The announcement of the COVID-19 epidemic compelled us to reconsider how we educate people. The metaverse, a 3D digital environment that combines the actual and virtual worlds. It has been hailed as a significant trend in future education. The previous study, however, hardly ever discussed the metaverse from the standpoint of education because it is still a new topic.
How the metaverse began
A new virtual universe that has been formed outside of the real world is described by the term “metaverse,” a compound word made up of the prefix “meta-” (beyond; transcending) and the prefix “verse” (the root of “universe,” cosmos; the entire globe). American author Neal Stephenson first used the word “metaverse” in his 1992 cyberpunk science fiction book Snow Crash. In this book, people might use digital avatars to freely enter a 3D environment that mirrored the actual world and engage in social interaction.
Reevaluation is essential in all of your life’s decisions (ER, 2020). The idea of the metaverse was more vividly portrayed during the following three decades in science fiction films like Ready Player One, Lucy, and The Matrix. The fictional metaverse could not, at that time, exist in the real world. People have been able to access the virtual world because of the developing technologies quick development in this decade, particularly wearable technology and three-dimensional (3D) photography.
As “the first stock of the metaverse,” the sandbox game Roblox was listed in New York in March 2021. In October, Facebook announced its rebranding strategy and changed its name to “Meta.” Since then, nations worldwide have progressively made numerous initiatives to make it a reality.
Education’s definition of the metaverse
According to academics, one of the most important uses of the metaverse is education, which has a bright future. The existence of the metaverse can serve as a new educational environment. Using the metaverse in education enhances natural and virtual educational settings through technology.
It enables students to enter the educational environment including Law thesis help through wearable technology without being constrained by time or place, and it enables them to engage with various objects in real-time using their digital identities (e.g., avatars, intelligent NPCs, or virtual learning resources). They will be able to feel engaged as if they are in a real-world educational environment as a result. From this vantage point, it is clear that integrating the metaverse into education can open up a wide range of amazing learning opportunities for students.
Educational aspects of the metaverse
It is clear from the suggested paradigm for the use of the metaverse in education that learning in the metaverse will be different from traditional classroom settings or screen-based videoconferencing systems. Table 1 compares classroom instruction, screen-based distance education, and learning in a metaverse. It is clear that metaverse-based learning is more than just a combination of screen-based distance learning and in-person instruction, and it is likely to make up for both of their shortcomings.
Potential uses of the metaverse in education in the future
It is impressive that several prospective metaverse applications, such as gaming, working, or learning, were vividly illustrated when Mark Zuckerberg presented the rebranding plan for Facebook in a live-streamed virtual manner. Both students and professors can escape the confines of space and time in the metaverse. More importantly, the oddities of the metaverse will make a tonne of incredible learning opportunities available to students, allowing them to observe, discover, and create the universe in previously unimaginable ways.
Therefore, the metaverse world may provide new opportunities for education in the future as easy as how to write an acknowledgement for thesis. This section will examine several potential applications for the metaverse in education. Still, it is more comprehensive than those because of the properties in education listed above.
Challenges in education posed by the metaverse
Although the metaverse offers us fresh views for learning. We should be aware of a number of its obstacles for either learning or other purposes. We’ll mostly talk about four difficulties with the metaverse in schooling in this part.
Technology and apparatus
For both students and teachers to teleport to the metaverse realm, they both need a well-designed and reasonably priced intelligent wearable device. The hardware (such as the HMD) is quickly improved due to technological growth, as Park and Kim (2022) highlighted, but it still needs improvement.
Data security and privacy
Whether on the 2D Internet or in the 3D virtual world, user privacy and data security are crucial issues. Data is the fundamental form of governance in the metaverse. Enabling the collection of more specific data from users, such as facial images, physical states (heart rate, blood pressure, sickness, etc.), transactions, and consumption records.
Morals and ethics
Users can enter the metaverse anywhere in the world because of the great level of freedom. There are new issues that raise questions about cross-national, cross-racial, cross-religious, or cross-gender ethics (such as various beliefs and worldviews, simulated experiments, data theft, racial issues, religious disputes, bullying, violence, etc.).
Conclusion
The metaverse development has a lot of potential thanks to technological advances in high-speed communication, computers, AI, and virtual technologies. By 2027, about 30% of individuals will spend 2 hours each day socializing, learning, working, and enjoying. In comparison to current educational tools, the existence of the metaverse is a brand-new idea. As was already mentioned, the metaverse offers tremendous potential for academic advancement.
Today’s schooling faces challenges and restrictions overcome in an environment. More importantly, the ongoing interest in the metaverse reveals the trend and course of future education. As a result, it is possible to anticipate an increasing number of educational academics shortly. Actively pursue studies of the metaverse in education.
References
Park, S.-M., and Kim, Y.-G. (2022). A metaverse: taxonomy, components, applications, and open challenges. IEEE Access 10, 4209–4251. doi: 10.1109/access.2021.3140175
ER (2020). How to Make Progress on Your Goals When You Feel Unmotivated? https://eazyresearch.com/blog/how-to-make-progress-on-your-goals-when-you-feel-unmotivated/#5_Add_Fun_to_It