I think the students have finally gotten comfortable enough in SL to do some interesting projects. They started out with observations of their own reactions to time in the world. Those were good papers for the most part. Their second project (due Monday) had htem analyzing content around the game - forum posts, blogs, websites, things for sale on SLexchange. They seem really excited about all the conversations. They seem fascinated by all the people who spend a lot of time and money and energy in the world - the designers, the people debating whether players should keep getting allowances from LL, why people build things in the sky. They seem excited about doing interviews int he world - that's their third people. We practiced IM'ing and saving chat histories today. And went tothe welcome center to talk to noobies to ask them some questions just for practice. Lots of chatter in the room about what folks were typing to them. Still some folks wandering around off task. But most people were getting things done. I'm pretty happy about the game for class right now.