(Springfield, MO) -- You've heard of online education.  It's been around for years and allows people to take classes they might not get to take otherwise.  

Some say it lacks a human component, but Springfield's Drury University is about to give its students some human interaction that's out of this world.

Once a month, Drury faculty in the Online Education Department meet on an island, Drury's Island, in the virtual world Second Life. 

They can see each other in the form of an avatar, talk live, view and discuss Powerpoint presentations.  They can accomplish anything they could in a conventional meeting, but don't have the hassle of the commute.  

"We have people here from Alabama and Kansas," says Associate Director of Online Education, Tessa Melancon.  "At one meeting faculty member attended in Second Life, but was really sitting at a hospital at her husband's bedside in her first life."

Meetings aren't all Drury will hold in Second Life.  This fall the university will offer four classes online.

"We'll offer Social Psychology, History of Christianity, Astronomy and Arab/Israeli Conflict," says Steve Hynds, Director of Online Education.  "We hope to give students a feeling of immersion and emotional attachment that will raise their level of engagement."

Melancon tells of a powerful Second Life site where students avatars can experience mental illness.  

"You feel what does it sounds like, what does it feel like to be schizophrenic," she says, describing her experience.  "What a learning component that is going to be for students."

Drury has spent about $2,000 on its Second Life site so far, which features an amphitheater, a video conference ampitheater, a conference room, resource center and art gallery.  A Drury student is earning credit, helping build the site.

"Someone from NASA built this observatory," says Astronomy Professor Jim Caffey.  Caffey's students will have access to an outdoor classroom and interactive telescope with pictures of real galaxies and comets.  

So is the sky the limit when it comes to education?  

"This is the next generation of the Internet," Hynds says, eager for the fall semester to start.  

And eager for Drury to offer its its online education to the world.

Click here to find out more about Drury's site on Second Life.