Gaston Ternes

Education and metaverse, where are we going?

“Metaverse” is growing at a breakneck pace around the world, including in Luxembourg. Are we living today in an era similar to that when the Internet very quickly conquered the field? And what does this mean for education? This is the question that Gaston Ternes addresses in his carte blanche.

 

The prefix “meta” means “beyond” and “verse” refers to “universe”. Experts describe the metaverse as the next quantum leap towards Internet 4.0, 3D virtual spaces linked together, giving us a personal universe. Technologies such as cryptocurrencies, blockchain as a ledger, 5G networks and the exponential growth of simulation software are already virtual spaces that shape our daily lives.

Our smartphone would be replaced within 5 to 10 years by holograms, headsets and glasses which would give us access to our personal universe, “everything, all the time, everywhere”. New compelling content is available to us, interactive, collaborative, immersive in a world where digital and physical merge.

As is often the case, technology is both an opportunity and a trap. Social media has already turned our world upside down. The impact of the Metaverse will be incomparably greater. The question is whether, this time, we do not want to prepare ourselves better for the new reality than at the time of the invasion by social media. Who will also govern this universe? Will they always be big companies that want to make money above all? We would do well to discuss as a society what the Metaverse of the future should look like.

For education, Metaverse of course offers a great opportunity: active and adapted to everyone, it is easy to immerse yourself in the content you wish to acquire, repetitions are possible at any time, you can learn in small bites; these are the components that neuroscience research qualifies as effective in the learning process.

Technology in itself is not bad, but it is the use we make of it that is decisive: do we have control over our lives or are we only controlled and remote-controlled?

One thing is certain: no one knows what 2050 will look like! As Yuval Harari says so well in his “21 lessons for the 21st century”: “The only constant is change”. Humanity is facing unprecedented revolutions. How can we prepare ourselves and our children for this? The 4 “C” skills “thinking critically, communicating, cooperating and being creative” are certainly important. But Harari recognizes another as particularly important: It is “the ability to resist change, learn new things and maintain mental balance in unusual situations.”