If you like the potential of virtual worlds for educational purposes but are afraid of the openness/shadyness of Second Life there is now Lively, which was created by Google. It is a program that you can download on to your computer. You control who has access to the virtual community you create.
The ability to create a virtual conference room that you design yourself without the fear of access from strangers should calm the fears of many educators when examining the use of virtual worlds. Lively has a lot of potential to bridge the gap for distance learning and could be a great "flattening" tool. I can't wait to check it out when they come out with a Mac version. This has the potential to do a great deal of good for distance learning and helping classrooms connect with schools from around the world, spreading cultures and ideas.
At this point in time Lively is only available for Windows.
Check out the promotional video that was produced by Google:
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