Knowledge
The Metaverse in Education: A New Frontier for Learning and Collaboration
The metaverse in education can be regarded as an educational environment enhanced by metaverse-related technologies which fuse with the elements of the virtual and the real educational environment
Modern technology such as Metaverse could enhance or even completely transform the overall learning experience. Advanced technology can provide us with more learning speed, establish an inclusive environment for everyone, and it can also make it possible to acquire practical skills in non-hazardous conditions. The metaverse has made its presence felt in a wide range of industries, the education sector being no exception. The technology is slated to make learning and teaching more engaging, effective, and extraordinary. The metaverse can become a real game-changer for the education sector, bringing a host of significant benefits, the most outstanding being immersive learning experiences, greater learning speed, an inclusive environment, and an ability to acquire hands-on experience.
Metaverse – A new beginning
On the 28th of October, 2021, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would change its name to “Meta” and declared his intentions to bring the metaverse to life. He specified that the future of the internet lies in something called the “metaverse,” a virtual world where people will live, work and play. His vision of a platform would “reach a billion people, host hundreds of billions of dollars of digital commerce, and support jobs for millions of creators and developers.”
After his announcement, virtual, integrated, VR-powered space suddenly captured the media hype and Metaverse became the buzzword of the day.
The virtual world is not new to us. The credit goes to science fiction movies and literature, in which many people are already familiar with the idea of virtual worlds. We only need to think of various popular films and books to imagine how people might navigate a different reality via an avatar.
The origin of the word “metaverse”
As per the definition, “meta” comes from the Greek prefix and preposition meta, which means “after” or “beyond.” If we combine it with other words, meta-suggests “change” or “alteration,” as in the words “metamorphic” or “metabolic.” “Metamorphosis” means changing form to a new one that is beyond the current form. (Remember Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis)
Metaverse may be a futuristic idea, but the term’s origin comes from the past. The term “metaverse” was coined 30 years ago. The word “metaverse” has been a part of science fiction and part of speculation.
The term “metaverse” was first used by American science fiction author Neal Stephenson in his 1992 science-fiction novel “Snow Crash.” He visualized Meta as a virtual reality-based successor to the internet. In the Snow Crash novel, people use digital avatars of themselves to explore the online world, often as a way of escaping a dystopian reality.
In simple words, we can understand Metaverse as a network of always-on virtual environments where a large number of people can interact with one another and digital objects while operating virtual representations of themselves as Avatars. Thirty years ago, Stephenson was already talking about some of the technologies that could make the metaverse a reality today: augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). In the coming years, the concept of a virtual world available to everyone could become a reality by combining several technologies, such as AI, blockchain, VR, and AR.
Understanding the Metaverse
The metaverse, in its essence, aims to create an online virtual world that contains augmented reality, virtual reality, 3D holographic avatars, video, and different means of communication. As the metaverse grows and its accessibility widens, it’ll offer a hyper-real alternative world for people to explore by themselves or to meet with others, virtually. This can be through concerts, conferences, or seeing places around the world.
As per Wikipedia definition, “In futurism and science fiction, the metaverse may be a hypothetical iteration of the web as one, universal and immersive virtual world that’s facilitated by the utilization of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) headsets.” In colloquial usage, a “metaverse” may be a network of 3D virtual worlds focused on social connection. Recent interest in metaverse development is influenced by Web3, an idea for a decentralized iteration of the Web. Web3 and also the Metaverse are used as buzzwords to exaggerate the development progress of assorted related technologies and projects for public relations purposes. Information privacy, user addiction, and user safety are concerns within the metaverse, stemming from challenges facing the social media and computer game industries as a whole”.
The metaverse is going to be driven by augmented reality, with each user controlling a personality or avatar. As an example, you would possibly take a mixed reality meeting with an Oculus VR headset in your virtual office, finish work and relax in a blockchain-based game, and then control your finances and crypto portfolio all inside the metaverse.
You can already see some aspects of the metaverse in existing virtual computer game worlds. Games like Second Life and Fortnite or work socialization tools like Gather Town compile together multiple elements of our lives into online worlds. While these applications don’t seem to be in the metaverse, they are somewhat similar. The metaverse still doesn’t exist yet.
Besides supporting gaming or social media, the metaverse will combine economies, digital identity, decentralized governance, and other applications. Even today user creation and ownership of valuable items and currencies help develop one, united metaverse.
To simplify the concept even further, the Metaverse may be a set of virtual spaces where people can interact with others who aren’t physically located near them. The users can choose to go for a walk, hear music, play video games, visit NFT museums, and far more during this virtual space. Decentralized Metaverse incorporates blockchain technology, such as NFTs, into their underlying technology and assets supported by blockchain. Massive multiplayer online games have always existed in an exceedingly Metaverse-like environment, but incorporating blockchain, smart contracts, NFTS, crypto, and VR into the arena has begun to demonstrate the value of assets, interactions, and experiences earned within the digital world. “Metaverse” may be a word that conjures different meanings for different people: to some, it’s an immersive virtual-reality experience within a persistent landscape; to others, a particular technology stack; to some, it’s a vision of future society.
The Three Aspects of the Metaverse are
Presence: the feeling of actually being in a (virtual) space, typically using head-mounted displays.
Interoperability: the ability to switch, travel, and move between virtual spaces in the same way that a single login works on multiple websites.
Standardization: Any new technology requires common standards, which are open and affordable, something that is essential for widespread usage.
Metaverse and Education
The metaverse provides an immersive and multisensory learning experience. It facilitates greater learning speed. It advocates the philosophy of inclusive education. It empowers learners to acquire practical experience.
The metaverse in education can be regarded as an educational environment enhanced by metaverse-related technologies which fuse with the elements of the virtual and the real educational environment. It enables learners to use wearable devices to enter the educational setting without being limited by time and locations and allows them to use digital identities to have real-time interactions with different forms of items (e.g., avatars, intelligent NPCs, or virtual learning resources). As a result, they can feel present as if they are in a real-world educational setting. From this standpoint, it can be seen that applying the metaverse in education can unlock a variety of fantastic learning experiences for learners.
Key advantages
- Flexible learning concepts with an interactive curriculum
- Making learning fun with gamification
- Making teaching more interactive
- Discovering information easily and quickly
Metaverse has
- Virtual classrooms
- Virtual campus activities
- Practical learning
- Events with prominent figures
Research education and Metaverse
Considering the features of the metaverse in education, the following potential applications of the metaverse are listed. We can research the toxic, risky, and irreversible environment through the metaverse. We can experiment with a scientific phenomenon like Vacuum which is not easily available to us. Through metaverse, we can cut the research cost which is very high in a realistic world. It can help us in long-term observations of an experiment.
Challenges for metaverse in education
- High equipment costs
- Data privacy and security concerns
- Addiction
Metaverse education in India
Many Indian educational institutions have already started experimenting. A bunch of high-end schools in Delhi NCR and other parts of the country has set up augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) laboratories where they let students experience the virtual mode of learning and training. In addition to being looked at as an immersive space, it also has the power to virtually bring your choice of education institute to your drawing room. This year, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), a national-level education board, even collaborated with social networking giant Meta to explore the use of metaverse in education and training.
About the Author – Harish Yadav, Science Communicator, Mentalist, Jaipur.
