Is Metaverse in education a blessing or a curse: a combined content and bibliometric analysis

The Metaverse has been the centre of attraction for educationists for quite some time. This field got renewed interest with the announcement of social media giant Facebook as it rebranding and positioning it as Meta. While several studies conducted literature reviews to summarize the findings related to the Metaverse in general, no study to the best of our knowledge focused on systematically summarizing the finding related to the Metaverse in education. To cover this gap, this study conducts a systematic literature review of the Metaverse in education. It then applies both content and bibliometric analysis to reveal the research trends, focus, and limitations of this research topic. The obtained findings reveal the research gap in lifelogging applications in educational Metaverse. The findings also show that the design of Metaverse in education has evolved over generations, where generation Z is more targeted with artificial intelligence technologies compared to generation X or Y. In terms of learning scenarios, there have been very few studies focusing on mobile learning, hybrid learning, and micro learning. Additionally, no study focused on using the Metaverse in education for students with disabilities. The findings of this study provide a roadmap of future research directions to be taken into consideration and investigated to enhance the adoption of the Metaverse in education worldwide, as well as to enhance the learning and teaching experiences in the Metaverse

Chasing Metaverses: Reflecting on Existing Literature to Understand the Business Value of Metaverses

Metaverses refer to immersive virtual worlds in which people, places, and things of the physical world are represented by their digital representations. The wide adoption of metaverses is expected to widely disrupt the way we interact in the virtual world by elevating our online interactive experiences and bringing a plethora of implications for businesses. Following a structured literature review of related research published in the last decade, we shed light on our current understanding of metaverses and reflect on the potentially transformative value of metaverses for businesses in the near future. We draw on an established research framework to organize the insights of existing literature across different levels of analysis and activities’ purpose. Through this analysis, we reveal eight propositions on the changes brought by the use of metaverses and identify a number of open questions which could serve as future research avenues.publishedVersionPaid Open Acces

Benefits and Challenges of the Educational Metaverse: Evidence from Quantitative and Qualitative Data

The metaverse, as a more advanced form of virtual reality, has great potential for education because of its unique affordances for enhancing immersion, interaction, and presence. However, because its development is still in its infancy, there are few empirical studies on the application of metaverse in education, with insufficient empirical evidence from the literature regarding its effectiveness and valued design features, as well as its advantages and disadvantages as a technology-enhanced learning environment. Utilizing the case study method, this study designed and implemented a 40-minute psychology course with 31 undergraduate students in the metaverse using the Virbela platform and collected both quantitative and qualitative data to empirically explore the benefits and challenges of the educational metaverse. The quantitative results showed that the students reported good learning experiences in the metaverse, but their learning outcomes were unsatisfactory, just over the passing level. The qualitative results revealed useful design features and common technical challenges of the educational metaverse. Based on the results, several implications for designing and developing effective courses in the educational metaverse were proposed

Metaverse and education: the pioneering case of Minecraft in immersive digital learning

The metaverse is presented as a possible new technological iteration for the Internet. The generation of virtual universes in which the physical and the digital converge raises the question of how education will be addressed in these new systems. We find, however, pioneering exercises such as Minecraft: Education Edition. This platform is a version based on the popular sandbox video game, which was originally created by a community of teachers. The aim of this research is to analyze and describe the idiosyncratic characteristics of Minecraft as an educational platform, framing it as one of the pioneering exercises in the metaverse. To this end, we have employed a methodology that combines Multimodal Discourse Analysis with Grounded Theory and the Constant Comparative Method. As conclusions, we observe how the Minecraft Education platform reinforces from its approach pre-existing aspects from the physical world, resizing them to adapt them to its connected digital environment. These are key elements such as the identity of the participants, their ability to act within the system, creativity through lessons as a guide to the educational objectives and the community as the backbone of the process. At the same time, it presents differential components, such as the use of avatars, the transition from textual literacy to multimodal literacy, game mechanics that boost creativity or transhuman capabilities that defy physical space-time. All in all, the platform is designed for teachers, parents and managers, to whom it offers a series of benefits. Therefore, the pedagogical action will depend on their judgment and execution, especially through the elaboration of lessons and worlds, the management of the sessions and their interaction in community environments. It is their responsibility to ensure that the educational experience is truly empowering or, on the contrary, that it ends up being governed by reproductive criteria linked to symbolic violence

Factors Influencing the Establishment of Clothing Retailers in the Metaverse: The Role of Metaverse Technology as a Mediator

