Part of the educational allure of a virtual world such as Second Life is the explorative nature of the learning environment. Second Life presents opportunities for students to discover at their own pace, along their own path, and according to their own preference, constucting unpredictable, unique learning experiences on-the-fly (Aldrich, 2005). Such dynamics can bolster student motivation, but what about the infamous "S" word? Yes, that's right... structure.

Structure gets a bad rap, and sometimes deservedly so. However, instructional design is admittedly a creature of structure - learning objectives map to course content and assessment exercises. Additionally, while some learners turn up their noses to a neatly set instructional plate, others will take comfort in thoughtfully structured course content. Finally, oftentimes course content itself requires a structured approach to build knowledge progressively with supportive context. This concept is commonly referred to as cognitive scaffolding.

Sloodle's initial feature set includes several tools that can be used to provide educational structure in Second Life:

• Quiz Chair allows for consistent assessment activity with controllable sequencing.
• Classroom can ensure that students only enter learning areas they are ready to experience.
• Login Zone can ensure that students arrive in the planned learning location.
• Sloodle Box can provide consistent layouts for instructors to display for student use.

The evaluation of such tools in a virtual world may eventually result in a best-of-both-worlds balance, allowing for student exploration and interactivity on their terms, while delivering consistent instructional or assessment experiences when sequencing and scaffolding are truly critical to the learning process.