This Times higher education opinion piece calls for better awareness and capability building to ensure education is ready for the coming of the metaverse, made mainstream by the recent announce by Face book as the next evolution in social connection.
In education, the call to leverage off the affordances of technological (digital) innovations have always existed. This time around, the bar is set much higher, to connect current learning management systems etc. to the possibilities availed by augmented/virtual/mixed reality. The ease of connection between our current social media lives and the metaverse already exists. Already, mobile phones provide the tool to engage with the ubiquitous enviroments centred around work, school and home.
In education, the key is to connecting meaningful and relevant 'universes' to learning. Currently, there is already blurring of the lines between peoples' work, study and leisure lives. The connections across the metaverse will only make the boundaries between the different segments of peoples' lives, more porous. The decision needs to be made, especially with privacy, how individuals are able to make boundaries between the various aspects of their lives. Some people will choose to maintain osmatic transfer and sharing between experiences which bridge work, home and study; others may decide to have a thick barrier. As work/study interwine due to continual 'upskilling' to stay ahead of the employment market; individuals need, more than ever, the digital competencies to understand the implications of entering and engaging with the metaverse. Educators need to also explore the possibilities with a critical lens, to ensure the metaverse is but a portal into various activities individuals engage with, not the 'only' means of contact or engagement with learning. There is never a 'one size fits all'.
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