Things Educators Should Know About the Metaverse

As the Metaverse gains traction, a team of leading researchers has compiled an evidence-based guide for educators.

A student wearing virtual reality goggles raises an arm in front of her, seemingly touching what she sees in the virtual environment.

A group of leading virtual and extended reality (XR) educators has written a report on the Metaverse — a network of interconnected 3D virtual worlds that could be the next evolution in social communication and collaboration — and its potential in education .

"After considering the many conversations we've had with educators and technology creators, we felt there was a real need to provide an introduction to XR, drawing on our expertise and building on the research to date on learning and immersive technologies Sexual guidelines," said Eileen McGivney, a PhD candidate and researcher at Harvard University, who added that the report's research team initially considered conducting a systematic review of research on extended reality or conducting new research examining techniques in learning.

Ultimately, she said, “We want to help the education community understand technology and help the technology community understand education.

Their evidence-based report, "An Introduction to Learning in the Metaverse," is published by Meridian Treehouse. McGivney and other co-authors share some highlights from the report.

"When we speak of the metaverse, we mean an entire ecosystem of interconnected virtual spaces distributed across various technologies," says Géraldine Fauville, assistant professor of educational communication and learning at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

However, these interconnected virtual spaces or worlds are still being developed.

"The ideal of this metaverse doesn't exist yet, but the major technologies that lay the groundwork for its future do exist," said Wesley Della Volla, founder of Meridian Treehouse.

Despite the media coverage of the concept, the Metaverse still needs technological advancements to become a reality, said Daniel Pimental, an assistant professor of immersive media psychology at the University of Oregon. "For example, advances in artificial intelligence - computer vision - blockchain technology, and the increased bandwidth of 5G connectivity, will form the basis of the scalable, immersive learning ecosystem we envision," he said.

In the future, if used properly, Metaverse may open up new learning experiences for users. "Learning has long been thought of as the transfer of information without context, but if designed properly, the metaverse can provide rich context for people to learn more than just content knowledge," McGivney said.

Fauville is interested in how the increasingly complex avatars of students and teachers in the Metaverse will affect education. "The virtual bodies we inhabit have profound short- and long-term effects on the way we think, feel and behave," she said. "Giving learners autonomy in their self-presentation undoubtedly impacts their learning experience, from driving engagement to increasing the self-relevance of topics.

The authors of this report agree that the Metaverse has enormous educational potential, however, educators should temper their expectations. "Let's make sure we don't overestimate the educational potential of the Metaverse," Fauville said.

The metaverse is not a silver bullet, Walla said. "It's part of the future of learning, but it can't exist in a vacuum. Learning doesn't stop once you take off the headset or turn off the AR filter.

The key is to find creative ways to use the Metaverse to complement traditional learning experiences. "I would caution educators not to try to replicate classroom structures in XR, but rather to spend time playing and exploring technologies to consider new learning opportunities that they don't usually offer," McGivney said. “This includes giving students a lot of agency and allowing them to create their own metaverse technologies and experiences.

“Current hardware for accessing metaverse experiences, such as VR headsets, is unaffordable and difficult to wear for many people from underrepresented groups in the technology industry,” McGivney said. "Many of these technologies are also being designed in a commercial environment that prioritizes profit over data privacy and effective educational design, among other things. Additionally, we point to some issues in the report about the XR experience itself, and the way these are designed Not beneficial or accessible to all populations.

For example, the report notes that people with limited mobility in their hands may have difficulty using the controllers. Others may have difficulty wearing glasses, and most current headsets don't fit over headgear and many hairstyles.

"The most pressing question is how to use the Metaverse for learning in a sensible, inclusive and efficient way," Fauville said. "And when and how to embed learning activities in the Metaverse into existing learning practices.

It is important to remember that we are at the very beginning of the metaverse in education and that many stakeholders should be involved in the evolution of its use.

"Taking a rigorous, evidence-based approach to blueprinting future learning is critical to success," said Erika Woolsey, Ph.D., visiting scholar at Stanford University. "We need as many people as possible to collaborate on open access research to answer questions ranging from big-picture questions like 'Is learning from new technologies beneficial?' to more tactical questions like 'What forms of Does Interactivity Affect Learners' Sense of Agency?'”

"Right now we have far more questions than answers and we think that's the best place to start," Woolsey added.