Applications of the metaverse in imparting education in schools

TOI-Online / Dec 8, 2022, 12:30 IST

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Applications of the metaverse in imparting education in schools

Ever since Mark Zuckerberg rechristened and reoriented his social media firm Facebook as Meta, this new concept gained instant and immense attention and prominence. Metaverse has been predicted to reach a commercial market worth $800bn by 2024 according to a report published in Bloomberg. This is bound to take metaverse to schools and universities and embed it in the education system.Let's explore the out-of-the-box avenues that metaverse can open in teaching in schools.
Before jumping on to the various applications of the metaverse in school education, it's important to reckon with the potential of the metaverse. This new version of the internet incorporates and builds and improves upon the existing technologies like virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and advanced hardware that allows the users to experience an immersive internet rather than just using it.
Now a look at the various applications of the metaverse:
Enhancing and transforming students the experience of the internet:

The schools can use metaverse to take students on n realistic field trips to prominent places in both present and historical ways
This will help make the field trips extremely engaging and enhance the experience of the students manifold
The students can also select the items and interact with historical events and visit the battlefield of a particular war and watch it as a spectator or become one of the characters
Such an approach and experience can give a way to a deeper level of learning than just reading books
Metaverse ensures thus learning engagingly in a safer environment

Connecting students around the world easily:

Metaverse can be employed to connect students from across the globe
This can be achieved by using metaverse as a tool for live translations of foreign languages for the diverse group of students, thus making it easier for them to communicate and converse
Metaverse can help in expanding the capabilities of AI and the interactive element in it can help to break down the barriers of language, culture, and locations
This can help the students to gain the desired knowledge directly and help satisfy their imagination and inquisitiveness

For explaining concepts vividly:

The immersive learning environment of the metaverse makes it achievable to present scientific concepts in a real-time manner
For instance, with the help of the metaverse, one can walk through the solar system, experience the movement of heavenly bodies or closely watch the principle behind launching rockets
The real movements of the objects in a real scenario in a 3D virtual environment help in grabbing the minutest of details and steps behind a process
Students can also practice a certain skill or experiment like dissecting frogs in the lab or doing astrophysics experiments

Virtual campus activities:

The students can participate in ongoing real events, competitions, and educational clubs through the virtual environment of the metaverse
It makes one feel like being physically present on campus and helps one to not miss any important happening because of not being physically available

Metaverse does away with the limitations of space and time and allows for holistic learning by assimilating the most innovatively theoretical concepts with practical implications.

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