The metaverse at the service of training

On the basis of the information provided in our previous articles on what a metaverse is and and the controversies surrounding itand the controversies that surround it metavers in the service of training. Will employees have to be trained in new practices? Will training take place in this new world?

Metavers applied to the world of training opens up new perspectives in immersive pedagogy, and will have an impact on many professions in the coming years.

We consider here the entire field of study: face-to-face, e-learning, blended, and on-the-job.

The “Learning Metaverse”

Metavers and training: some reminders

The COVID health crisis has led to an acceleration in the development of new uses linked to digital technology, particularly in training as a whole, and therefore Open and Distance Learning (ODL), grouped together in what makes up ” e-learning “, defined by the French Ministry of Education as follows: ” Any training device that uses a local or wide area network or the Internet to disseminate, interact or communicate, including distance learning, in a distributed environment, accessing sources by downloading or viewing on the net. It may involve synchronous or asynchronous, tutored systems, self-study systems, or a combination of the above. E-learning is therefore the result of the combination of interactive and multimedia content, distribution media (PC, Internet, intranet, extranet), a set of software tools that enable the management of online training and tools for creating interactive training. Access to resources is thus considerably expanded, as are the possibilities for collaboration and interactivity “.

E-learning and the digital tools that make it up have therefore been placed at the heart of the news. While it’s a pity that the “EdTech Observatory” has disappeared in 2019, being dissolved on the site data.gouv.frsite, the “COVID-19” experiment has awakened the players in digital training.

The latest on “Learning Metavers”

Metavers in the service of training, learning and development (“Learning & Development”), will enable us to maintain this awakening, a major challenge coupled with the management of innovative projects and the accompaniment of change.

Du côté des acteurs de la formation professionnelle (apprentissage immersif : « immersive learning », apprentissage adaptatif : « adaptive learning »), mais aussi des agences et organismes de formation sur-mesure et/ou sur étagère), on imagine donc dans des publications de blogs :

• what/how their technology will fit into the metaverse;
• the expected benefits of metavers in training;
• future strategies to be developed for OFs and organizations.

Caution is often palpable. Nowadays, we need to remain vigilant, because when someone tries to ” sell you HR applications based on the metaverse, most of the time they’re based on virtual reality technology (with a headset, for example) and not on a real metaverse “. ” What we see today is not metavers: they are virtual reality platforms, immersive or not, that is to say, either with a helmet or on the computer – but we are not yet really in the metavers “, reminds Pierre MONCLOS (UNOW, 2022).

Having said that, here’s an approach that can be encouraged: the Kwark Education project/product, which recently launched its educational metaverse – ” MetaKwark “based on the virtual presence approach derived from cognitive science*, presenting an approach consisting of a ” Corporate Metaverse “.

We note, however, thattotal immersion (via VR and its headsets) is absent from this metaverse: a shortcoming that confirms the current global immaturity in building a training metaverse congruent with the definition of metaverse in the broadest sense. All the more so as the advantages of this have been demonstrated in HSE training courses.

Work on pedagogical innovation and its artifacts has shown the benefits of gamification, which is more easily integrated with VR, or how its use – which has sometimes become a prerequisite in the design phase – in training courses is highly relevant (changing levels, accessing a new mission, entering a new episode) and thus contributes to the learner’s success and skills development.

Metavers and training: from description to prescription

We propose that you make the following shift from a descriptive to a more prescriptive approach to the metaverse of training.

We seeaccess to the training metaverse as a marathon rather than a race against the clock.

Long-term thinking is a prerequisite, shared by many researchers, to avoid the potential pitfalls of technological innovation, but also to form alliances – not just partnerships – and invest.

The training meta-verse will not only be a matter of numbers (more than 1,400 people in videoconference at the same time, for example); numbers do not de facto determine quality. The human element must not be sidelined or forgotten in favor of technology alone, of the masses.

This new parallel journey must be considered in a socio-technical context. And adding to the virtual presence approach of the ” MetaKwark ” base the phenomenon of “remote presence” in e-learning (Jézégou, 2019**), can ultimately prove complementary and efficient.

What are the tools of the “Learning Metaverse”?

We can already include the tools of the general metaverse: virtual reality (VR headsets, sensory sensors), augmented reality, blockchain, interconnection tools and technologies, NFTs and other digital currencies.

But training tools in the strict sense? On the one hand, we have the current plethora of offerings, a new universe whose number of planets is not yet limited, and on the other, training, which is certainly a defined disciplinary field, but which has been reinventing itself over the past 30 years, by multiplying access, sources and supports, innovating technologically speaking, and surfing on NICTs.

Here is what will form the first base:

• training platforms (LMS)
• authoring tools (content creation – LCMS)
• Training Management Systems (TMS)
• the full range of digital learning methods: distance learning(e-learning, virtual classrooms/workshops, audio and video podcasts), hybrid learning (not forgetting face-to-face training, MOOCs and their cousins COOCs and SPOCs, social learning), immersive learning (such as Serious Games), all at the service of trainees, teachers, lecturers, trainers and business experts.

If numbers are not everything, neither is the multiplicity of tools. So, to avoid the legitimate backlash to which we are exposing ourselves (” Sure, it’s a catalog, a listing of ‘ Digital Learning ‘, but so what? “), the corollary of the tools would be the composition, the organization of this environment equipped with all these tools. What would this universe look like? The best way to get started is to watch the video below (excerpt from the opening scene of Ready Player One, Spielberg, 2018):

What would it consist of? Many planets, for sure:

• the ” e-learning ” planet of course;
• but also the ” podcast learn ” planet;
• the ” learning library ” planet where teachers, doctoral students, and trainers would come for inspiration;
• the ” meta-school ” planet, where we could imagine an advanced version of the GLOWBL tool, linked to MICROSOFT virtual classroom technologies;
• etc.

Planets, places specific to the theme, to the disciplinary field on which you want to increase your skills, transmit or even create knowledge.

Creating alliances around this common universe would also be part of the foundations of this training metaverse.

This ideation phase could extend and last, and would follow the improvement and specialization of digital training tools and environments as the technologies behind the scenes change and/or evolve, and as links with other metavers are possible, offering a constantly evolving ” learning metaverse “.

All the planets of our universe having not been found at the same time, it will surely be the same for the emergence of those which will compose the ” Learning Metaverse “.

Conclude… in the opening

Today, in the world of corporate training, there are few references, case studies or hindsight on the advent of metavers, whether professional or academic.

So there’s plenty of scope for improving what already exists, drawing inspiration from it and imagining, envisioning, creating and developing a version of the training metaverse, over a “long period of time”, in collaboration rather than competition, by approaching it from a socio-technical perspective.

Lastly, the idea of a hybrid ” Learning Metavers ” in terms of both access and use can also begin to take shape.

The film has only just begun; its script will be expanded, rewritten, shot and turned over in the months and years to come.

If you’re interested in innovation in training, the SQORUS teams are here to help. Do not hesitate to contact us to discuss it.

* the feeling of self-presence, the feeling of spatial presence, the feeling of virtual co-presence (virtual interactions with others).

** “the result of a mediated relational dynamic between learners, between learners and teacher (or trainer) within a digital communication space.”

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