Education in the future is going to be, on a metaverse, which is the virtual re-creation of the real world but what will online learning look like in the metaverse? The future of education in the metaverse should not be considered a replacement, so much as it is a refinement of learning that occurs in the physical realm. Lots of people can and will think that metaverse-based education will be a substitute for in-person learning. But for metaverse education to become widespread and succeed, families and businesses will need to find virtual reality headsets easier to obtain. Also, there is no substitute for online learning or face-to-face education.

Full-time virtual schools and colleges, which have at times struggled to keep students engaged, will probably benefit from more immersive, social experiences. Imagine, for instance, the benefits that would accrue to a first-generation college student from experiencing the virtual university classroom. Robloxs virtual classroom experiences are the best examples of the metaverses educational potential. Metaverse applications could produce learning experiences otherwise not possible in traditional environments.

Online Learning In The Metaverse What Will It Look Like

By combining VR/AR hardware and the infinite possibilities of a metaverse, instructors can design play-based activities for students to do within highly realistic environments resembling a real-life scenario. Instructors can include game-based training activities, which are enhanced by realistic environments and the VR/AR that the Metaverse brings. The types of training the Metaverse can support are diverse, ranging from classroom-based, interactive teaching, to workplace training, and even to vocational certification.

Educational spaces in the metaverse may align with the sciences on how people learn. Classrooms inside the metaverse will be filled with hands-on, visual activities for students to engage with from the comfort of their homes.

The metaverse is just as varied and complex as the classrooms of the real world and this means the metaverse will be flexible enough to support each student with hands-on learning opportunities. While the metaverse seems like it would have multiple uses it is not a substitute for tutors, rather, metaverses are tools by which tutors can stimulate learning and social interactions in new ways. It is important to note that one of the key aspects of a metaverse is the focus on being actively engaged with experiences, making a metaverse well-suited to teaching and learning.

By providing new opportunities for virtual and online, as opposed to in-person, learning, the metaverse has the potential to change the accessibility of education, as well as how we learn. As the metaverse becomes a reality soon, it is critical that new digital infrastructure is adopted in order to take advantage of the new learning opportunities. With the Metaverse sector expected to become a US$800B market by 2024, companies and learning providers will need to explore new ways that this immersive, virtual environment can best allow us to communicate with one another from any location for online learning.

At its most basic, a metaverse describes a version of the Internet from a near-future in which people use immersive technologies to transcend their physical surroundings. Institutions embracing digital spaces such as the metaverse have an opportunity to be at the forefront of this technological frontier when it is still young, helping further engage students and enhance the learning experience. Most importantly, the metaverse provides a variety of different ways to enhance learning for students and faculty in an online environment.

As online learning gains in popularity, educators, instructors, institutions, companies etc. are looking for ways to make remote teaching more engaging and interactive. Just as rising popularity of now-familiar teaching tech tools such as laptops has spurred the creation of apps and online learning environments, that dynamic, along with widespread interest in the metaverse, seems poised to drive the creation of even more learning environments leveraging VR and 3D. Immersive learning and virtual and augmented reality-enabled learning and games are currently being use in STEM education (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and will be made more accessible, hands-on, interactive, and relevant for wider groups of learners everywhere.

Learning in a metaverse could connect learners across the globe and enable them to engage meaningfully, providing unparalleled accessibility. The primary advantage that eLearning could gain from a metaverse is a metaverses ability to make an online learning environment come alive. Part of the educational strength of the metaverse is the ability for it to be tailored to meet students learning needs. The metaverse offers a wealth of opportunities for strengthening the development of your brain and learning experiences in different styles of education and needs.

What Will Online Learning Look Like In The Metaverse

Here are just three examples of education models that could be transformed by wider access to the rich learning opportunities offered by the metaverse. Think about the metaverse being used as a platform for providing directed education, as well as personalised learning experiences, depending on your own learning styles and ability to master content. Almost all aspects of the metaverse could be used for higher education and online education. There are already many places, such as the Facebook-owned Metaverse, that exist within the VR space, which people can take advantage of, if they have access to the appropriate tools.

Using VR for online teaching is not a new concept, but it is one that could see more usage in the future through platforms like Metaverse. The virtual learning environment allows for everyone to access from anywhere - a benefit shared by current metaverse learning environments. With metaverses on the table, the education technology industry is looking at offering 3D learning experiences, in which students as virtual avatars of themselves learn while engaging with case studies that they might have otherwise encountered on the pages of a book.

A Bangalore-based online-only school “21K School” is going to bring in the use of the metaverse and blockchain technologies such as Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) as ways of helping students learn and create. The school, which is being supported by entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala, now has 6,000 students from 54 countries. The metaverse is just one setting that in principle could leverage the best of digital technologies for education, if and only if done well. With a metaverse, tutors can create larger social circles, collaborate, and exchange ideas among themselves, and devise better solutions for reaching students with different needs.

Useful Links:

https://honorlock.com/blog/can-metaverse-be-used-in-online-education/

https://www.onlineeducation.com/features/education-and-the-metaverse

https://www.brookings.edu/research/a-whole-new-world-education-meets-the-metaverse/

https://cointelegraph.com/explained/metaverse-for-education-how-virtual-reality-can-help-schools-and-colleges

https://www.educationnext.org/meet-the-metaverse-new-frontier-virtual-learning/

https://theprint.in/tech/schools-universities-in-the-metaverse-why-virtual-reality-is-catching-edtechs-attention/988232/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/05/20/three-emerging-educational-opportunities-in-the-metaverse/

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-learning-look-like-metaverse-andy-johnson

https://www.fastcompany.com/90718919/the-metaverse-can-provide-a-whole-new-opportunity-for-education-heres-what-to-consider

https://blog.shi.com/next-generation-infrastructure/when-classrooms-go-full-vr-how-to-prepare-education-for-the-metaverse/

https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/22/06/what-will-learning-metaverse-look