In the context of the prolonged COVID-19, governments of each country are conducting non-face-to-face education for children who cannot go to school. Relatively familiar video conferencing and online academic programs, such as Zoom and Cloud9, are fulfilling their roles.
However, some startups and big tech companies are building another world to enable education using all senses except smell and touch by creating an environment similar to the real world where people meet. Beyond video calls, an environment is built-in, in which all senses except smell and touch can be felt.
For about two years, from December 2019 to December 2021, people have been thinking, adapting to situations, and evolving. In other words, it turns a crisis into an opportunity. Instead, it removes spatial restrictions and allows anyone in the world to attend lectures. In the not-too-distant future, language barriers will break down within the metaverse.
The representative metaverse used in the education field is Gather Town as of December 2021. This metaverse program, which is used in many fields, is also a platform optimized for company work and meetings, as it has a 2.5D environment and a system that runs on a low-spec personal computer by running on a browser. In addition, Roblox, the metaverse platform of the most extensive game base, boasting a corporate value of $49.9 billion (as of August 10, 2021), developed ZEPETO in Asia and is moving worldwide. One of the world’s best-selling video games, the bus platform Minecraft, also tends to add functions that can be used in work and school to communicate between real people.
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, changed the company name to ‘Meta’ and stood at the center of the topic. Microsoft is also keen to develop a business metaverse. In addition, big tech companies, such as Apple and Nvidia, also see their future as a metaverse. Perhaps we are accelerating the irreversible future due to the pandemic. This may mean that in the future, where students who will grow up in our future will live, a future where the offline world and the online world coexist is coming. Moreover, students may be receiving online education in advance to find opportunities in crises to prepare for that era.
Of course, the pandemic has had a lot of adverse effects on humanity, and many people’s sacrifices and efforts are needed to reverse the damage. However, as in any country, students are the future. Therefore, we need to help activate a system that runs on lower specifications and an easy access platform so that more children can access the future world without discrimination. Just as those who struggled for opportunities without discrimination offline are recognized as great men, it is inevitable to create equal opportunities for education in the new world as people who have experienced previous generations.
Reference list
Ball, M. (2022). METAVERSE: and how it will revolutionize everything. S.L.: Liveright Publishing Corp.
COLLINS, C. (2008). Looking to the Future: Higher Education in the Metaverse. [online] Available at: http://www.uh.cu/static/documents/RDA/Looking%20to%20the%20future.pdf.
Jeon, J. and Jung, S.K. (2021). Exploring the educational applicability of Metaverse-based platforms. Exploring the educational applicability of Metaverse-based platforms, [online] 361-368(361-368), p.8. Available at: https://www.koreascience.or.kr/article/CFKO202130548299122.pdf [Accessed 5 Dec. 2021].
Nur Fitria, T. (2021). CREATING SENSATION OF LEARNING IN CLASSROOM: USING “GATHER TOWN” PLATFORM VIDEO GAME-STYLE FOR VIRTUAL CLASSROOM. Education and Human Development Journal, 6(2), pp.30–43.
Zuckerberg (2021). The Metaverse and How We’ll Build It Together — Connect 2021. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://youtu.be/Uvufun6xer8.
