The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the incorporation of digital technologies into education and left an open question: how can we sustain meaningful learning experiences when some students are in the classroom while others participate remotely?
The article by Tadeu Moreira de Classe, Ronney Moreira de Castro, and Eduardo Gomes de Oliveira, published in RIED, explores precisely this issue through the use of the metaverse as a learning environment for hybrid teaching. The central idea is compelling: if the metaverse can extend the real world into virtual spaces, it can also become a place where students and teachers meet, collaborate, and learn beyond the physical walls of the classroom.
The study was carried out in a database course within an undergraduate Information Systems program at a Brazilian public university. To do so, the authors used Gather Town, a platform that allows users to create virtual worlds with a video game-like aesthetic, avatars, rooms, private workspaces, video calls, chats, and access to learning materials.
The environment was designed as a “mirror world,” that is, a virtual representation of real university spaces such as laboratories, corridors, and classrooms. Over three days, 31 students took part in synchronous and asynchronous activities: lectures, group exercises, problem-solving tasks, and collaborative presentations within the metaverse, with some participating from campus and others from their homes or workplaces.
The results show a positive perception of the metaverse as a hybrid learning environment. Students valued its relevance, the possibility of interacting, collaborating with classmates, communicating with the teacher, and reflecting on the course content. The study also found signs of motivation, especially linked to the enjoyment of using the environment and the feeling that it could contribute to their education.
However, the study also calls for caution: it is a specific experience, with a small group and in a technological field, so its conclusions cannot be generalized to all educational contexts. Even so, it offers an important clue for the future: the metaverse should not be seen merely as a trend, but as a possible tool for designing more immersive, collaborative, and engaging hybrid learning experiences.
---
How to Cite: Moreira de Classe, T., Moreira de Castro, R., & Gomes de Oliveira, E. (2023). Metaverse as a Learning Environment for Blended Teaching. RIED-Revista Iberoamericana de Educación a Distancia, 26(2), 283–307. https://doi.org/10.5944/ried.26.2.36097
