Digital Technology for L2 Learning and Teaching

I think using technology in the classroom can greatly increase students' proficiency and confidence in their L2 learning, when used correctly.  After reading the article, I learned that the use of one particular online resource, VoiceThread, helped students not only to increase their oral proficiency and content knowledge, but also helped them to increase their cultural knowledge by completing digital news stories on current events in the Hispanic world.  Resources like VoiceThread are useful tools in the classroom because they allow students to use the knowledge they have, but also encourage them to self-critique and improve their L2 skills.  By hearing their own voices on these digital news stories, and by listening to their peers' assignments, the students could improve their proficiency by correcting their won mistakes and learning from the mistakes of others.  This constant self-improvement was a vital benefit of this online system. 
Having been a part of multiple classes which used online tools to promote L2 learning, I can say from experience that some tools are better than others.  There are many resources on the web that can be used to aide students in their L2 learning such as blogs, wikis, videos, conferencing systems, recording systems (such as VoiceThread as used in this article), and others.  In my experience, the key to using these resources, and indeed gaining the full potential of them, is to use them in ways which encourage new thinking and in-depth participation, as opposed to using them simply as substitutes for basic homework.  When used incorrectly, these online resources become a burden and a hindrance for the students, who see the work as busy work, something to be done without critical thinking solely for the sake of doing it.  I have had classes where the online homework was simply a way for the teacher to reduce their carbon footprint, and I believe that we students suffered because of that.  The online work was not though-provoking, interesting, or engaging, and, for me, proved to be detrimental because of these shortcomings. 
I think Second Life would be a useful resource for L2 learners who either cannot access good classes or teachers, or for L2 learners who simply want another way to improve their proficiency.  This might be a fun way for a teacher to encourage students to improve their proficiency by assigning a certain amount of time on Second Life as a semester- or year-long project.  Second Life might also be useful for L2 learners to keep up with or improve their L2 during breaks or time away from school, such as during the summer or during a semester with no L2 classes.