We've seen Second Life used for all sorts of educational purposes. But, a nursing course from Washington's Tacoma Community College is taking the program to another level. The News Tribune explains:

John Miller said his second-year surgery students benefit more from practicing the procedures in second life, an online virtual reality network, than they do from hearing about them in lectures...For the first time this quarter, Miller is having his students create online avatars that can diagnose and treat virtual patients in Second Life, which has attracted more than 10 million users worldwide since 2003....

In the simulation Miller operates, students are presented with a patient lying on an operating table, suffering from a certain condition. They can instruct their avatars to treat the patient using a variety of real-life tools, including oxygen hookups, medication, defibrillation or IVs. Miller has the patient respond realistically to whatever option the students choose. The patient's vitals are projected on the back wall of the simulated operating room.

Some Second Life educational projects are frivolous and over-the-top. However, letting students practice techniques on virtual patients before interacting with actual patients seems like a great use of this new technology.