Tech
Why The Education Sector Remains Bullish On Metaverse
7,000 Japanese high school students use virtual reality to learn (Representative image).
Asian educators are exploring the metaverse, a virtual reality for social interaction, despite the technology's struggle to fit into the physical world.
Korean and Taiwanese schools and organizations are embracing the metaverse in instruction, using VR to innovate teaching methods and impart knowledge beyond the classroom.
South Korea's Pohang University of Science and Technology aims to become a "metaversity," with digital classrooms offering training courses in cyberspace.
POSTECH, a renowned university, facilitates 1,400 undergraduates and 2 500 postgraduates. Its research-oriented curriculum engages 820 researchers along with 450 faculty members in various fields including energy, material, basic science, ICT, and healthcare.
POSTECH spends $300k annually on equipment and educational programmes and has $500k for metaverse classrooms.
7,000 Japanese high school students use VR to learn.
The satisfaction rate for VR participants surveyed the previous year was 98.5 per cent, according to the schools. However, it may take time for users to adapt to the VR environment, and the extra weight of the headset can discourage some users.
South Korea intends to spend $166 million to support metaverse development, which includes creating a "Metaverse Academy" to educate young professionals in the field, according to the science ministry.
Last year, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged to encourage the use of diverse technologies, including the metaverse, to facilitate digital transformation in public and private domains.
Singapore equips students with digital skills for future jobs through a national program promoting digital literacy.
Meta, formerly known as Facebook and rebranded as a metaverse-focused company, has failed to prove the practicality of virtual reality, leading to uncertainty surrounding its mass adoption.
KPMG International's 2022 survey of executives from technology, media, and telecommunications revealed that just a third of responders felt their companies were ready with platforms for metaverse app development.
