To sit in your room and be at the open doors of your dream school. It is the Kwark Education project that launches MetaKwark. A tool available from September 2022 that will change the way we learn remotely and interact socially and economically, according to Alban Mikonit, CEO of Kwark Education and inventor of MetaKwark.
Without a virtual reality headset or the latest computer equipment, Kwark Education is betting on a new way of learning and teaching. While metaverses — virtual and immersive universes — are on everyone’s mind, the service provider promises one dedicated exclusively to teaching professions. If MetaKwark is currently in the testing phase, its inventor, Alban Miconnet, confirms, takes remote courses, organizes open days, and creates projects with avatars that look just like our teachers and classmates, it should be possible from the start of the school year in September 2022.
How much has the Covid pandemic helped create this metaverse project?
Everyone thinks the pandemic helped us develop this project. In fact, not at all! We spent two years glued to our computers in front of video conferencing. There was a certain form of saturation. This is a project that we have been implementing for several years, before the pandemic interfered in our daily lives.
How does MetaKwark differ from the distance learning solutions that have been developed over the past two years?
Whatever happens, the idea is to improve on what is already there and train stakeholders to use this type of tool. Distance courses have doubled since 2020, of course, but no one has had time to prepare well. That is why we will be running tests until the beginning of September, to improve the uses and get used to using the metaverse. What also differs with remote courses as we’ve known them so far is the installation in an architecture designed for this metaverse. Virtual learning spaces encourage relaxation, focus and true immersion.
MetaKwark will also allow you to meet an entire ecosystem, alumni, other students and professors at random because they are also there at the time. The exchange extends beyond what can be said during lessons in the strict sense of the word, in more formal situations.
What are the next steps and considerations to make educational induction work work?
As every time we create tools, we have to ask ourselves many questions about the level of reality we want to attach to them. One wonders, for example: should a disability be represented in metaverses? Are avatars allowed to wear a headscarf? These are really basic questions, because we know that the more avatars resemble us, the more credible the immersive experience.
We also have to think about the aspect of sustainable development, which today’s organizations are so striving for. For example, MetaKwark consumes 10 times less bandwidth than traditional video conferencing.
If we already have 15 campuses under construction with our partners, now we need to conquer more entities, especially in the academic environment. It is always uncomfortable to be the one who brings something new. We have the ambition to be a pioneer in the French educational field, but this will only work if we can mobilize all the players.
Interview by Lola Britton
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