The Learning Metaverse

The metaverse is here. I have been listening about the several aspects of metaverse for the last two years or so when my kids play Minecraft. The world they enter, the avatars they take for their characters, the skins they change using applications like Skindex, the villagers and their language. And most importantly, the gamification part of metaverse with achievements and badges. Games like Roblox and Fortnite have taken it to a different level.?

The term metaverse was coined in Neal Stephenson's 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash, where humans, as programmable avatars, interact with each other and software agents in a three-dimensional virtual space that uses the metaphor of the real world.

If we apply the same structure of gaming in the learning metaverse, we can see the three stages:

1. Pre-Metaverse: These include identifying the training needs, typically known as TNA (Training Needs Analysis). It can also cover the per-assessment of the current knowledge base using the new age approach of adaptive learning, built on metacognition technologies ( Metacognition is the process of thinking about one's own thinking and learning.) So the "learning how to learn" analysis is a pre-metaverse topic. The next part of this section identifies the role of the facilitator and the learner. And last but not least is to work on the pedagogy of how you would like to design metaverse to align with the learning needs of both the learner and the trainer.?

2. With-in the Learning Metaverse: This is where the learners choose their 'avatar'. Imagine 'Change Manager' as an avatar. The metaverse will help you visualise an entire application landscape of your customer, which in the past was in word documents or ITSM tools as databases. You can see for a given change request what impact it can cause on the various configuration Items in the overall landscape. Not just as information but experience the impact in 3D. I know this was a very technical example, but the point is that it's effectively doable in such scenarios too. Of course, the rest of the fictional avatars are much more accessible and may be way more effective.

Imagine a VR setup of a start-up business or a manufacturing industry for a Business school student. The entire case study or live simulation with multiple players/stakeholders can be a 3D experience. Like you participating in pitch meetings, VC calls, customer discussions, bank visits, and supplier meetings in the metaverse. From techno-fictional learnings' to training on leadership, team-building, conflict management, and emotional intelligence will all be in the metaverse. You can add the dimensions of different cultural backgrounds, characters with varied worldviews, demographics of different markets, and topics related to diversity,?inclusion and accessibility. All this with the aspect of the personalisation of avatars.

The element of 'gamification' uses various game mechanics in the learning metaverse. Digital badgers, skins, NFTs, crypto, rewards points, badges, levels etc., are all available. These game mechanics with engagement and collaboration generate emotions required for the learners' growth mindset.?

3. Outside the Metaverse: This is an important bridge between the learnings in the metaverse to the real world. It is about recalibrating the virtual world and matching those learnings with the real world. How to further improve on the new insights and understanding? What new ideas does the learner get interactive with different emotions, cultures and ethnicities in the metaverse, and what are its applications in the world outside. Analyse the impact on the learner's worldview and the other learning effectiveness measures. And it is then taking feedback to rework the metaverse design to make it more relevant and engaging.?

The above model is very high-level for a learning metaverse to trigger more conversations in this domain. With organisations and institutes getting heavily into the metaverse (projected to become an $800 billion market by 2024), there will be innumerable use cases not just in learning but also in employee engagement, social collaboration, business transformations etc. So feel free to share your views in the comments below until we join the metaverse of 'unlearn' to share our views in our virtual avatars.