Application of the Metaverse in Education

In the education sector, the metaverse offers the possibility of more immersive and authentic learning experiences, such as virtual field trips, simulations, and virtual collaborations and projects. The metaverse has the potential to revolutionize education by enabling educators to create more engaging and interactive learning experiences that can increase student engagement and achievement. The use of virtual reality and augmented reality in the metaverse can provide opportunities for students to explore and experience subjects in new and innovative ways. For example, students can explore historical sites and events, observe scientific phenomena, and practice language skills with native speakers from around the world. In addition to enhancing learning experiences, the metaverse can also improve access to education, particularly for learners who face geographic, economic, or social barriers to education. The metaverse can enable learners to access high-quality educational resources and experts from anywhere in the world, and participate in collaborative projects and discussions with peers from diverse backgrounds and cultures. However, the use of the metaverse in education also raises some potential limitations and challenges, such as the need for adequate technological infrastructure and resources, the development of effective pedagogical strategies and guidelines, and the protection of user privacy and security.

This chapter presents an autoethnographic analysis of our insights as higher education practitioners in an open and distance e-learning (ODeL) university. Our conversations revolved around how we view the Metaverse as a learning space that might afford the most significant competencies in our fields and how we envision the future of education in view of this. We recognize that we are “at the edge” or at the beginning of an era, and the spaces of learning themselves are still in their nascent stages. In spite of this, we acknowledge that many practitioners are also new to the Metaverse, and that it is part of our duty as educators to put forward our views on its use. We put forward our visions on discipline-specific uses of the Metaverse as a learning space. We found an important tension between the possibilities and difficulties in using it and other related technologies in the Philippines and other developing countries. Although our iterative analysis suggests that the Metaverse as a learning platform is a promising space, we also foresee issues relevant to equitable access to quality education. We hope this chapter initiates dialogues on how the adoption of the Metaverse as a learning technology might help narrow increasingly widening digital divides.

The next education frontier is the Metaverse where learners use design thinking in learning simulations and can receive feedback from artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots that feel authentic and responsive to their needs. The chapter defines the relationship between the virtual classroom, the importance of identity and shared presence, and how students learn using design thinking. The goals summarize the resources available to educators who wish to teach in 3D spaces, how design thinking strengthened the design of class simulations to support 58 classes and 800 8th-grade students as they studied in a virtual world. The chapter closes with the results, findings, and observations about the resources, strengths, and challenges experienced when teaching and learning in the Metaverse.

Metaverse-enabled experiences can have a profound, transformational impact on educational practice. Significant innovations related to the adoption of this new manifestation of the internet and its capabilities are expected in all levels of education. In higher education, several universities are building digital twins of campuses as the first step of embracing technology and understanding what is possible. But how should we design and organize education in the Metaverse? Reproducing existing practices should be carefully examined to avoid the pitfall of the routinization. New instructional design models and frameworks are needed to guide educational practices toward smart and experiential immersive education. Engaging, durable learning that shapes and transforms the competences and identity of students is a hallmark of high-quality education. This review presents three strategic approaches for effective immersive learning design in the Metaverse. It also analyzes instructional frameworks, models, and taxonomies with the support of XR technologies.

Although face-to-face interactions in the physical classroom are regarded as the most-recognized medium to achieve learning and teaching among students and teachers, the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the game and video conferences have become the indispensable approach during the crisis. It has become common practice for many educational institutions to deliver lectures remotely and facilitate different events, such as workshops and student organizations, through virtual means. The surge of metaverse initiatives in 2021 depicts a vision of converting daily routines from tangible venues to virtual counterparts, where people can play, work, learn, and live in many virtual worlds. A rising number of ambitious education institutions attempt to leverage the metaverse concept and build virtual campuses based on their agendas. This chapter concisely discusses the recent developments of metaverse campuses, primarily in higher education. Also, we summarize and discuss the ongoing projects focusing on establishing virtual campuses and promoting virtual learning, i.e., the metaversity initiatives. Accordingly, we share our perspective on implementing metaverse campuses, and outline the research opportunities in this thriving field.

Information technology is advancing rapidly, day after day. A clear example is the emergence of metaverse technology, which represents the next level of augmented and virtual reality and finds applications across various fields. Consequently, a pressing question arises among researchers: How can metaverse technology be effectively utilized in education particularly for cultural education? This chapter introduces the GUYUK metaverse, a nomadic metaverse developed by Mongolians, which serves as a platform for disseminating knowledge and culture. To raise awareness of our culture and convey Mongolian customs and traditions related to the “Lunar New Year”, we held an event called “Virtual Lunar New Year” in the GUYUK metaverse. In the framework of the event, we established three virtual museums and introduced two traditional games to increase the participants’ activities. In addition, the participants could wear traditional costumes, interact with each other, and even dance some Mongolian traditional dances. The event was held for three days, and more than 10 thousand users from 21 countries participated and learned about Mongolian culture and traditions. The GUYUK metaverse provided conditions and motivations for learning and playing games together in a virtual environment with no limit on distance and time.

Metaverse in education has gained increased attention recently with its advantages of providing immersive experience, connectivity, virtual collaboration, and personalized experience for improving teaching and learning. Although metaverse technologies have the potential to serve learners in different grades, there is a need to reveal the potential of metaverse in special education. This chapter applied content analysis to identify the trends, areas of concentration, the metaverse technologies and tools used in disability in education research. The findings indicated that the problem of equal access is still prevalent in most of the studies and this problem can only be resolved when metaverse platforms and devices are designed and developed based on the recognized needs and expectations of learners with disabilities and inclusive participation of all stakeholders. This chapter highlighted some of the challenges that face the application of metaverse in special education such as technological, pedagogical, psychological, accessibility, communication, and inclusion challenges, with future recommendations and opportunities for enhancing metaverse practices with diverse learners.

We describe a novel course design that utilizes the Metaverse as a learning and research environment to explore immersive meetings using virtual reality (VR) headsets. In this course, students were randomly assigned to zero-history groups to investigate attendee experiences, group participation, and emergent group entitativity as a key factor for interaction behavior in the Metaverse. They gained hands-on experience with VR technology, insights into the opportunities and challenges for group collaboration, and analyzed interaction dynamics based on other teams’ observed immersive meeting. Our preliminary findings provide descriptive information on team members’ meeting satisfaction, individual VR experiences (i.e., avatar perception, simulator sickness, and task load) as well as self-reported and observed group entitativity. We discuss the opportunities and challenges of the Metaverse for teaching about group dynamics specifically and enabling immersive learning scenarios more generally. Crossing disciplinary bridges by integrating research on Human–Computer Interaction, group dynamics, and workplace meetings contributes to a better scientific understanding on how the Metaverse and emerging technologies can shape educational programs. We close with an outlook for future research, focusing on inclusion, familiarization, and engagement as key goals of designing learning experiences in the Metaverse.

This chapter summarizes the reported key findings of this book to offer highlights and reflect the aspects of implementing Metaverse in education presented throughout the book. In particular, this chapter presents the hotspots of Metaverse in education: virtual field trips, simulations, virtual collaborations, virtual labs, immersive storytelling, cultural immersion, immersive meetings, metaversity, design, and Metaverse for students with disability. It then highlights several limitations and challenges reported by the authors. Finally, this chapter provides trends and future recommendations for educators and researchers for developing Metaverse in educational contexts. This chapter not only emphasizes the pedagogical application of educational Metaverse, but also invites readers to contemplate the broader implications of the book's topics, encouraging a thoughtful engagement that extends beyond the current applications.