Twofour Communication's Learning division is working closely with The Beyond Distance Research Alliance based at The University of Leicester in the UK in the creation of an immersive teaching and research environment in Second Life (SL). The SL Media Zoo, which already exists online as a virtual showcase for Leicester's e-learning research initiatives, will enable users to visit, explore and collaborate with others in SL's virtual 3-D environment.

'Second Life presents us with an amazing opportunity to think in entirely new ways about teaching and learning' says Richard Wallis, Head of Twofour Learning. 'Whether it's extending the classroom experience, learning through simulation, or exploring new forms of collaborative working, the possibilities are endless, and present a major challenge to educators'.

The Massive Multi-player Online Game (MMOG), Second Life, has expanded dramatically in recent months. There are currently some eight million users, and in August alone, more than 600 new islands were added.

Gilly Salmon, Professor of E-learning & E-learning Technologies at Leicester commented: 'The collaboration between E-learning researchers and Twofour Learning has enabled us to create an environment to explore the myriad of questions that SL raises for learning and teaching in the future. And has provided an examples of a productive collaboration and partnership of two different kinds of organisations working together to create new kinds of student experiences'.