Beyond the Hype and the Crisis: A Possible Metaverse for Education

This chapter analyses the main features of the Metaverse from an educational perspective in the light of its current stage of development and, in particular, in the light of the crisis it is currently going through. The practical difficulties of implementation, linked to its complexity as an immersive virtual environment, and the concomitance of the AI explosion have slowed down the adoption of the Metaverse, diverting the investments of large technology companies towards AI applications and their integration into the technology we use daily. This, however, does not mean that the Metaverse will have no future, because it is highly unlikely that the technology will no longer offer us the possibility of fully immersive experiences. Rather, it will probably undergo reconfiguration. Its constituent elements, therefore, will not change. For this reason, those involved in education have the task of analysing them and assessing their potential for improving teaching practices, anticipating future developments in terms of methodological foundations for sustainable and beneficial use of the Metaverse. In particular, the researcher has the task of identifying the educational segments, target groups and contents that best lend themselves to an educational treatment based on the Metaverse.