How to deploy metaverse in education

Metaverse is all about virtual and augmented reality in which an avatar, guided by a real-life person, can go and explore this virtual world. The avatar, which represents the human "guiding" it, is allowed to act much likely as they would in the real world: they can shop, play, build or even work. But why is it so crucial for the higher education sector? It's not only your department's IT staff that will be excited: these avatars can learn inside the virtual reality.

Which is the best way to learn ? 

"Tell me, and I forget, teach me, and I may remember, involve me, and I learn."

This famous sentence is attributed to be a quotation by Benjamin Franklin. There are, however, sources that claim that it belongs to Xun Kuang, a Chinese Confucian philosopher who lived long before Franklin. Anyhow, maybe one day we will be able to determine who is right, and perhaps metaverse will have its role in identifying its right ''owner'' but what is important here is that metaverse does precisely that:

It involves people in the learning process, and that's why we like it. Below is an illustration of its current use and how it could be deployed in higher education.

Gaming

Even if metaverse is already being used in some avant-garde medical and surgery-related study courses, it is still mostly used in the gaming industry. 

What is interesting is that digital ownership is something people love spending their money on. People have arrived at buying actual moments or experiences such as NBA hotshots. People buy accessories for and characterize the features of their avatars by paying for them in bitcoin. Moreover, in this virtual reality, people also purchase digital assets such as real estate, music and much more.

That said, several important factors are currently contributing to the growth of metaverse technology. The latter include NFTs, cryptocurrency, blockchain and reality simulation software. Indeed, Fortnite now includes events and even music concerts in its games. Or take Minecraft, which is all about building by using virtual reality: basically, any design and architecture department head would be excited to show their students how to transform blocks into infrastructures by simply assembling them by following the basic construction rules.

Education 

Now, back to the theory: usually, when a new practice enters a medium, it copies the old one. For instance, think about the movie industry: when the first films were released, they used to copy the techniques of the previous ones until the directors began editing movies. 

The pandemic almost forced teachers and educators to use platforms for video chatting. For some institutions, it was part of the natural flow of delivering the lessons, while others might have had difficulties undergoing that shift. No matter the case, the fact is that Coronavirus accelerated the progress of the future of education all around the world: the shift from physical classrooms to digital learning platforms. So it seems that education is finally undergoing what happened to the films: the change from one practice to another. 

Nevertheless, not everything is bulletproof, and the same goes for delivering lessons online: it is impossible to interact outside of a mere video. AI comes in precisely at this point: we are moving towards a learning experience that institutions can deliver in whichever place of the world but is more specific and certainly more immersive: the learning through a metaverse. The use of metaverse in education creates infinite possibilities for learning by involving. It can catapult teachers and learners in any space and time, from being projected in the two-thousand-year-old scenario in ancient Rome to assisting a heart surgery. 

Three tips on adapting metaverse in education

Campus-based: the immersive virtual learning spaces will make up for everything online platforms for videocalls lack. The first immersive virtual learning spaces will probably be based on on-campus activities and class lectures, including practical three-dimensional exercises. 

The privilege: The best would be a combination of the metaverse-based immersive learning experience to the other online lesson delivering platforms, and the best solution is to blend the real-life practice to the former two. Institutions embracing the use of technology and the blended method for course delivery have the privilege to be among the first ones in the adoption of alternative and innovative approaches to then be able to proceed with metaverse.

Student and staff training: That is the adaptation of staff and students to this new method of teaching and learning. Of course, it is individual for every institution, but the team should be trained and prepared to deliver metaverse lessons. It would be appropriate for the students to receive proper training as well. While as, the new generations might have already been introduced to metaverse by gaming.