Associate Professor Dr. Markus Rach participated and presented at the 1st International Conference on Virtual Mobility of All – Teaching and Learning in a Connected World, in a truly virtual fashion. His contribution, part of the tech solution track of the conference, centered around the topic of <Metaverse, virtual spaces and XR as alternate education spaces!?>.
To deliver the presentation, Dr. Rach made use of the metaverse and asked conference participants to join him in his own Metaverse conference space.
Dr. Rach highlighted how current technological developments, including photorealistic avatars, metahumans and generative AI impact virtual spaces and human interactions in virtual spaces.
As such, the metaverse conference space immersed participants into the world of metaverse to gain a first-hand experience into immersive worlds and the innovation potential current and upcoming technology holds for educators across the globe. Some of these application potentials include immersive learning, decentralized and geo-bridging delivery, time savings for participants and much more.
However, to unlock the potential of immersive spaces, relevant infrastructural needs have to be met. Thus, participants did not only experience virtual spaces innovative nature, but also their very limitations. Since no participant had access to a Head Mounted Display (HMD) at the time of presentation to truly immerse into the setup metaverse space via Virtual Reality (VR), participants experienced a virtual world through a 2D screen and conventional controls. This limited their sense of immersion and thus the level of presence that can be achieved.
Further, Dr. Rach, who has hosted various metaverse classes internationally and staged the world’s first ever Sino-Swiss Metaverse class, which was made immortal as a NFT in the blockchain, also highlighted the need for content and curriculum adaptations to create true value for both educators and students.
Thus, while virtual spaces, including the notion of an avatar controlled metaverse, remains somewhat innovative, futuristic, cool, and interesting, it does not come without limitations that require careful consideration.
If you are interested in metaverse and virtual applications for both education and marketing purposes, Dr. Rach is very happy to welcome you to his virtual office for a casual chat, including a virtual cup of tea. For more contact Dr. Rach on WeChat:
Picture/Text: Markus Rach
