I've taught a few classes lately in SL and one of the most (well probably the most) important issue that arises is how to get students involved and keep them involved.
Here are a few tactics I use:
+ Get students to introduce themselves. Have them say something about the avatar they picked and why.
+ Have interactive elements. If the students are doing something, they feel less disassociated with what's going on.
+ Be friendly, thoughtful, and interactive yourself. Learn the students names, get to know them.
+ Introduce humour to keep everyone awake. Try to get a list of jokes that work and don't work, but try not to repeat material before audiences that have heard it before.
Any other techniques you use?
I think this is the difference between learning via the web and learning in SL. So for me, this conversation is the most important one we could be having here.