Relevant knowledge and information are important skills that enable humans to progress. Knowledge and information are by products of a sound education. The education system is an ever evolving one that keeps pace with the times.
In the last few years, we have seen a tremendous rise in educational technology. Ed tech has offered an alternate way of teaching and learning and encouraged remote learning. This is great boon for learners who might otherwise find it challenging to have full attendance in school or colleges. Metaverse in education is an emerging technology that is capturing the interest of researchers, educationists and students alike.
The new revolutionary technology is enabling immersive and imaginary worlds. It is opening up new opportunities for education. It is time to take advantage and leverage it to educate students and prepare teachers. As the technology is yet in a nascent stage, the time is ripe for the educational stakeholders to lead the way rather than get caught in the flow when the metaverse wave engulfs all.
The educational metaverse is a 3D, shared, immersive, and real-time virtual space, that offers new ways to connect the physical world with augmented and virtual reality (VR) experiences to offer experiential learning.
The Educational Metaverse and Skill Development
A new realm of exciting, experiential learning opportunities is on the horizon. What does this herald to inculcate key skills in learners?
Let’s find out:
Creative and Analytical Skills
The ability to be creative is a highly sought after skill in the 21st century workplace. With the ever-changing landscape of the modern workplace, creativity has become increasingly important in problem solving. Virtual reality provides a unique opportunity for learners to explore creativity. The immersive environment of VR has the potential to inspire learners with its limitless possibilities. The metaverse is a great way to inspire creativity by allowing users to experiment and express themselves freely in a safe and non-judgemental space. Educational metaverse learning spaces are empowering and give learners total creative control as they create their own virtual designs. In addition, puzzle games and escape rooms help people develop creative and analytical thinking strategies which they can then apply to real-world scenarios.
The safe and experiment filled space of virtual reality opens learners minds to new possibilities.
Life and Power Skills
Soft skills like team work, peer to peer collaborations, time management and etc are all desirable and coveted skills at all stages of life. Schools do not focus a lot on these as academics takes up much of their time. Moreover, the traditional ways do not leave much of an impact. However, with VR, learners can be placed in simulated contexts.
For example, if a child is facing bullying and harassment in school, the child can be exposed to various situations where he/she has to encounter the bully and learn ways and techniques to challenge it. All this can be done repeatedly and in various test conditions. The child develops confidence and the skills to overcome the obstacle.
Another case scenario can be a surgeon in training. The surgeon can perform risky operations on many virtual bodies till they master their skills. Users can make decisions –good and bad, without any repurcussions.This gives them the data to understand where they went wrong and rectify their mistakes.
Moreover, VR in the educational metaverse can help develop empathy and a better sense of understanding of others hardships. By placing a student in a situation where they face the said hardship, they are able to feel and hence perceive the challenges better. This allows them to develop emotional intelligence and consideration for others.
Occupational Skills
The educational metaverse is an enabling platform to learn skills which are important to master correctly in real life.
Take for example a skill like learning to play a musical instrument. Teachers and students can come together in the space as their avatars and have interactive lessons. With the metaverse, learners can have data driven music lessons that help them learn the nuances of playing better. Take another example- performing CPR is an important and lifesaving skill. However, practising in real life frequently becomes a challenge. It is normally taught to students using mannequins and dummies. VR can help augment the technical competence required to handle such critical situations.
Wrapping Up
Metaverse in education will empower K-12 schools, colleges and universities to bridge the learning gaps and avail of more interactive learning experiences. The metaverse will spur learning reforms such as adaptive learning, personalised learning and game based learning to make education more relevant and suited to the future needs.
Institutes seeking strategic help from the basics of how to enter the metaverse to opening up a 3D metaverse classroom, can connect with Edverse. Edverse is the world’s largest educational metaverse offering curated solutions tailor-made to your requirements. Edverse caters to the 3Is- Individuals, Institutes and Industries and offers solutions for every need.
