would recommend to anyone in education that you have a look at what it's all about. Although I'm not convinced that this is as good as it gets or that the concepts employed in these environments have fully taken advantage of blended learning, I understand that it's a start and a very good one. Maybe we're easing ourselves into it... I'm not quite sure yet.

Anyway, take a look at the State of Play Academy of the New York Law School:
http://stateofplayacademy.com/

Here is their description (accessed today from the above website):
"The State of Play Academy is the first law and technology academy built in a virtual world. Its purpose is to challenge the traditional means of imparting a legal education—in time, place and manner-- by experimenting with opportunities offered by the virtual space. It is funded by a grant awarded to New York Law School by There.com"

Of course, you have to download the software from there.com but that's not too bad considering it's free.

Similarly, I've already considered at length what's going on with Harvard Law School with the CyberOne project. Amongst all the marking and my attempts to reconnect with my thesis I've actually tried to keep up with some of the things they're doing. It's good stuff and if nothing else they have some good readings (also a reminder for me that I miss the New York Times). In case you haven't been there yet:
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/cyberone/