Higher Education in The Metaverse
In the autumn, students from ten schools, including Morehouse College as well as New Mexico State University, would attend metaversities. In a metaversity, distant professors and students wear virtual reality headsets and interact in real time, much like they would on a traditional campus.
A number of colleges will join the increasing ed-tech trend by offering courses in the metaverse. Proponents of metaversity argue that virtual reality increases students' interest, productivity, and happiness in school. But other academics worry that the for-profit entities licensing the technology would put profit above academic freedom, misuse student data, or recreate potentially biased narratives in such an immersive manner that students will rely on as their primary source of information about the world.
However, if the finest methods of teaching, economic incentives, and political will can all come together, then many of the issues can be resolved. There are also philosophical questions at play, such as whether or not a virtual reality college experience is inherently antisocial.
Regardless, pupils on the lookout for variety may find metaversities appealing in comparison to the distant. Moreover, the already-existing field of virtual reality higher education seems set to explode, even as its early adopters scramble in real time to find answers to serious worries about possible hazards.
A New Era of Universities: Meta Universities
Many prominent figures in the metaversity field are driven by altruistic goals. Grubbs is a kind person who led the Iowa House of Representatives' Education Committee. His father was a schoolteacher, and that experience influenced his commitment to education.
In 2015, he experienced a basic virtual reality headgear for the first time and was immediately intrigued by the technology's potential. After graduating from primary school, he decided to make the building his company's headquarters. He envisioned a day where virtual reality was widely used in classrooms.
Similarly, Morehouse College's administration and faculty were dissatisfied with remote learning alternatives at the outset of the epidemic and sought Grubbs' advice. Morehouse followed this in 2021 with a proof-of-concept metaversity in the form of virtual reality (VR) courses in chemistry, biology, and the history of the world.
Students' GPAs in the VR global history class rose by 10% compared to those in the same course taught simultaneously through Zoom and in a traditional classroom setting the previous year. The institution also gathered data from its other virtual reality courses, which indicated an increase in student happiness, engagement, and accomplishment compared to conventional and online forms.
Involvement in Student Society
Some argue that students who take courses or receive a whole degree within the metaverse benefit from developing their social abilities and learning from their peers.
Even if they aren't physically present in class, you may still experience all the benefits of a traditional classroom setting, including group work, discussion, laughter, and learning via physical activity.
However, some people worry that students in metaversities are isolated from the rest of the world. Though they had certain qualms, experts agreed that the present, two-dimensional form of online education had been unsatisfying for both teachers and students. As online education becomes more commonplace, whether people like it or not, it has the ability to provide a richer, more engaging alternative.
Constructing the Metaversity
The early days of Google serve as a warning tale for anyone thinking of joining the metaverse. The original intention of Google's creators was admirable: to increase people's ease of access to information.
However, they need financial backing to make it happen. They came up with a business plan that involves giving out their product for free while making money off of user data. Like CourseHero, several ed-tech businesses use business models that provide their services for free to students in return for access to their data. Some academics worry that pupils lack the data literacy and nuance to appreciate the potential risks involved.
However, when academic freedom is seen as a danger to revenues, certain for-profit enterprises have a checkered history. Consider the time Zoom decided to pull the plug on events hosted by universities because they were too contentious. A "strong predisposition" toward protecting academic freedom may not be enough to warrant putting your faith in a firm.
The fact that people will have to portray historical figures, scientific breakthroughs, and works of art in metaversity lectures is another cause for worry. This implies that people's prejudices in the actual world may follow them into the digital one. The same may be said of the textbooks used to teach history, literature, and art in more conventional school systems.
However, there may be a greater obligation on the shoulders of those who design virtual reality (VR) lessons for classrooms. Experts contrast learning about civilization from books to learning about the same event via a compelling film.
Even with competing academic and industrial priorities, it may be possible to find solutions to some of these issues. Competition has always prompted businesses to resolve algorithmic bias within their wares. Nonetheless, before venturing into the metaverse, one should consider the many risks involved.
Where We Are in the Metaversity Industry Now and Where We're Going
There has been a steady decline in the number of students enrolled in conventional universities. Thus these institutions have been actively recruiting nontraditional students, such as those who have heavy job and family commitments and need more adaptable study schedules. A three-dimensional remote option, which looks to be an improvement above previous remote alternatives on two-dimensional displays, may be of interest to many of these pupils. Virtual reality (VR) has the potential to bring learning to life for students of all learning styles.
More than a dozen universities, including Morehouse and Fisk, as well as New Mexico State have launched metaversities. Given the potential to attract a whole new demographic of students, the financial on-ramp may be within reach for universities interested in launching their own courses and programs in the metaverse.
Still, spending time and energy on preparing faculty to conduct VR courses is necessary. However, when news of the new technology spread, campuses that have offered this training have been the center of excitement and media attention.
A few metaversities are up and operating as test beds for the future. There's a chance that institutions won't be able to resist the allure of being able to reach more and varied students, provide compelling student results, and develop new income sources.
A McKinsey study estimates that the potential global market for the metaverse might be worth billions of dollars. Leaders in the field of education, like their counterparts in the medical, financial, and commercial fields, will have to address any possible ethical chasm between theory and practice in real time.
