Perspectives on education in the Metaverse

Article by Francesco Berlucchi

The elevator closes and ascends to the fortieth floor of the skyscraper. Suddenly the doors open, you arrive on a wooden beam suspended in the void. "More than 80 percent of people don't get off that elevator, and they start sweating," Nicola Ravarini, Founder & Ceo of VRZONE, says. "They do it even though they have their feet on the floor in our office. As our guests walk in small steps on the wooden board, we tell them a short story mentioning colors, names, and numbers. Upon their safe return inside the elevator, we ask them to tell us what color certain objects were, or how many there were." VRZONE uses this tool to assess the ability to concentrate, stay calm, and memorize. But the goals can be different in the most diverse contexts. 

"The training opportunities that virtual reality offers are well known,"  Andrea Gaggioli, professor of general psychology, explains. The occasion was the second event of "Tuesdays in the Metaverse", moderated by journalist Alessia Cruciani. "We need to consider firstly the sense of presence, which gives the possibility to enable learning by doing by simulating a realistic situation that allows learning in a safe context," Gaggioli continues. "Think about the world of medicine: acquiring skills in a context that allows for mistakes can be crucial. But the advantage is also evident in STEM subjects (the scientific-technological disciplines, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, ed.): virtual reality makes it possible to transform symbolic-type knowledge into sensory and motor knowledge. One can touch a molecule or visualize a gravitational head, leaping learning."

Cases of concrete use of the Metaverse by companies are numerous, although many limitations, such as the cost of virtual reality programming and production, are still evident. "We work with corporate human resources which, in the context of personnel selection or outplacement, come to us for the last mile," Ravarini says. "Getting candidates to wear the visors makes them more direct; the immersiveness is so strong that the response is genuine and instinctive." "The Metaverse is not just a helmet," Gaggioli comments. "It is a network of connected experiences with variable virtuality. You can have more or less immersion depending on the technology you use. You can increase the immersive experience or make the virtual space coincide with the real space in a mixed reality experience in which you combine two advantages: you use imagination but lean on the physicality of the space." 

In this context, considering the needs of businesses, "in the Metaverse, the university has two roles. Because it contributes to training the skills of those who have to build it, it can also use the Metaverse to improve university training, increasing its educational effectiveness," Gaggioli adds. "Not to mention that virtual reality is emotional par excellence, allowing us to get excited. Our research group has studied the impact of wonder in learning: virtual reality stimulates wonder and learning. But also creativity." After all, as Socrates argued, wonder is the beginning of wisdom.