Metaverse. This term became quite a buzzword in the world. It got us intrigued about the unimaginable miracles it can do. Many view it as a perfect example of the great potential technology holds in transforming the world. Quiet rightly so, the Metaverse did indeed make the unimaginable happen. It enabled users to build their own virtual world and have an independent virtual life. One can buy land, host live events, set up e-commerce or online stores, etc. Yes! All this is possible with Metaverse. Now Metaverse is all set to revolutionize the education technology space as well.
The COVID-19 pandemic saw online education come to life. It made both the teachers, as well as the students, adapt to newer ways of teaching and learning. Now, with Metaverse, people are wondering what it can do to make the experience of learning better for students across the globe.
Metaverse will simply provide students with a gamified learning experience making education more engaging than ever before. This technology is said to remove the physical barriers students face and make education more accessible. Further, Metaverse is said to make learning not just engaging but also immersive and participatory.
Students will be able to interact with their teachers as well as their classmates, learn live, and study in a 3D virtual world while donning VR headsets. With the help of these headsets, students can get an improved classroom experience and feel more involved in the learning sessions. What Metaverse is enabling is a real-time gamified experience that ensures students understand even the most complex of concepts with ease.
For example: With the help of VR headsets, you can travel to the Indus Valley Civilization and get to experience ancient times first-hand as a part of your history class. This is possible thanks to Metaverse which is making it possible for us to create that kind of virtual world.
Although Metaverse is still in its nascent stage, many ed-tech firms are Identifying the potential it holds in the ed-tech space. This is making them invest heavily in building an infrastructure that aids students in developing a deeper understanding.
Now, though Metaverse looks very promising, as experts also suggest it might be better than offline traditional classroom teaching, there are various challenges which need to be factored in, especially when it comes to India. Although the majority of the country’s population has access to the internet, issues of bandwidth and latency are bound to occur since Metaverse is a heavy technology. Not all will necessarily have high-speed internet connectivity.
Additionally, VR headsets are expensive making them less accessible to all students collectively. This is also said to increase the digital divide even more. These headsets are also heavy which means that donning them for more than 15-20 minutes can cause a lot of strain on the eyes and also cause headaches and nausea.
As of now, there is no law governing people’s existence in the virtual world. There is also no specific policy in place that gives a green signal for the adoption of such technology into the Indian education system.
The safety of people in Metaverse is also not guaranteed. At a time when cases of online trolling and cyberbullying are on the rise, Metaverse as a platform of education for young minds is questionable.
Above all, the population at large will require an ample amount of time to get comfortable with the idea of students pursuing education in a virtual world which is perceived by many as ‘fake’, fictitious, or ‘unreal’.
Nevertheless, the fact that if Metaverse is used correctly for imparting education can bring about a transformation, cannot be overlooked. In fact, as a first step in this direction, many high-end schools in Delhi NCR and in other parts of the country have built augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) laboratories to offer students the experience of learning in virtual mode.