The metaverse is a virtual environment where people may interact with one another via avatars. As the metaverse has gained in popularity over the last several years, the retail industry has indicated an interest in using it for product promotion and sales. However, opening a clothes store in the metaverse has unique challenges, and prospective investors should keep a few things in mind. This study aimed to uncover the factors that led Dubai investors to create a virtual apparel brand for sale online. Independent factors were creativity, safety, and confidentiality. The advent of Dubai's Metaverse clothes store was the dependent variable, while the technology enabling the metaverse was the mediator. The study used a quantitative methodology, including a survey questionnaire. For demographic and structural equation modeling objectives, we employed SPSS and AMOS software. The mediator variable was shown to be significantly affected by all independent factors, according to data from a survey of 398 participants. The successful debut of apparel in the metaverse in Dubai may be primarily attributed to the metaverse's cutting-edge technological innovations in security and privacy. Customers may be unwilling to provide personal information or engage in virtual transactions if they do not trust the safety of their data in the metaverse; thus, these issues must be addressed. Investors should prioritize developing private and secure metaverse technologies to win users' confidence. The findings call attention to the absence of study in this area and provide valuable insight into the factors contributing to the success of retail clothes launches in the metaverse. When taken as a whole, this study paves the way for more investigation into the metaverse and its possible implications on the retail industry in Dubai.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Investigating Real-time Touchless Hand Interaction and Machine Learning Agents in Immersive Learning Environments

The recent surge in the adoption of new technologies and innovations in connectivity, interaction technology, and artificial realities can fundamentally change the digital world. eXtended Reality (XR), with its potential to bridge the virtual and real environments, creates new possibilities to develop more engaging and productive learning experiences. Evidence is emerging that thissophisticated technology offers new ways to improve the learning process for better student interaction and engagement. Recently, immersive technology has garnered much attention as an interactive technology that facilitates direct interaction with virtual objects in the real world. Furthermore, these virtual objects can be surrogates for real-world teaching resources, allowing for virtual labs. Thus XR could enable learning experiences that would not bepossible in impoverished educational systems worldwide. Interestingly, concepts such as virtual hand interaction and techniques such as machine learning are still not widely investigated in immersive learning. Hand interaction technologies in virtual environments can support the kinesthetic learning pedagogical approach, and the need for its touchless interaction nature hasincreased exceptionally in the post-COVID world. By implementing and evaluating real-time hand interaction technology for kinesthetic learning and machine learning agents for self-guided learning, this research has addressed these underutilized technologies to demonstrate the efficiency of immersive learning. This thesis has explored different hand-tracking APIs and devices to integrate real-time hand interaction techniques. These hand interaction techniques and integrated machine learning agents using reinforcement learning are evaluated with different display devices to test compatibility. The proposed approach aims to provide self-guided, more productive, and interactive learning experiences. Further, this research has investigated ethics, privacy, and security issues in XR and covered the future of immersive learning in the Metaverse.<br/

Investigating Real-time Touchless Hand Interaction and Machine Learning Agents in Immersive Learning Environments

The recent surge in the adoption of new technologies and innovations in connectivity, interaction technology, and artificial realities can fundamentally change the digital world. eXtended Reality (XR), with its potential to bridge the virtual and real environments, creates new possibilities to develop more engaging and productive learning experiences. Evidence is emerging that thissophisticated technology offers new ways to improve the learning process for better student interaction and engagement. Recently, immersive technology has garnered much attention as an interactive technology that facilitates direct interaction with virtual objects in the real world. Furthermore, these virtual objects can be surrogates for real-world teaching resources, allowing for virtual labs. Thus XR could enable learning experiences that would not bepossible in impoverished educational systems worldwide. Interestingly, concepts such as virtual hand interaction and techniques such as machine learning are still not widely investigated in immersive learning. Hand interaction technologies in virtual environments can support the kinesthetic learning pedagogical approach, and the need for its touchless interaction nature hasincreased exceptionally in the post-COVID world. By implementing and evaluating real-time hand interaction technology for kinesthetic learning and machine learning agents for self-guided learning, this research has addressed these underutilized technologies to demonstrate the efficiency of immersive learning. This thesis has explored different hand-tracking APIs and devices to integrate real-time hand interaction techniques. These hand interaction techniques and integrated machine learning agents using reinforcement learning are evaluated with different display devices to test compatibility. The proposed approach aims to provide self-guided, more productive, and interactive learning experiences. Further, this research has investigated ethics, privacy, and security issues in XR and covered the future of immersive learning in the Metaverse.<br/

User Acceptance of Metaverse: Insights from Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Planned Behavior Theory (PBT)

