Learning in the Metaverse Environment: New Technology to Impact the Business World

So What Is This Technology?

Metaverse is another technology that L&D professionals will try to figure out how to use for company purposes.

What is it?

You've probably heard that Facebook recently changed its name to Meta. This is actually more than a name change; The technology called Metaverse is the future direction of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technology in particular.

Why does it matter?

This is very important if you are interested in how people will live and use technology in the next few years or decades.

But what is the "Metaverse" practically?

The term actually refers not to a specific type of technology, but to a broad perspective on how we interact with current and future technology. Metaverse is about fully integrating virtual reality and augmented reality into our daily technology applications. The “virtual” part is virtual worlds that continue to exist even when you are not there.

Metaverse can also bring digital elements to the real world using augmented reality technology. If that explanation didn't make much sense to you, you can watch The Matrix. This is the futuristic work of the Metaverse. is a possible representation. This movie reference makes Metaverse dystopian. Mitch Joel, author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, says of the possibilities of the Metaverse: "We're rapidly moving from a two-dimensional screen world to a three-dimensional one." If you think this is very futuristic and can only happen in movies, you are wrong.

Do you use Zoom or Microsoft Teams? Even if these platforms are not perfect examples of Metaverse, virtual meetings on these platforms are the infancy of Metaverse. The glasses that Google introduced in the past years will be back very soon, albeit in a different context. Even non-tech companies like IKEA are trying to develop Metaverse environments to sell their products and services. This is just the tip of the Metaverse iceberg. These companies develop products and services that are entirely Metaverse-based for your meetings, shopping, or various physical human interactions that we do without thinking right now.

Learning Opportunities

L&D professionals should be mindful of how they can use Metaverse technology for the benefit of their stakeholders and companies. As Mitch Joel puts it, "The fact that people can not only come together in a virtual environment but learn from each other, share experiences with each other, and truly see each other is a far greater breakthrough than what we are currently seeing in interactive technologies like Zoom calls." "When you look at areas like work and learning, Metaverse feels much closer to the near future and technology that Wired founder Kevin Kelly calls 'inevitable'." Those involved in workplace learning and training will, should, try to figure out how to apply the Metaverse in a way they can benefit from. Think of the endless learning opportunities that will arise if Metaverse technology one day reaches the maturity to deliver what it promises. Or that you can develop adaptable and safe work and situational environments for people to apply and practice their newly acquired knowledge.

Concerns About the Future

Is the Metaverse definitely the technology of the future? We can't be sure about this, but when we ask global tech giants, we get a definite yes. But we've all seen promising technologies stand aside before. As Mitch Joel puts it, "The main problem with the desire to build a business model for this technology lies in timing.

When will people adopt this technology? When will this technology be widely available to everyone? These questions were raised by Meta and others who jumped early into the Metaverse world." It's the same questions companies ask." Another frequently asked question on this topic is why and how especially L&D experts and academics will adopt Metaverse. Both domains may have issues with Metaverse for different reasons. This issue is more about embracing innovative concepts for academia. It's no secret that academia is often several steps behind in adopting new technology. During the pandemic, many educational institutions have launched as digital education to teach with students from Zoom or to teach with PowerPoint slides over Zoom and Teams. In L&D departments, on the other hand, the problem is not in adopting the technology, but in applying the technology correctly and beneficially.

L&D experts, like the trending technologies in the past, will introduce Metaverse to decision makers as a technology that will be a "solution" to all learning problems. Unfortunately, just like the implementation of past technologies, the Metaverse will either be misapplied or implemented in such a way that its full potential will not be exploited. When this happens, L&D experts will lose interest in the Metaverse and will start looking for the next "remedy". No one knows whether the Metaverse will be adopted by humans. The market and time will determine this. If you are following Metaverse for the learning field, we can say this: Insufficient adoption of Metaverse technology can lead to its implementation faster than it should be and, naturally, to misapplication.

What's next?

Metaverse will become more and more popular and will be a part of our lives just like the internet. Whether this will happen in five or twenty years is something we will discover over time. Of course, there is a possibility that Metaverse will not be successful. But in this case, other technologies similar to Metaverse will continue to emerge with different promises. Learning means change and progress. It is pointless to denigrate new technologies and try to avoid them.