DREAMING OF FUTURE EDUCATIONAL POSSIBILITIES

Even though it seems Covid fell flat as a spur for educational innovation, the pandemic inspired "distance learning" could still serve a role in the future of education: as a contrast to learning in the "metaverse". 

If you're not familiar with the coming metaverse, it looks to be an advanced combination of apps, video games and virtual reality technology. The pitch is that you will be able to strap on a pair of goggles and enter into cyberspace, instantly transporting from one "location" to another at will, all the while interacting with the avatars of other individuals who are in the same spaces.

As a starting point, imagine the possibilities for virtual field trips. Instead of lecturing through a bland handout covering "Shakespeare's World", the English teacher could take an entire class into Shakespeare's Globe Theater for a 45 minute virtual tour. Imagine the difference in engagement and learning that would be! A guest speaker could address a science class virtually from her own lab as she works. 

The public school system is too dated, clunky and bureaucratic to jump on board quickly and broadly, so I am wondering if the metaverse might first take off among the homeschoolers. 

I can imagine some top teachers setting up their own virtual classrooms and charging by the head to attend class. Talk about "school choice"! 

Also, when homeschoolers can enter a virtual lab for science class and work alongside a virtual lab partner or enter a virtual gym and find a workout partner, the common criticism that they lack opportunities for meaningful interaction and socialization would become a thing of the past. Your kid could be sharing virtual classrooms with students from all parts of the globe. 

One of the biggest headaches and inefficiencies in the current public school system is all the repetition. I have had 75 students rotating through my classroom each day, spread over 4 separate periods. If I could deliver that content just once each day to all 75 at once, that would free up three hours to meet with students for individualized instruction. 

(Not to mention how useful it would be to mute various students throughout the entire class.) 

And could a student who answered a question incorrectly have a symbol pop up over their avatar's head that only I could see? And could I "walk up to" that student's avatar and have a private conversation with him or her that would be mute to other students in the class? If so, embarrassment over misunderstanding could become a thing of the past. 

I am just dreaming here. But who knows - maybe all these features and more are possible in the relatively near future.

Or maybe the metaverse will fizzle.