doi: 10.56294/mr202349

EDITORIAL

Metaverse, Society & Education

Metaverso, sociedad y educación

Rubén González Vallejo¹ *

¹Universidad de Salamanca, Departamento de Filología. Salamanca, España.

Cite as: González Vallejo R. Metaverse, Society & Education. Metaverse Basic and Applied Research. 2023; 2:49. https://doi.org/10.56294/mr202349

Submitted: 30-04-2023          Revised: 06-05-2023          Accepted: 11-05-2023          Published: 12-05-2023

Editora: Lic. Mabel Cecilia Bonardi

Dear readers:

With the advent of so-called information and communication technologies (ICT), different sectors of society have had to adapt to changes to confront impending global challenges. One such challenge faced by the education system is the large amount of information channels prevailing in communication and social organization, in which specific competences need to be implemented to address new realities.

Educational institutions have found themselves immersed in new teacher training plans aimed at improving the quality of teaching and adapting to the pace set by technology in social behaviors and attitudes. In this sense, scientific-technological advancements have left a mark on numerous educational aspects, offering a more hybrid and inclusive system and greater formative autonomy thanks to access to educational resources available both on the internet and through internal platforms, as well as a tailored pace of learning.

On the other hand, the eruption of ICT has brought about a change in interaction, methodology, and curriculums, as we tend towards new models of educational management and a transformation in the traditional roles of teachers and students. Evidence of this is the metaverse, which presents itself as a virtual and three-dimensional ecosystem configured to offer a collaborative space that promotes interaction in a multimodal and cosmolocated environment,⁽¹⁾ and which many universities have started to implement. While there are different educational platforms, universities such as Stanford, Harvard, Tecnológico de Monterrey, the Argentine University of Business, or the Catholic University of Peru use the potentialities of Second Life (SL) for educational purposes.⁽²⁾

The justification lies in the advantages for teaching, such as the prominence the student acquires, the online and collaborative interaction created, the consultation of content in different formats, access to simulations with our avatar, and playful learning, among others.⁽³⁾

However, it is important to point out some limitations of online learning, such as the lack of body language, the need for digital competencies, and the dependency on the technical functioning of the platform.

In conclusion, the educational immersion provided by the metaverse must be considered as a fundamental element that invites reflection on new approaches in teaching, capable of absorbing the changes occurring in an increasingly technological society.⁽⁴⁾

Therefore, new research on the metaverse is needed from different sectors, as only interdisciplinary analyses will be able to enhance the potential of the three-dimensional world, reduce its limitations, and above all, control the massive data sources that are driving us towards a new cyberculture.

To achieve this, it will be necessary to reduce the digital divide and promote digital competencies, with the aim of establishing a new educational paradigm that lays the groundwork for innovative teaching adapted to the needs of the 21st century.

REFERENCES

1.  González Vallejo R. Metaverse and translation studies: analysis of machine translation. Metaverse Basic and Applied Research. 2023; 2: 1-6. https://doi.org/10.56294/mr202338

2.  Ordoñez Valencia ML, Ordoñez-Zúñiga NL, Mantilla-Ordóñez JC, Garcés Wila ME, Vera Arroyo DM, Coronel Mendez WJ. Analysis of metaverse tools and their impact in educational contexts. Sapienza: International Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies. (2022); 3(2): 610–630. https://doi.org/10.51798/sijis.v3i2.366

3.  V. Márquez I. Metaversos Y Educación: Second Life Como Plataforma Educativa. Revista ICONO 14. Revista Científica De Comunicación Y Tecnologías Emergentes. 2011; 9(2): 151-66. https://doi.org/10.7195/ri14.v9i2.30

4.  Gómez Cano CA, Sánchez Castillo V, Clavijo Gallego TA. Mapping the Landscape of Netnographic Research: A Bibliometric Study of Social Interactions and Digital Culture. Data & Metadata. 2023; 2:25. https://doi.org/10.56294/dm202325

FINANCING

None.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

AUTHORSHIP CONTRIBUTION

Conceptualization: Rubén González Vallejo

Writing - original draft: Rubén González Vallejo

Writing - revision and editing: Rubén González Vallejo