How Metaverse Is Transforming Education And Talent Market: Use Cases & Red Flags
Hardly anyone views metaverse as gaming or entertainment for kids, not in 2023. Brands have been racing to get onboard for the past two years. EdTech though is still just dreaming about it. For education metaverse is a sleeping giant about change the way we deliver education and the way it is being consumed by millions.
What’s a Metaverse From Education Stand Point
Virtual and multi-dimensional space for social interactions powered by blockchain, VR/AR technologies with interconnected devices. In its true sense metaverse will grow to offer interoperability and an ever-active parallel world enabling social interactions.
Statista published a fun research about the purposes and the value users see in metaverse. You would think gaming would rank highest. It doesn’t. The top interest comes from the economic downturn and competition in labour markets. So, the findings show that:
52% would like to capitalise on new job opportunities
40% perceive the metaverse as a new frontier for education and self-improvement
Consumer expectations for the role of metaverse for education are quite clear.
Zooming in, there’s another great survey on the use of metaverse in education specifically. Check this out:
39% overcome the obstacles and dangers in real-life
37% boost imagination and creativity
24% improve tech skills and literacy
29% reveal new and unseen education opportunities
South Korea seems to be way ahead with 97.9% of elementary school students already having had experienced the metaverse for learning.
Gartner promises that by 2026 a quarter of all people will spend at least one hour in the metaverse daily, for work, education, shopping, social and entertainment.
Don’t be mind that this might sound too optimistic right now. Taking a look at the investment opportunities puts it all in a different perspective.
Back in 2021 the global metaverse market for education was valued at $4.9 bln, by 2030 it should hit $94.9 billion.
Where Is Metaverse Taking Education
3D tech for digital learning
Although the distance learning and online training labs are on the rise, there’s an obvious gap. Online education offers greater interactivity and flexibility, the lack of physical presence results in students feeling alienated and isolated, which in turn has a negative impact on performance.
Metaverse can compensate on physical reality with VR and help narrow this gap. The most straightforward vision for it is the virtual classrooms in 3D where enabling interactions between tutors and peers.
The beauty of it is that such virtual spaces break down geographic barriers giving access to students and tutors from remote parts of the world.
All of which became so widespread in the remote and almost entirely online functioning post-pandemic world.
Real-life simulations
Ironically online learning adds a layer of complexity on delivering practical learning in most areas such as medical practice, manufacturing, construction, etc.
As metaverse technologies and infrastructures mature they may well turn it all around and create digital experience for practical learning bringing a radical change to learning hands-on skills, that otherwise would be constrained by physical world or associated costs, carry health hazards or other risks limiting learning and decreasing motivation for choosing certain professions.
Metaverse can lend itself useful to more conventional education in letting the young professionals participate in everyday office activities such as practice negotiations, go through a hiring process, etc.
It’ll be interesting to explore how this fact alone will affect the labour market, the infrastructure in those fields where it will be applied (number of professionals, consumer demand and pricing) and what kind of automation the practical learning in metaverse will render for AI based on student learning data.
Gamification
Gamified study programs on metaverse will be a game changer for student motivation, attendance and involvement rates.
Accreditation
As Forbes suggested, the Metaverse can help individuals to get accreditations in fields like real estate, programming, and even accounting or coding.
Storing this info on chain gives young professionals more control and more credibility in a tightening race for job opportunities. Interactive and navigation tools in metaverses will spur penetration for on-chain credits.
The far-reaching consequence of this will manifest itself through the increased demand for knowledge and acquiring new skills. Coupled with the greater employee transparency this will inevitably drive up the competition in labour market.
For businesses I’m confident that the new learning paradigm will create visibility of the extraordinary talent, who will possess more freedom and power than ever before.
Learn-To-Earn
For the past two centuries education has relied on grades and certificates for motivation.
EdTech is experimenting heavily on other incentives and what these will bring to the table. I’m excited about the learn-to earn modal that rewards the best performing students with coins, tokens, and NFTs.
Used by tech savvy folks at present, there’s a growing interest among educators and EdTech startups building for the decentralised internet.
Gamified learn-to-earn programs in immersive experiences of metaverse will take online education to a whole different lever. In essence this is the transformation in education we all are working on.
People with Disabilities
The metaverse is set to equalise opportunities for people with disabilities. A range of conditions and special needs may require practice with interpersonal communication and professional skills.
The Metaverse and AR apps will help people acquire skills quicker and with more confidence. Lowering anxiety will help people reach their highest potential and compete strongly against other students and young professionals.
Exploration of new frontiers via unprecedented visualization and enhanced story-telling
With VR/AR tech you get a unique opportunity to dive into a different reality and walk in somebody else’s shoes – seeing their perspective, relieving their experiences. This greater degree of personalization and appropriation gives you much more perspective at the impact and interdependence of your role in the overall result. Great examples– medical system, construction and manufacturing processes.
Soft-skill training
Learning empathy, and getting better at reading and understanding different cultural nuances are the soft skills that are truly learned in real world as they require social interaction and being in a context. Immersion in social contexts in a metaverse will help students master the skills that otherwise take years to hone.
The implication for the future way of working and business ethics cannot be underestimated – more openness will in itself open new international business opportunities and foster productive collaborations.
More effective data capture
One of the key areas of metaverse application in EdTech is the user data capture and the apps used. Data that has been out of reach until recently will give instant feedback and insights into students’ behavior and real-time performance, directing personal learning trajectories.
Metaverse user analytics give way to optimisation loops for learning in metaverse, automating progress tracking, recognising gaps and providing motivation metrics.
A Few Examples of What’s Being Done Already:
Novartis faced a lack of labs to train professionals and show them ‘best practice production and aseptic procedures.’ They successfully did so with VR;
- DaVita applied a VR solution developed by Gronstedt Group to create a ‘virtual reality experience.’ As a result, numerous employees underwent a training module dedicated to the importance of empathy and professionalism;
- Verizon offers safety training options to retail store employees so that they can get prepared for high-risk situations;
So What Are The Red Flags
Immersive experience and deep involvement comes at a high price. A recent survey talks to the real dangers that can come out of metaverse in learning:
- Addiction comparable to ludomania with 47% of respondents citing it;
- Privacy issues with 41%;
- Mental health problems with 41%.
For educators and EdTech companies must understand and admit responsibility for metaverse learning experiences.
Any ethical solution, education is not an exception, should also feature elements as timers, behavior monitoring capabilities, and data protection mechanisms.
One other issue is affordability. This isn’t even the case of new tech and the advanced EdTech, which it is, it’s the hundreds and thousand dollar gear that’s required on students’ part – making it in effect just another inequality case of higher quality education with a noble promise for accessibility somewhere long down the line.
Although things are getting better –World Bank stresses that VR/AR is getting more affordable (below $300) ‘to address global capability gaps.’
Final Thoughts
The metaverse in EdTech is an exciting space pursued by many. Although at this point in time much needs to happen before the true immersiveness can be achieved.
At this moment in time we see industry giants and EdTech startups only building bridges into metaverse. 3D simulations, classrooms created by VR/AR, or gamified learning processes with web3 incentives will define how education is consumed already and will continue to transform not only the way we learn in the nearest future, but also the quality of the knowledge obtained.
Remarkably, innovative EdTech startups are at the heart of this transformation in education. The opportunities are unprecedented.
