The universe is developing rapidly on the horizon of science and technology. What does the metauniverse mean for education? At the fifth Education Frontier Forum held recently, educators from home and abroad exchanged views on the nature, value, practical application and future development of the educational metauniverse. The following content will answer for you.

1、 What does the metauniverse mean?

The educational metauniverse has been put into practice at home and abroad, but it also faces some disputes, such as whether the sensory stimulation of sound and light can really promote students' imagination. At the forum, some experts suggested that, in the long run, the metauniverse would be a disruptive technology. We should strengthen the top-level design of the education metauniverse and the construction of new infrastructure for education, and incorporate the education metauniverse into the strategic action of education digitalization.

2、 Bring infinite possibilities to educational reform

Shang Junjie, Executive Director of the Learning Science Laboratory of the School of Education of Peking University and Chairman of the Special Committee for Educational Games of the China Educational Technology Association, said that the metauniverse technology helps to realize the seamless connection between real and virtual, bringing infinite possibilities to educational reform.

Xu Xin, a professor of the Department of Information Management of East China Normal University, believes that with the continuous improvement of the development of the educational metauniverse scene, people have expanded more in the integration of cognitive body and environment than before, and can achieve learning by doing. In addition, previous studies focused on real situations, practical situations and cultural situations, emphasizing where to learn. The metauniverse can make up for the situation that was not suitable before.

At present, there have been many practical cases in the educational metauniverse. The artificial intelligence laboratory of Renho University in South Korea proposed the metauniverse of Boeing 737 aircraft maintenance training and education, providing guidance manuals, 3D models, 3D simulators and aircraft maintenance knowledge. The combination of aircraft components is reproduced in digital space, which greatly saves training costs.

In order to standardize the diagnosis and treatment of primary hypothyroidism, NetDragon and Fujian Medical University have developed a metauniverse education game for medical training. The game program includes VR, AI, 3D, audio and video technology. Blockchain technology can be added as needed. Learners can only download and install applications to continue education and training on the PC or VR side of Window7 or above operating systems.

Chengdu Jinniu Experimental School has developed the Liren Maker Online Learning Space. According to Liu Haibin, a senior teacher of Chengdu Jinniu Experimental School, this space is independently developed, built, operated and maintained by open source software. Among them, the virtual reality space adopts the open source ecology of "My" game and integrates the cutting-edge technology of maker education and VR virtual reality technology. In a Maker course, students turn the satellite image of Mount Emei into a mountain model and virtual.

3、 Promote the development of educational metauniverse by learning science

The Shanghai Institute of Intelligent Education of East China Normal University is promoting the pilot project of the metauniverse of science education in primary and secondary schools, which can meet the needs of a variety of teaching scenarios and create an immersive, interactive and diverse education metauniverse in all directions. When applied to the course of solid geometry for primary and secondary school students, the test ground once wondered whether to present solid geometry to students in 3D space, so that students can easily receive relevant training. As a result, the teacher of the Mathematics Department put forward a different view that this would limit the students' spatial imagination. This made Xu Xin reflect, and also made the project of the metauniverse test ground of science education in primary and secondary schools more prudent.

The conclusion is probably that immersion is not equal to concentration. Shang Junjie also stressed that we must pay attention to promoting the development of educational metauniverse by learning science. "Learning science studies how people learn and how they can promote effective learning. There have been many studies that tell us that only applying technology can not really promote learning. Then using the metauniverse can certainly promote learning?" Shang Junjie said. Another reality is that students may understand and accept the metauniverse better than teachers.

Jiang Li, director of the Center for Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Future Education at Stanford University, said that almost 90% of users on the major platforms of the metauniverse abroad are children, while adults are rare. In primary and secondary schools in the United States, science and technology and IT teachers' learning progress in the Meta Universe Project is slower than that of students. "So in the yuan universe, teachers are not teachers. At least in primary and secondary schools, what I see is that children are teachers and teachers are students, so teachers can't keep up, not students." Jiang Li said.

The educational metauniverse also faces many unknowns and difficulties in the exploration process. It needs to measure the tension between technological thinking and educational science and find the best solution. Jiang Yu, associate researcher of the Education Technology and Resource Development Center of the Ministry of Education, pointed out that there are three obvious challenges in the process of technology education: the maturity of technology itself; The degree to which technology is transformed by educational characteristics; The dependence of technology users on technology will affect the process of technology development. "These three challenges are more obvious in the early stage of the exploration of the metauniverse, and different voices will be heard," said Jiang Yu.

4、 The application of metauniverse in basic education will be slow

If the metauniverse is normally applied to education, when will it be? Xu Xin believes that the application of metauniverse in basic education will be the slowest, because teenagers should be more cautious about the application of new technologies. But in the field of vocational education, it may be faster.

Jiang Yu said that UNESCO divided the application of educational information technology into four stages: starting, application, integration and innovation.

In the application of basic education technology in China, there is a saying that "four generations live together", that is, the application of technology is "research generation, pilot generation, promotion generation, popularization generation". All show that the development stages of educational technology are interrelated and progressive. Due to the changes in the external environment, the application of information technology has been evolving to a higher stage, but each stage cannot be separated and surpassed. " Jiang Yu said. Shang Junjie believes that we should strengthen the top-level design and long-term planning of the educational metauniverse.

summary

To sum up, it is necessary to integrate the educational metauniverse into the long-term planning and top-level design of educational informatization, gather future development goals and specific plans, and provide policy guidance for the healthy, orderly and sustainable development of the educational metauniverse. We should also promote the development of the educational metauniverse with the new infrastructure of education. Incorporate the education metauniverse into the strategic action plan of education digitalization, accelerate the construction of education private network, and promote the development of 5G, VR, AR, AI, blockchain and other technologies.