Brian Regan from staffing firm Semper sent a email on a trade school in the UK that is allowing students to attend classes in the Internet-based virtual world Second Life. The report in HVR says:

More than 600 HVAC students at the college in became the first UK students to be given a Second Life education.

Students can virtually fly round its central heating and hot water system, turn off valves and follow the movement of (red for hot, blue for cold) water through its pipes, to examine parts virtually that may be harder see aspects of in the real world.

As Regan noted in his email, this good example of how trade skills can be taught in a virtual environment and presents a model for training printing skills using a virtual environment like Second Life.

Last October Cary Sherburne sat down with Regan to talk about Second Life. Read it here: Second Life: What is the Buzz About?