Entrepreneur, Technology Evangelist, Business Strategist. CEO & Co-Founder of Visartech Inc., Software Product Development Agency.
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Businesses look for fast and practical skills when providing corporate education to their teams, and that’s what learners wish to gain when choosing an eLearning platform.
However, no matter how fantastic online learning tools can be, making sure it helps learners get excellent performance might be a challenge. The new approaches to traditional learning tools aren’t a solution since people are used to online education. They won’t be surprised by another video lesson with an animated presentation.
Here comes the metaverse. Surely, a virtual world is still an online instrument. Yet compared to the regular ones, the metaverse is immersive, which entails lots of opportunities for deep learning. Learners are able to interact with others in a virtual environment similar to how they do in real life. The results of the Skill Immersion Lab program showed that over 85% of students were more confident when communicating with others after taking deeply engaging virtual training.
The Essential Elements Of Any Educational Metaverse
The educational metaverse is not only about engagement and interactivity; a good virtual world is adjusted to specific business requirements and is convenient for learners. Once you decide to make an educational metaverse for your own business, keep in mind three main points:
1. Smart internal logic. Like any other software solution, metaverse also involves a robust backend structure. That’s why before getting down to the metaverse development, spend enough time defining core features and functionalities.
2. Rich user experience. Create a virtual world that makes a positive impression. Think out every feature so that it’s easy to use. Such a user-centric approach will help build trust and loyalty toward a brand.
3. Virtual world customization. Create a virtual world that meets your brand’s style. Starting from metaverse design to the way the support team communicates with users. Adjust the virtual world atmosphere to the one you keep in your brand community.
Educational Metaverse To Level Up The Existing eLearning Marketplaces
Interactive content, compelling activities and up-to-date functionalities—these components are what make an eLearning marketplace successful. However, the key to getting a leading edge in the eLearning market is providing innovative and practical experiences for learners. The metaverse has the potential to help with that.
That’s why some of the most known educational marketplaces have already started incorporating metaverse into their eLearning business product. For example, edX, in partnership with Meta, is going to launch an entire learning ecosystem. The edX virtual world will include immersive learning material and training sessions. But let’s consider all the ways eLearning marketplaces can use metaverse to level up their educational solutions.
• Simulation training: Students can learn from lived experiences, particularly when it comes to studying first aid or car driving. Such training sessions eliminate the number of possible accidents.
• Complex visual models: Lots of learning subjects include things that should be seen or touched, such as human anatomy or the solar system. In the metaverse, it’s possible to complement the course with 3D objects, offering students a complex perception of what they’re studying.
• Virtual time travel: Implementation of this feature allows users to jump into any timeline. For instance, when learning about some historical era, they can choose any ancient city to visit in order to observe the people and the environment of that time.
• Course upgrade: The existing video lessons can be transformed into interactive experiences, such as a teacher-avatar, virtual board and real-life objects around. Learners can, therefore, attend a practical offline lesson in the metaverse.
As can be seen, the metaverse helps to roleplay real-world cases by using realistic 3D simulations. It bears a striking resemblance to the immersive virtual reality environments presented in Star Trek known as holodecks.
Educational Metaverse Transforming Corporate eLearning
Corporate eLearning has become an essential part of a company's growth. In fact, 42% of companies using online educational instruments generate more income. By taking advantage of educational virtual worlds, businesses can achieve greater results. Educational metaverse opens up the following opportunities for corporate eLearning:
• Immersive hiring process: Companies can create test activities in a virtual environment to accelerate and improve the hiring process. For example, they can check candidates' core competencies by observing their behavior patterns, decisions and reactions in different situational games. This can help to make sure whether a potential candidate is a good fit for a company.
• Onboarding: According to conventional wisdom, it takes at least three months for a candidate to complete onboarding. However, practical virtual training in the metaverse might speed it up. Particularly, if it’s a remote company. In several training sessions, new employees learn about the company’s processes, structure, products, etc.
• Corporate training: Providing a team with effective learning accounts can help employees' performance. For example, employees need to practice all possible ways to communicate with demanding customers. In the educational metaverse, they can harness these skills by taking part in virtual meeting sessions.
• Team-building activities: The importance of interactive and immersive team-building events became crucial in remote work environments. Using 3D avatars helps teammates experience almost real-life interaction with each other.
Putting It All Together
With the world going digital, businesses are discovering new ways to deliver their products and services. It’s quite likely that, sooner than you might think, companies across different industries will have their own metaverses.
The eLearning market is no exception. Individual businesses, for example, might use the educational metaverse to improve corporate learning and discover new ways to help their teams perform better. Along the way, companies should keep an eye on eLearning marketplaces as they scale and provide learners with practical immersive experiences.
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