The metaverse is a growing trend in the social media world. The metaverse, constructed by the Meta company better known as Facebook, aims to provide a virtual reality world anyone can go to and do anything their imagination desires. 

As the metaverse grows in popularity, there is a good chance it could come to schools. 

In some ways, it’s already here. For example, Craig has a VR room that teachers and students have access to.

Craig business teacher Brandon Miles says the metaverse has “unlimited potential.” He says that it is a place where “you can do things you can’t do in reality”. 

Whether it’s flying, slaying dragons or learning things in new innovative ways, the metaverse aims to be a “real life video game” providing lots of opportunities to gamers, students, educators and businesses. 

As an advocate of the metaverse, Miles is eager to see the potential use in education. 

He says that it would allow students to go to school in the metaverse either physically at school or from home. All students would have to do is put on a headset and get logged into class. 

The metaverse could have a similar feel to the remote learning students experienced during Covid restrictions. Except this time instead of staring at a screen, they could still be at class, but present virtually. 

Opportunities in School

Miles touched on Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse presentation which spoke of teachers having the ability to pull up anything and showing it to students while they speak. 

He gives an example of being in elementary school and learning about the planets. 

“Instead of opening a book with a page with a picture of Jupiter on it or googling the great red spot in the metaverse with a headset on, your teacher can pull it up to you,” he said. 

“They can turn the planet and zoom in on different areas and it’s right there for students to see.” 

Another opportunity with virtual reality is to visit historic sites and events. 

“If you want to see where the guillotine was at, you can go to France and see what it currently looks like in the metaverse. Students in science classes could swim in the Great Barrier Reef.”

The inclusion of the metaverse in classes could give purpose and reason as to why and what students are studying. The metaverse could take “visual learning” to a whole other level.

As a business and finance teacher, Miles is not yet sure of how he would include the metaverse in his teaching instruction, but he is certain he would use it for every class he teaches. 

He believes there is room for “application of the metaverse for all classes.” Perhaps the metaverse will offer real world business settings such as meetings or events to students. Students could interact and trade with professionals in New York while still actually being in a small classroom. 

When it comes to the metaverse, the only limit is the imagination.

Is it a Good Idea?

There is no doubt that the metaverse will be able to enhance the learning experience for many students, but as a whole the metaverse could face problems similar to other social media. 

“When Facebook originally came out, everyone hailed it as a way of bringing people together. Nobody predicted the amount of misinformation and rumors that spread on it,” said Miles.

Today Facebook and other social media platforms struggle to halt the spread of false information. 

“There is some pretty compelling evidence out there that social media, cell phones, and algorithms have divided people more than ever,” said Miles. 

It is unknown if the metaverse will be able to avoid the mistakes of its social media predecessors. 

When will Metaverse in Schools Become Reality?

In many ways the metaverse and virtual reality are already here. At Craig, the VR room offers a unique experience for teachers and students. 

Miles plans to implement the metaverse in his teaching instruction and hopes to see others utilize its power as well. The metaverse isn’t cheap, but seeing that Craig already has some form of VR, the big picture must be just around the corner. 

From a business perspective Miles thinks that “Meta should get involved with schools to earn a profit in sales, revenue, and image.” This will help the metaverse be implemented into education faster. 

The metaverse aims to enhance education and the workplace within the coming years. It’s an unknown world with unlimited possibilities. Students, teachers, parents, workers, leaders, and everyone in between will all someday use the metaverse in some capacity. 

Thanks to the metaverse, education won’t be restricted to just a building. It will open up education to a worldwide view and experience.