If there were things like this when I was a pup, perhaps I'd have paid more attention in class. The Harvard Law School, specifically the Harvard Extension School is presenting a class called 'CyberOne: Law in the Court of Public Opinion', portions of which are being taught in Second Life!The main part of the class is only available to Harvard Law students, but students of the Extension School will be able to experience videos, discussions, and lectures in-world at Berkman Island. You don't have to be a current student of Harvard Law to attend the Extension class, however, as enrollment is open to the public. This course runs during the Fall semester of 2006.
We can thank Professor Charles Nesson, Rebecca Nesson, and Gene Koo for bringing this opportunity to SL. It's a remarkably forward-thinking move, sure to drum up some interest in both SL and Harvard. I'd be remiss if I didn't also mention the stellar work of Tao Takashi and his team (Mundy Harbinger, The Sojourner, SamBivalent Spork, falldeaf Weeks, Coos Yellowknife, and Candide LeMay) in putting together the fun video to be seen on the linked webpage. Nice work, everyone!
1. What I like best about the way they have designed this course is that it balances the needs of a for-profit institution with the responsibilities of being a responsible educational entity.
I.e. if you are a harvard law student, you will benefit from the direct engagement with Dr. Nesson in person, which no technology can successfully simulate. If you are an extension student, you can see live video of Dr. Nesson in SL, and interact with his daughter in-world during office hours as well as the rest of your fellow students.
And if you are just part of the general public, or cannot afford the registration fees, you can still see the videos online of Dr. Nesson's lectures and benefit from his knowledge and wisdom for free.
Posted at 3:47PM on Sep 12th 2006 by Rik Riel