VR in Education

"Do any of these tools look like something you could utilize in your classroom? Does virtual reality (VR) or the 3D web have a place in K-12 education? If so, in what context? If not, why not? Is virtual reality safe? Given the time it takes to learn to interact in a virtual world, can an educator justify spending that time away from the typical curriculum? Do you think VR is just a fad? Explain your reasoning."
Personally, I didn't really like what I saw with the virtual reality/3D web. The second life things kind of creeped me out and some of the YouTube videos almost started making me motion sick with the quick turns and spins and jumps from one place to another. I think that some students spend enough time in virtual reality and school is a place where they need to be in the real world. Social networking online is nice, but students need practice with face to face communication too. Don't get me wrong some of the virtual tours of museums and monuments maybe neat for a social studies class or an art class to visit for a short time here and there, but I couldn't ever see myself implementing most of these in my classroom. The closest I could ever see myself using is a system called HOPSports for physical education that I wrote about a couple weeks ago on our discussion board. One of the games is like students are the video game characters and are punching and kicking meteors to earn points and working out at the same time, but the way I see it is at least here they are active and becoming healthier and they are still doing it with all of their classmates as a group.
I think the safety issue of the virtual reality is what worries me the most. There are predators online, and it is difficult to know who students are talking to and about what on these VR sites. If a teacher wants the students to explore the tours of specific location, maybe instead of the entire class doing so individually, the class can do it together with the teacher in charge of the mouse. This way only the teacher has to have specific training, and the students can kind of learn as they go. Plus the quiz questions that can pop up can still be answered individual on paper and turned in for participation points. Maybe at some point a large VR site specifically for only educational purposes will be created with multiple branches of topics for K-12 grades to use. This might make it safer, and teachers more confident in using it.
I don't think that VR is just a fad. I think it is going to continue to grow. Nobody's life is perfect, and in VR, people can be seen how ever they want to be seen, and they like that. They can do things that they will probably never have a chance to do in real life. Most want what they can't have, and VR gives them a taste of that.
I still think some of it is just kind of creepy.