Utilizing the Metaverse for Learner-Centered Constructivist Education in the Post-Pandemic Era: An Analysis of Elementary School Students

Effectiveness of Metaverse-Based Collaborative Learning in Nursing Education: A Mixed-Methods Study

BACKGROUND

Collaborative learning is an educational method widely used in nursing education that involves learners solving problems through teamwork. This study investigated the effects of using a metaverse virtual space for collaborative learning among nursing students.

METHOD

A nonequivalent control group posttest design was used, and focus group interviews were conducted. This mixed-methods study included second-year nursing students (n = 43) divided into two groups. The intervention group used metaverse methods for the group projects and the control group used traditional methods.

RESULTS

Satisfaction with collaborative learning and peer evaluation of team projects were significantly higher in the intervention group compared with the control group. Participants' learning experiences were categorized into "unwelcome changes in the learning environment," "discovering the potential of a learning environment that encourages participation," and "tips for building a metaverse learning environment."

CONCLUSION

Metaverse collaborative learning is a student-centered educational approach that fosters active interaction and addresses the shortcomings of traditional approaches. [J Nurs Educ. 2024;63(9):585-593.].

Enhancing learning motivation and academic achievement in nursing students through metaverse-based learning: A randomized controlled study

AIM

Generation Z students do not get much benefit from traditional distance education methods. Instead, they need new platforms and methods that will motivate them and increase their success.

METHODS

A randomized controlled study was performed on 42 students. The experimental group students were presented with metaverse, and the control group students were taught the distance education course.

RESULTS

In this study, in the students' Instructional Materials Motivation Survey, the mean scores of both the experimental and control groups exhibited no significant difference before the intervention. Regarding the effect of metaverse-based learning on students' Instructional Materials Motivation Survey, the mean score of the control group was 82.55 ± 13.18, and the mean score of the experimental group was 96.52 ± 9.54 and there was a significant difference between groups after the intervention. When the academic achievement levels of the groups were examined, it was determined that the experimental group scored 76.57 ± 13.33 and the control group received 64.40 ± 16.42 points. It was determined there was a significant difference between the groups in terms of learning motivation and academic achievement.

CONCLUSION

The study results show that the participants accepted the important role of metaverse as an effective learning method compared to traditional distance education methods. It is recommended to expand the use of metaverse in various fields of nursing education.

Learning and Instruction: How to Use Technology to Enhance Students' Learning Efficacy

Due to the rapid development of technology (see, e [...].

Unveiling the Metaverse: A survey of user perceptions and the impact of usability, social influence and interoperability

This review explores the Metaverse, focusing on user perceptions and emphasizing the critical aspects of usability, social influence, and interoperability within this emerging digital ecosystem. By integrating various academic perspectives, this analysis highlights the Metaverse's significant impact across various sectors, emphasizing its potential to reshape digital interaction paradigms. The investigation reveals usability as a cornerstone for user engagement, demonstrating how social dynamics profoundly influence user behaviors and choices within virtual environments. Furthermore, the study outlines interoperability as a paramount challenge, advocating for establishing unified protocols and technologies to facilitate seamless experiences across disparate Metaverse platforms. It advocates for the adoption of inclusive, ergonomically oriented designs aimed at enhancing user participation. It addresses the ethical and societal challenges posed by the Metaverse, including concerns related to digital harassment, invasive marketing practices, and breaches of privacy. Additionally, the review identifies existing gaps in the literature, particularly regarding the Metaverse's implications for healthcare, its impact on educational outcomes, and the urgent need for empirical data concerning its long-term effects on user psychology and behavior. By providing a comprehensive synthesis of the current understanding of user experiences and challenges within the Metaverse, this paper contributes to the academic dialogue, laying the groundwork for future research initiatives. It aims to steer the development of the Metaverse towards a trajectory that is ethically sound, socially responsible, inclusive, and aligned with societal expectations, thereby fostering a digital realm that upholds the highest standards of integrity and inclusivity.

Development of a Metaverse Online Learning System for Undergraduate Nursing Students: A Pilot Study

BACKGROUND

An active online learning environment enables 2-way communication wherein students can engage in problem-based learning and projects, unlike fragmented lecture-style classes.

PURPOSE

This pilot study aimed to develop a metaverse-based online learning system and evaluate its usability.

METHODS

A rapid prototyping model and Gather.town was used to design and develop a metaverse classroom. Participants were 10 nursing students from a college in South Korea. To evaluate usability, 10 tasks were configured and 2 pilot tests were conducted. The degree of difficulty, time required to perform tasks, and students' experience were investigated.

