We’ve been talking about the metaverse for years now, and that means connected virtual reality where all kinds of interactions will be possible. But the ads from many big companies, like Meta (Facebook), really shined a spotlight on the audience.
Concretely, in the metaverse, a person can, using technological devices such as virtual helmets or a simple phone, be represented by an avatar and interact with other people, but also with items in the connected environment. As AFP explains, in the metaverse it will be possible: “Dance in a nightclub with friends in the form of an avatar, or climb the summit of Everest through a virtual reality helmet, or even now a meeting between colleagues in the same form. A digitally reconstructed office .. “With this universe, the boundaries between virtual and reality will be thinner than ever, raising concerns about abuse.
Despite everything, many companies intend to exploit these new possibilities. The land is already for sale in the metaverse, concerts have already taken place as well as … college campuses. Around the world, several platforms are generated To allow the education world to take advantage of the metaverse. This Tuesday, in France, Kwark Education introduced its first virtual campus which will be able to accommodate students from September 2022. The project is still in the experimental stage and has already conquered major French schools, such as ESC Pau, he notes. le Figaro.
What are the advantages?
On the same principle as distance courses, courses in the metaverse allow students to interact with each other and follow lectures given at any university in the world. That is, 24 hours a day, the advantage of the metaverse over traditional virtual courses, according to Kwark Education, is that there is a more comprehensive aspect. CEO Alban Miconette explains in Figaro.
With the metaverse, experience can be at the heart of learning. One can already imagine students experiencing tangible objects on Earth, which are produced identically in the metaverse. Concretely, instead of taking the plane to go to a foreign country’s lab, they could have direct access to it in the metaverse. This “new world” would make accessible, high-quality educational devices available all over the world. It should be noted that augmented reality is already used by many universities, in certain courses, to provide an immersive experience for students.
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What are the disadvantages?
If experts are happy with the possibilities offered by the metaverse, they also fear abuses. Nir Ezekowitz, professor of philosophy and director of the Center for Applied Ethics at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, points out five challenges in an article he published Conversation.
1. Academic Freedom Guarantee. Will private platforms allow all discussions, including topics that could harm them?
2. Allow focus. “How can designers be sure that the metaverse won’t make the already dangerous challenges of classroom focus worse?” asks the professor; “There are times when technology devices and what they offer are very tempting for students, even during lessons.” The metaverse will probably reinforce this when we know that a youngster can shop in the metaverse and this, while they are already supposed to follow the cycles.
3. What about nonverbal communication? With avatars, what is conveyed through facial expressions or body language may be lost. “This is important because much of the learning in college courses, especially in the highly-discussed courses typical of humanities courses, is based on live and spontaneous communication. This automatic communication often includes the ability to transmit and receive nonverbal cues.”
4. Create a real community. The experience of the president is not limited to courses. There is also everything that happens after that. “How is a real community created between students and teachers or between students themselves without a real physical presence?”
5. Facilitate access to training courses. If the metaverse is going to make tournaments more accessible for some people, it won’t be the case for everyone. “Will these technologies provide a compelling educational experience at a lower cost, or will they simply lead to a new digital divide — a two-tiered system made up of elites who can pay for physical education and those who have to settle the trade-off or, to complicate matters, what if it becomes so-called” metaversities “are part of a three-tiered system, with traditional schools for the wealthy, metaverse virtual reality education for the middle classes, and two-dimensional distance learning—like the first object is now used—for those who can’t buy anything else?”
These challenges are only related to the educational aspect of metaverse, so we are not talking here about data security issues or the mental health consequences for individuals who might indulge in them at too high a dose. Despite everything, the educational world has reason to be interested in these new possibilities. Guide , Metaverse Collegethe world’s first school dedicated to the metaverse professions, will soon open in Paris.
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