Many innovations have entered human life with the rapid development of technology and its widespread use. The adaptation process of people to these innovations is very important in terms of efficiency and sustainability. In this research, the factors affecting the acceptance of metaverse technology, which is one of the most important innovations encountered in the last period, were examined. In this context, metaverse technology was analyzed with structural equation modeling (SEM) within the scope of PBT and TAM. For analysis, the Smart PLS 3 software was used. According to the hypothesis results, a significant positive correlation was found between PU, PEOU, AT, and Intention. In addition, a significant positive correlation was found between SN and AT, and PBC. It has been analyzed that the factors affecting the metaverse usage intention of the individuals participating in the research are parallel to the literature. When we assume that the usage area of metaverse technology will become widespread in the future, it is very important to expand the studies in this field in detail

Metaverso y educación: el caso pionero de Minecraft en el aprendizaje inmersivo digital

The metaverse is presented as a possible new technological iteration for the Internet. The generation of virtual universes in which the physical and the digital converge raises the question of how education will be addressed in these new systems. We find, however, pioneering exercises such as Minecraft: Education Edition. This platform is a version based on the popular sandbox video game, which was originally created by a community of teachers. The aim of this research is to analyze and describe the idiosyncratic characteristics of Minecraft as an educational platform, framing it as one of the pioneering exercises in the metaverse. To this end, we have employed a methodology that combines Multimodal Discourse Analysis with Grounded Theory and the Constant Comparative Method. As conclusions, we observe how the Minecraft Education platform reinforces from its approach pre-existing aspects from the physical world, resizing them to adapt them to its connected digital environment. These are key elements such as the identity of the participants, their ability to act within the system, creativity through lessons as a guide to the educational objectives and the community as the backbone of the process. At the same time, it presents differential components, such as the use of avatars, the transition from textual literacy to multimodal literacy, game mechanics that boost creativity or transhuman capabilities that defy physical space-time. All in all, the platform is designed for teachers, parents and managers, to whom it offers a series of benefits. Therefore, the pedagogical action will depend on their judgment and execution, especially through the elaboration of lessons and worlds, the management of the sessions and their interaction in community environments. It is their responsibility to ensure that the educational experience is truly empowering or, on the contrary, that it ends up being governed by reproductive criteria linked to symbolic violence.El metaverso se presenta como una posible nueva iteración tecnológica para Internet. La generación de universos virtuales en los que convergen lo físico y lo digital pone sobre la mesa la cuestión de cómo se afrontará la educación en estos nuevos sistemas. Encontramos, no obstante, ejercicios pioneros como Minecraft: Education Edition. Esta plataforma es una versión basada en el popular videojuego sandbox, que fue creada originalmente por una comunidad de profesores. El objetivo de esta investigación es analizar y describir las características idiosincráticas de Minecraft como plataforma educativa, enmarcándola como uno de los ejercicios pioneros en el metaverso. Para ello, se ha empleado una metodología que combina el Análisis del Discurso Multimodal con la Grounded Theory y el Constant Comparative Method. Como conclusiones, se determina que la plataforma Minecraft Education refuerza desde su planteamiento cuestiones pre-existentes en el mundo físico, redimensionándolas para adaptarlas a su entorno digital conectado. Son claves como la identidad de los participantes, la agencia, la creatividad, con las lecciones como guía de los objetivos educativos, y la comunidad como vertebradora del proceso. Al mismo tiempo, presenta componentes diferenciales digitales, como el uso de avatares, la transición de la lectoescritura textual a la alfabetización en entornos multimodales, las mecánicas que impulsan la creatividad o las capacidades transhumanas que desafían el espacio-tiempo físico. Con todo, la plataforma está diseñada para profesores, padres y gestores, a los que ofrece una serie de prebendas. Por tanto, la acción pedagógica dependerá de su criterio y ejecución, especialmente a través de la elaboración de lecciones y mundos, la gestión de las sesiones, y la interacción en los entornos comunitarios. Queda bajo su responsabilidad que la experiencia educativa sea verdaderamente empoderadora o, por el contrario, esta se acabe rigiendo por criterios reproductivos y vinculados a la violencia simbólica.Research financed through the Margarita Salas Grant from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities of the Government of Spain and the Next Generation EU program. This work is endorsed by the I+D+i project (2019-2021), entitled “Youtubers and instagramers: Media competence in emerging prosumers” with code RTI2018-093303-B-I00, financed by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities of Spain and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and for the I+D+i project (2020-2022), entitled “Instagramers and youtubers for the transmedia empowerment of Andalusian citizens. The media competence of the instatubers”, with code P18-RT-756, financed by the Junta de Andalucía, in the 2018 call (Andalusian Research, Development and Innovation Plan, 2020) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This work has been partially funded by the grant CIPROM/2021/17 of the Prometeo program of the Conselleria de Innovación, Universidades, Ciencia y Sociedad Digital de la Generalitat Valenciana