Teaching in Second Life - how students respond

One of the more interesting issues which has arisen so far is how various kids are responding to classes in Second Life.
Something I noticed to an extent last year with the TAFE kids and has also been mentioned to me this year by the class teacher, is how it is surprising who responds to each lesson. It would be very interesting to get the teachers views on this as well, as he knows many of the kids quite well.
Overall there seems to be a trend towards those kids who are usually on the outer, with perhaps less traditional literacy skills, being interested and engaged in Second Life.

The other aspect of how engaged the students are is the activity we are doing. For example it was surprising to see how more students seemed engaged when we were making the t-shirts than when we were initially modifying avatars, perhaps because of the more real and personal nature of the t-shirt activity(the kids can upload their favourite team/message/brand).

As we now get through to more complex lessons (creating comics) and after we have told them the best get to go to Sydney, more and more students seem to be showing more and more interest.
That said, the three who were pointed out at the beginning as the most talented continue to be the least engaged.