This paper discusses the possibilities for the creative use of virtual worlds as tools for learning. Initially it describes the starting points and motivations for this work. It goes on to report the experience of a course in which students in the museum studies program created exhibits in the virtual three-dimensional world of Second Life. The purpose was primarily to provide the students with competence in digital visualization and presentation techniques, but also to give them the tools to combine theoretical perspectives with practical work, and thereby stimulate creative thinking and practice. The experience shows that students, above the intial goals, also gained insight into themselves through community processes, group dynamics, the individual's own role in a working group, in relation to language processing, and the laws of copyright.