RESULTS

The Metaverse for Education of Nursing Students was successfully completed, incorporating student feedback and addressing identified areas for improvement.

CONCLUSION

This study reflects a learner-centered educational environment through the direct participation in the development process of the instructors who conducted the lectures. The metaverse space can be widely applied in creative nursing education in the future.

Assessment of a virtual prosthetic case planning environment for dental education - A multicentric analysis

OBJECTIVES

The aim of the present study was the multicentric assessment of the virtual prosthetic case planning environment (VCPE), which relocates patient planning into the virtual space in dental education.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The VCPE is separated into two rooms: a virtual entry area where the user can choose between 10 different prosthetic case plans of ascending complexity, and a virtual patient case planning room. In spring term 2022, the use of virtual case planning was voluntarily assessed in four different German dental schools (DSs) from the perspective of both lecturers and students. The assessment was performed afterwards using a questionnaire. Data were analysed using Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, exploratory data analysis, Fisher-Freeman-Halton test, and exact Fisher test. Reliability was assessed with Cronbach Alpha test (α < 0.05).

RESULTS

A total of 59 lecturers and 63 students were included. There were 38.5% male, 60.7% female, and 0.8% diverse participants. The mean age of the lecturers was 36.2 ± 9.0 years and of the students 24.3 ± 3.0 years. The VCPE was assessed as good, yet the evaluations between either the DSs or between the lecturers and students were significantly different.

CONCLUSIONS

Even though for some assessment criteria significantly different results between the four DS were observed, the majority of participants evaluated the VCPE positively and recommended them for teaching. The virtual reality as a teaching method for teaching prosthetic case planning for the further preparation of the students for the later professional life can be considered as helpful.

The role of metaverse on sexual health of people with disabilities: narrative review

Metaverse is the implementation of an Internet-based hypothetical meta-universe, which should facilitate an immersive experience in meeting people, working, shopping and other leisure activities. Immersive reality makes it possible to feel involved in a virtual environment using the mechanism of the "embodied simulations", i.e., the capacity to evoke a sense of presence in a specific reality, whether real or imagined. The growing interest in the metaverse suggests exploring how this new kind of communicative space could be used to provide and guarantee sexual entertainment and/or education for people with disabilities. Through a thematic analysis, we aimed to define the theoretical framework and analyze scientific literature on this subject. Our purpose is to provide a comprehensive picture of the use of metaverse as a tool for sexuality, and of the possible benefits of such technologies for people with disabilities. To this end, we have also discussed a major topic, related to the Sexual Assistants, examining how their possible application can be implemented within the context of augmented reality. Our study further explores the importance of the metaverse in sexual education. Finally, we addressed the issue of cyber security as well as possible threats and negative consequences linked to metaverse misuse.

CardioVerse: The cardiovascular medicine in the era of Metaverse

The recent pandemic launched an acceleration in adopting telemedicine by cardiovascular health and triggered the flourishing of technological advancements, such as the metaverse, which is a novel interactive mix of digital worlds that leverages augmented reality with virtual reality. The CardioVerse represents a theoretical term for the embracement of the metaverse by cardiovascular medicine, encompassing the endless possibilities as well as the challenges that it holds and introduces new dimensions to disease education, prevention and diagnosis. Its applications are numerous, notably in enhancing medical visits, assisting cardiovascular interventions and reshaping the way medical education is provided. Although obstacles are expected in diverse domains such as security, technical, legislative and regulatory, the utilization of non-fungible tokens as a security asset for patient data appears as potential solution.

"Extending the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to Predict University Students' Intentions to Use Metaverse-Based Learning Platforms"

Metaverse, which combines a number of information technologies, is the Internet of the future. A media for immersive learning, metaverse could set future educational trends and lead to significant reform in education. Although the metaverse has the potential to improve the effectiveness of online learning experiences, metaverse-based educational implementations are still in their infancy. Additionally, what factors impact higher education students' adoption of the educational metaverse remains unclear. Consequently, the aim of this study is to explore the main factors that affect higher education students' behavioral intentions to adopt metaverse technology for education. This study has proposed an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to achieve this aim. The novelty of this study resides in its conceptual model, which incorporates both technological, personal, and inhibiting/enabling factors. The empirical data were collected via online questionnaires from 574 students in both private and public universities in Jordan. Based on the PLS-SEM analysis, the study identifies perceived usefulness, personal innovativeness in IT, and perceived enjoyment as key enablers of students' behavioral intentions to adopt the metaverse. Additionally, perceived cyber risk is found as the main inhibitor of students' metaverse adoption intentions. Surprisingly, the effect of perceived ease of use on metaverse adoption intentions is found to be insignificant. Furthermore, it is found that self-efficacy, personal innovativeness, and perceived cyber risk are the main determinants of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. While the findings of this study contribute to the extension of the TAM model, the practical value of these findings is significant since they will help educational authorities understand each factor's role and enable them to plan their future strategies.

