As the digital landscape constantly evolves, tech experts predict that both the real and virtual worlds will become more interactive. Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology are becoming more accessible. This article will demystify the idea of metaverse for education and how it can help transform learning in schools and colleges.
What is Metaverse?
The metaverse is a digital landscape that allows participants to create their virtual environments. It’s also a space for users worldwide to connect more humanly. Moreover, the metaverse provides an intelligent method of virtually interacting with others worldwide. Anyone can put on a VR or use a web browser to log in to a virtual space and communicate with others face-to-face.
Honestly, it’s best to consider it a virtual recreation of real life. Users and developers can customize their virtual space anytime. It may involve building anything from a metaverse school to virtual sports arenas. And as the world becomes more geographically divided due to pandemics and other calamities, it represents a new way for families and friends to interact.
Is Metaverse Useful For Education?
Both the students and teachers can meet up in the digital space via their virtual reality headsets regardless of their real-life location. Such functionality can enhance education for those willing to explore this highly-immersive technology.
Imagine a virtual reality classroom full of students eager to learn about history. These students are based in various countries, while their teacher lives a traveling lifestyle — continuously visiting new places to increase their historical knowledge. Both teacher and student can meet through the metaverse regardless of their real-world location.
At any point, desks and chairs can give way to a real-life depiction of a historical landmark. Students can explore and ask questions, supporting their learning with first-hand experiences. No longer will inquiring children have to sit bored in a sterile classroom. Instead, they can get excited about learning, thanks to the power of virtual worlds.
Possible Changes in Teaching and Learning
Teachers can establish virtual landscapes based on their lesson plans, enhancing a child’s learning with experience instead of reading from a book. Metaverse for education may sound like a far-off concept possible only in our dreams, but similar situations exist in our current landscape.
For instance, Roblox enables anyone to build and share their virtual environments, similar to Minecraft and Fortnite. While these world-building games were used initially for user creation purposes, the feature has expanded to include Roblox classrooms.
Roblox virtual learning experiences, however, are a prominent example of the educational potential of metaverses. Virtual learning experiences occur over millions of user-generated worlds, and students log in at home via their devices rather than at school.
Advantages of metaverse learning spaces
Some of the benefits of metaverse for education are:
- Using virtual reality in school allows children to “visit” places from the past or conduct dangerous experiments in a safe, virtual landscape.
- Metaverse can provide more physical interaction. The VR headsets and controllers are designed to feel natural and can replicate hands and fingers while the student is wearing the gear.
- Educators can design learning experiences that utilize the subtle movement of hands, like teaching students how to write or showing them sign language.
- It can also promote safety in a way that real-world teaching simply cannot. In the metaverse, educators will have complete control over student interactions. And they can limit bullying or separate children for disciplinary purposes. So, children can focus more on learning instead of worrying about bullies or other distractions.
- Digital environments can also prevent devastating scenarios like school shootings, as children will be spread out in their homes rather than grouped in one area.
Disadvantages of metaverse learning spaces
While virtual reality classrooms sound fantastic on paper, there are some downsides:
- Children with disabilities such as hearing and vision problems would need special accommodations they might not be able to receive. If a hard-of-hearing child from China wants to attend a metaverse class hosted by an American school, it’s unlikely that the American school would be willing or able to cater to the student. This way, catering to a child’s disabilities would fall upon the parents and not the school. This is an unfortunate circumstance, considering that most schools provide options for disabled children.
- Metaverse addiction is also a threat to children and adults.
- There is also an accessibility concern. For metaverse education to thrive and increase, it must become more manageable for families worldwide to buy VR headsets. Otherwise, the metaverse for education will be limited to a select few and not to the majority.
Done reading up to this part? Don’t forget to tell us what you think about the metaverse opportunities for education in the comment section.
