Using Second Life really can be an education. This week's Computing (out 31st January) features a column by e-skills UK chief executive Karen Price that analyses how has experimented with virtual world environment Second Life - and the sector skills council suggests students have been the biggest beneficiary.

Making use of IBM’s Second Life facilities, the skills body ran a special event in November last year for employers and university students. Information Technology Management for Business (ITMB) degree students were also able to discuss with employers and tutors the business benefits of virtual world technologies, with booths made available for one-to-one discussions. Price says the event provided a glimpse into the potential of Second Life:

"Virtual worlds also have the potential to enhance and enrich education. Such technologies can bring learning to life in a way that is not readily matched by other digital media. For example, virtual environments can offer students a vibrant, fully immersive environment where they can meet each other and their teachers to receive lessons, undertake projects and present work. Second Life, and similar platforms, also provide a format for students to talk to people they would rarely get the chance to encounter in person, such as senior business leaders."

Price says e-skills was so impressed with Second Life that it plans to run a virtual careers fair as part of a new Revitalise IT programme in 2008, an initiative to transform the attitudes of young people to IT-related education and careers.

The skills body is not alone, as illustrated by comments from IT leaders involved in the analysis. Meri Williams, information decision solutions manager at Procter and Gamble, says the consumer giant uses virtual environments to provide real business benefits:

"Virtualisation is a huge area for Procter and Gamble and we mix the virtual and real worlds a lot. For example, designing a new Hugo Boss perfume bottle uses a fraction of the cost of making physical mock-ups. We also use fully immersive 3D environments such as Caves (computer augmented virtual environments) to demonstrate ideas to our big customers. So, whereas before we'd have to convince Tesco to actually change a store layout in order to test an idea, now we create it virtually and walk them round it."

Further reading

• Social networking creates waste and exclusion
• Facebook? LinkedIn? Social networking is rubbish
• Facebook provides a great business opportunity
• Turn email off to stop unhelpful chatter
• $15bn Facebook valuation masks the real deal
• Web 2.0 technologies = five hours of depression

Want to subscribe to this blog? Click here for the options