Metaverse applied to musculoskeletal pathology: Orthoverse and Rehabverse

The Metaverse is 'an integrated network of 3D virtual worlds.' It incorporates digitally created realities into the real world, involves virtual copies of existing places and changes the physical reality by superimposing digital aspects, allowing its users to interact with these elements in an immersive, real-time experience. The applications of the Metaverse are numerous, with an increasing number of experiences in the field of musculoskeletal disease management. In the field of medical training, the Metaverse can help facilitate the learning experience and help develop complex clinical skills. In clinical care, the Metaverse can help clinicians perform orthopedic surgery more accurately and safely and can improve pain management, the performance of rehabilitation techniques and the promotion of healthy lifestyles. Virtualization can also optimize aspects of healthcare information and management, increasing the effectiveness of procedures and the functioning of organizations. This optimization can be especially relevant in departments that are under significant care provider pressure. However, we must not lose sight of the fundamental challenges that still need to be solved, such as ensuring patient privacy and fairness. Several studies are underway to assess the feasibility and safety of the Metaverse.

The Evolution of Intelligence: Analysis of the Journal of Intelligence and Intelligence

What are the current trends in intelligence research? This parallel bibliometric analysis covers the two premier journals in the field: Intelligence and the Journal of Intelligence (JOI) between 2013 and 2022. Using Scopus data, this paper extends prior bibliometric articles reporting the evolution of the journal Intelligence from 1977 up to 2018. It includes JOI from its inception, along with Intelligence to the present. Although the journal Intelligence's growth has declined over time, it remains a stronghold for traditional influential research (average publications per year = 71.2, average citations per article = 17.07, average citations per year = 2.68). JOI shows a steady growth pattern in the number of publications and citations (average publications per year = 33.2, average citations per article = 6.48, total average citations per year = 1.48) since its inception in 2013. Common areas of study across both journals include cognitive ability, fluid intelligence, psychometrics-statistics, g-factor, and working memory. Intelligence includes core themes like the Flynn effect, individual differences, and geographic IQ variability. JOI addresses themes such as creativity, personality, and emotional intelligence. We discuss research trends, co-citation networks, thematic maps, and their implications for the future of the two journals and the evolution and future of the scientific study of intelligence.

Systematic literature review: The adaptation of distance learning process during the COVID-19 pandemic using virtual educational spaces in metaverse

Virtual education has started to grab interest since technology emerges in everything in our life. Metaverse is one of the technologies that has been conceived since the late 90s and is currently being renewed and renovated to suit current changes. Yet, many teachers and students still do not know how to utilize Metaverse to create a new atmosphere in the learning process. Therefore, this study aims to show the results of using Metaverse in the form of virtual space in the educational field and how teachers and students respond to the process. In this study, the authors would like to conduct a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) on the advantages and disadvantages of virtual educational spaces in Metaverse based on many previous studies related to this topic. Survey results conducted by previous studies show that students mostly enjoy using Metaverse as their learning method and can comprehend several lessons better when using Metaverse than traditional learning- textbook-based and face-to-face learning. Unfortunately, only several studies focus on finding preferred subjects to teach using the Metaverse and for which educational level this method suits best. In general, the authors conclude that Metaverse has excellent potential in the future to be explored profoundly in the education field due to the development of skills in the use of technology and a significant increase in student practice scores. However, the guidance of teachers and parents is still needed so that students can avoid the disadvantages.

Quality improvement path and countermeasures of visual arts for future metaverse: Based on G1-entropy value method

