The Future of Education

The last trend in technology is the upcoming Metaverse [1]. Metaverse represents a combination of virtual and augmented technology. With this technology, users will be able to immerse into a fully digital environment by obtaining a virtual identity through a digital avatar and act as this was a real world. They can meet other users, shop, buy real estate, visit bars and restaurants, even flirt. Metaverse can be applied in several aspects of life such as (among others): Economy (Metaverse is entering into the cryptocurrency field), finance [3], social life, working environment, healthcare, real estate [4], and education [2]. The last 2 and a half year, during the COVID-19 pandemic, universities made immediate use of e-learning technologies, providing students with access to online learning content and platforms. Previous considerations on how to better integrate the technology to universities or how the institutions can be better prepared in terms of infrastructures, were vanished almost immediately due to the necessity of immediate actions towards the need of social distance and the global health [5]. The present study proposes a framework of university students’ metaverse technologies in education acceptance and intention to use. The study is based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) [6,7]. The objectives of the study are to analyze the relationship of students’ intention to use metaverse in education technologies (hereafter named Edumetaverse) in correlation with selected constructs of TAM such as: Attitude (ATT), Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Ease of Use (PE), Self-efficacy (SE) of the metaverse technologies in education, and Subjective Norm (SN). The present study develops a structural model of Edumetaverse acceptance. This model will be useful to universities’ managers, policy makers and professors to better incorporate the upcoming metaverse technology. The present study tests (if supported) the correlations among the aforementioned constructs. Preliminary results show a hesitance of use of Edumetaverse from university students. Self-efficacy and Subjective Norm affect Attitude and Perceived Usefulness positively, but on the other side, there is no strong correlation between Perceived Ease of Use and Attitude or Perceived Usefulness and Attitude. Authors believe that the weak ties among the studies constructs have to do with the lack of knowledge of what really Edumetaverse really is, and which are its advantages of use. 

Keywords: Metaverse, Technology Acceptance Model, University Students, e-learning, Edumetaverse 

References

[1] Dionisio, John David N., William G. Burns III, and Richard Gilbert. "3D virtual worlds and the metaverse: Current status and future possibilities." ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR) 45.3 (2013): 1-38.

[2] Collins, Chris. "Looking to the future: Higher education in the Metaverse." Educause Review 43.5 (2008): 51-63.

[3] Ko, Sun Young, et al. "A Study on the Typology and Advancement of Cultural Leisure-Based Metaverse." KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering 10.8 (2021): 331-338.

[4] Terdiman, Daniel. The entrepreneur's guide to Second Life: Making money in the metaverse. John Wiley & Sons, 2007.

[5] Alqahtani, Ammar Y., and Albraa A. Rajkhan. "E-learning critical success factors during the covid-19 pandemic: A comprehensive analysis of e-learning managerial perspectives." Education sciences 10.9 (2020): 216.

[6] Rauniar, Rupak, et al. "Technology acceptance model (TAM) and social media usage: an empirical study on Facebook." Journal of Enterprise Information Management (2014).

[7] Marangunić, Nikola, and Andrina Granić. "Technology acceptance model: a literature review from 1986 to 2013." Universal access in the information society 14.1 (2015): 81-95.