Week 8 - Open-ended Reflection

 The article I chose to delve into was An Introduction to Learning in the Metaverse. I picked this article because I felt it had more relevance to both the k-12 system I work in, as well as in the community college setting. Before I even began reading the article, my first question was, is this relevant and accessible for low-income, first-generation students, and our underserved and underrepresented youth within the community. Another question I had before delving too deeply into the content was how our faculty are being given release time to learn and implement new technologies into the classroom. A third thought I had, is how is this accessible for those with learning disabilities, and then, what about the ELL students within the community – does this allow them to interact and be successful in the learning content. 

To first understand the article, it was important to define the Metaverse. No, it’s not the Metaverse In “The Flash” that both DC comics and Marvel reference, or is it? The Metaverse is a decentralized network of virtual spaces where the users can socialize, learn, and play. Using the Metaverse can enable the creation of both the interactive and virtual equivalent of the physical worlds that allows us to explore through extended reality (XR) platforms. 

For those that don’t know, XR means “extended reality” or the “cross reality” and is the term for immersive technologies that span a completely computer-generated world to the completely physical world. These technologies include an augmented reality (AR), a mixed reality (MR) and virtual reality (VR). Each technology has different requirements for use. AR has the easiest accessibility because it can be used through the smartphone. Other technologies will require specific hardware to deliver the content. While I question how our underserved and underrepresented students will be able to access this technology outside of the brick-and-mortar style education, I realize this will build upon critical thinking and reasoning skills, metacognition, collaboration, digital and global citizenship and many other skills.  

XR can increase interest and motivation in learning because it can provide more hands-on learning environments that students have more realistic experiences to interact with and observe. XR can also adapt to each user’s environment. I haven’t had hands on experience yet with this, but I hope it is interactive for the ELL learners and doesn’t create another learning barrier.  

XR does have limitations, that helped to answer some of my initial questions about accessibility. There are time constraints with BR and MR, and some people can experience nausea I as little as 10 minutes with effects increasing with duration of exposure. XR technologies are also not easy for those with limited mobility in their hands to use. There are also barriers to cultures who do not allow additional items over the head coverings and certain hair styles. This includes wearing a headset in some cultures. The cost of this form of immersive learning can be expensive, and as a result cannot be accessible to certain demographic groups.  

One line that sticks out to me within the document is that “many are not provided with proper training or agency to acquire the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge needed to successfully embed the technology into the teaching practice.” (Pimentel, D. 2022, p9) This also poses a problem because if our educators aren’t versed in the technology they are using, then how do we expect our students to be able to effectively engage in and learn the content. When implementing learning technologies into the classroom, teachers should be given leave time to learn and engage in the software, but there should also be a school-wide, on-going professional development for teacher to continue to learn and implement the material into the classroom. Another thing that I think about, is that women have a harder time adjusting to virtual reality, and it’s because the devices are calibrated more for white men than for women for people of color. This is something that MUST change. The white male privilege needs to end its era. It’s time for people of color and our women to step forward and prevail in this society based on your socio-economic status, the color of your skin, and your sex at birth. I apologize and will step off my soapbox for now.  

I will continue to explore the various learning technologies available to students. I will also continue to evaluate how they apply to the underserved, underrepresented students in the k-12 as well as higher education. It is important to me to engage students not just on the content by applying different pedagogical learning styles, but also to ensure that what I want to do will benefit all learning groups, including those learning with challenges that impact how they show up and participate in the physical classroom.