As the most popular art category in the contemporary art field, visual art is no longer limited to traditional art categories such as painting, sculpture and photography, but develops into more diverse forms of expression with the continuous iteration of science and technology. As the most cutting-edge and popular concept in the world today, the research, development and application of science and technology have attracted close attention from all walks of life, including management, economy, transportation, education and teaching. However, there is no in-depth and clear research between the concept of metaverse and the concept of metaverse in the art field, especially in the visual art field. We believe that visual art creation under the background of the metaverse will be an important direction of art development in the future, and will also greatly promote the improvement of the visual presentation quality of the metaverse. Therefore, we focus our research in this study on the issue of visual art quality assessment and propose a theory and method for assessing the quality of visual art in a future-oriented metaverse. This method is based on the G1 entropy method in fuzzy mathematics. In our research, we have built a visual art field architecture based on the metaverse. Considering the difference between the traditional visual art evaluation index system and the index system after the introduction of the concept of the future metaverse, we have built a brand-new visual art quality evaluation index system facing the future metaverse. This indicator is composed of four first-class indicators and twelve second-class indicators. We combine the subjective and objective weighting G1 entropy method as the method basis for the quantitative calculation results of the indicator weight. On the basis of quantitative analysis, we propose three-point countermeasures for improving the visual art quality of the future metaverse. Our research makes up for the gap in the theory of visual art quality evaluation after the introduction of the concept of the future metaverse, innovates the analysis of new concepts and the improvement of old methods, builds a new scene of organic combination of new technology and traditional visual art, and provides a new idea for the improvement of visual art quality in the future at home and abroad, It can also provide experience and theoretical support for the academic topic of similar art quality evaluation research at home and abroad.

Novel pathway regarding good cosmetics brands by NFT in the metaverse world

BACKGROUND

Globally, the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) is an incomplete homework task. The society has transitioned into a non-face-to-face society due to COVID-19. Thus, research was conducted focusing on a new market in the cosmetic market using non-fungible token (NFT) in the metaverse era, a virtual world that is starting anew.

PURPOSE

This study is an empirical analysis focused on introducing the new start of luxury cosmetics brands using the metaverse world to good consumption using NFT.

METHOD

These data were reviewed to identify agreement between each section and unique guiding areas. The 39 papers were finally considered appropriate for evaluating the research objectives as follows in relation to the search criteria. This can be done through the PRISMA flow diagram to determine how many records were identified, included, and excluded.

RESULT

Good consumption in the future beauty market is vital, following COVID-19. Therefore, this narrative review article concluded that, only good, irreplaceable brands that utilize NFT fitting the luxury brand strategy and consuming good money will survive when the metaverse cosmetic era opened.

CONCLUSION

By identifying new changes in the global metaverse world and cosmetics market using NFT, this study can be used as an important marketing material in the metaverse cosmetics market.

Dynamics of Metaverse and Medicine: A Review Article

Metaverse is a relatively new concept of technological advancement for the world. Various sectors such as finance, entertainment, and communication are the forefront admirers of these innovations. Alongside these, the field of medicine has recently been on the list of metaverse-benefiting domains. Various aspects of medicine, such as educational and teaching purposes, surgical simulations, conferences and meetings, awareness programmes, research programmes, and many more, are under research. Depending on the requirement, the metaverse is a versatile platform which can be modulated accordingly, thus providing a flexible tool for medical development. In this review article, these domains are discussed in depth along with the pros and cons of the same, which positively affect the productivity of the field of medicine. All these headings have been through minimal study and experimentation, and the results obtained from them are satisfactory in terms of study. The primary purpose of the review article is to provide a suggestive statement regarding domains of the metaverse and their usage as a vital tool of operation in the future of medicine.

MetaOntology: Toward developing an ontology for the metaverse

Metaverse is now perceived as a celebrated future version of the internet. In this new anticipated virtual universe, interconnected digital platforms leveraged by augmented, extended, and virtual realities will elevate users' immersive experiences through multidimensional interactions. In particular, users will be offered a broad spectrum of digital activities within a newly immersive setting mediated by technology. This study aims to design a domain ontology (MetaOntology) for the metaverse to provide an explicit specification of relevant state-of-the-art technologies and infrastructure. A four-step methodological approach is followed to construct the designated ontology. Due to the immaturity of the metaverse, MetaOntology is not intended to furnish a complete outlook on the domain, rather it aims to establish a cornerstone so as to facilitate future efforts in building extant versions of this ontology considering the evolvement of relevant technologies.

Social Virtual Reality: Neurodivergence and Inclusivity in the Metaverse

Whereas traditional teaching environments encourage lively and engaged interaction and reward extrovert qualities, introverts, and others with symptoms that make social engagement difficult, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), are often disadvantaged. This population is often more engaged in quieter, low-key learning environments and often does not speak up and answer questions in traditional lecture-style classes. These individuals are often passed over in school and later in their careers for not speaking up and are assumed to not be as competent as their gregarious and outgoing colleagues. With the rise of the metaverse and democratization of virtual reality (VR) technology, post-secondary education is especially poised to capitalize on the immersive learning environments social VR provides and prepare students for the future of work, where virtual collaboration will be key. This study seeks to reconsider the role of VR and the metaverse for introverts and those with ASD. The metaverse has the potential to continue the social and workplace changes already accelerated by the pandemic and open new avenues for communication and collaboration for a more inclusive audience and tomorrow.