The Metaverse—An Alternative Education Space

The Metaverse is a 3D virtual environment already populated by our students. In the form of avatars, their unique personas happily collaborate in spaces such as Roblox and Minecraft. After two years of being fully online, remote learning became associated with fatigue from business-model video conferencing tools such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet. It is time to consider the adoption of customizable Metaverse platforms where educators and their students can safely teach and learn again in the same space. This paper examines contagion theory to frame the breakdown of our classroom environment during the Covid-19 Pandemic and the transition back to a mosaic of hybrid contexts. This paper delineates the merits of the Metaverse as an alternative education space that fosters Universal Design for learning. Additionally, this paper reviews platforms that support multiple entry points for engagement, representation, action, and expression.


Introduction
During the worldwide abrupt pivot to online teaching and learning in March of 2020, students, parents, teachers, and administrators reluctantly jumped into a "safety net" of online teaching and learning mandated by a society in lockdown.The viral contagion at hand, Covid-19, caused global morbidity and mortality [1,2] to those in proximity with infected individuals.The Latin root of the word contagion hails from contagio meaning "from touch."Touching and breathing in the same physical space as others became deadly, necessitating a worldwide quarantine.The education community scrambled to enact video-based platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet to retrofit the classroom into a business-meeting paradigm for students and teachers sequestered at home.The default to solely online content delivery sought to substitute, but could never replace, the collaborative teaching and learning embraced by educators with their students.

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According to the Pew Research Organization [3], the United States public is divided regarding closure of K-12 schools for face-to-face learning.When the return to live-distanced learning occurred at various timeframes across the United States, administrators, teachers, and school staff resorted to a dizzying puzzle of measures including face masks, desk shields, and staggered in-person schedules to meet physical distance, health, and safety recommendations [4].
In their timely book regarding the Psychiatry of Pandemics, Duan et al. (2019) shed light on much of what society observed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Duan and colleagues (2019) explain that contagion theory is a collective behavior that delineates how a crowd can have an impact on the emotions and behavior of an individual [5] .Originally developed by Gustave Le Bon in 1885, contagion theory asserts that individual behavior is "demoted" to the level of the one group member who is most outspoken (p.45) [6].Duan and colleagues (2019) assert that this mass behavior is both unconscious on the part of the individual and uncontrollable.
Largely fueled by social media, false information regarding Covid-19 including mask, vaccination, testing, and social distance mandates, undermine public health and pose dangers to individuals making health decisions [7].The global nature and spread of new variants compelled one international student residing in Asia to share the following with the author of this paper: The new wave of the Omicron outbreak does turn (the community) upside down and currently there is no light at the tunnel as the number of infections keeps rising every day.Rumors of a city-wide lockdown are spreading virally on social media, affecting every citizen's mental health.(Anonymous Educator, Asia, February 22, 2022) School districts in the United States also experienced the contagion of behaviors by members who attempt to cope with the Covid -19 virus and its variants.The "home rules" in both lower and upper socioeconomic status (SES) contexts might include students and families sequestered at home who do not want to share the private space of their living quarters during online classes in lockdown.Students might choose to turn off their video camera to play games or watch movies on their devices.The purpose of documenting the following shared experience of three teachers in separate contexts is to illustrate the breakdown of the collaborative teaching and learning environment that ensues when an educator is not in the same space as their students.
A male middle-school science teacher in an urban, low SES demographic in the  The examples of Roblox and Minecraft are not meant to suggest that the education community should replace content with existing virtual spaces.There are virtual world platforms to consider as places to conduct classes such that educators can be in the same space again with their students in a hybrid approach to teaching and learning.Strictly virtual worlds will never replace face-to-face learning.
However, the Metaverse merits examination as a space where teachers and students can co-exist in a hybrid approach to teaching and learning.
The remainder of this paper defines and examines the Metaverse as a virtual environment that the education community can harness as a component of teaching and learning.Universal Design for Learning (UDL) serves as the framework of this paper to draw connections between teaching and learning with the Metaverse.The following UDL paradigms (see figure 1) align with the networks of the human brain that support learning: • The "why" of learning aligns with the affective networks to engage, challenge, and motivate.
• The "what" of learning aligns with the recognition networks by perceiving information in the environment through multiple senses.
• The "how" of learning aligns with the strategic networks to plan and perform tasks to exhibit understanding.Stephenson [11] describes the Metaverse as follows: So Hiro's not actually here at all.He's in a computer-generated universe that his computer is drawing onto his goggles and pumping into his earphones.In the lingo, this imaginary place is known as the Metaverse.
Hiro spends a lot of time in the Metaverse.
Within the Metaverse, individuals reinvent themselves and can enhance their appearance, clothing, or even species such as a gorilla or an imaginary dragon.The avatars represent real people residing in any location on the internet.
Stephenson [11] explains the avatars that Hiro sees in the Metaverse as: This is all a part of the moving illustration drawn by his computer according to specifications coming down the fiber-optic cable.The people are pieces of software called avatars.They are the audiovisual bodies that people use to communicate with each other in the Metaverse.
Platforms such as Roblox and Minecraft are computer-generated metaverse spaces.Individuals can choose existing "player" templates [12,13] or design a custom 3D character "skin" on websites such as Minecraft Skins [14].Roblox offers free options to select body attributes, including skin tone, costumes, clothing, accessories, and animations [15].According to the Roblox terms of use agreement [16], individuals 18 or older can acquire Robux to enhance their avatar with attributes offered for purchase.This author created an account and avatar depicted in figure 2.
This article will utilize Bitmoji [17] as an example of a tool to create customizable avatars (see figure 3) to discuss Metaverse platforms that educators can implement with their students residing in the same space to support teaching and learning.
As indicated in the introduction of this article, the worldwide education community defaulted to online meeting platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams to facilitate online classes with their students in lockdown.While the internet hosts the online meetings, these platforms are not the Metaverse.
Immersive views (see figure 4) selected by the host of the online meeting account still situates the attendees in one spot, limiting their freedom of movement.
Attendees can upload a profile picture to display when they choose to turn off their AI, Computer Science and Robotics Technology 5/23  video, however, it is frequently a parent's image when the student uses a home account, or a school logo when the attendee uses an institution-issued device.

Skeuomorphism
Skeuomorphism is a user experience (UX) design concept that incorporates objects and environments that resemble the real world.Mobile and computer device users frequently see examples of skeuomorphism when they drag a file to a folder icon to organize documents or click the image of a retro floppy disk to save files [18].There are skeuomorphic, online platforms that lend themselves to the creation of a customized Metaverse where educators can sustain the illusion of being in the same physical space as their students.
AI, Computer Science and Robotics Technology 6/23 to sustain life and manufacture items.For this unit, the students use Bitmoji to create a customized avatar to upload to their Teamflow member profile.The avatar appears in a circle medallion that reveals when the student turns off their video camera.While in this Metaverse, students can mute or unmute their audio as needed.Most importantly, the student can move their medallion around the space to either collaborate with classmates on an assignment within an audio space designated for that purpose or to use a "portal" to another "room".For purposes of this example, this Metaverse begins with the arrival of students on the Moon imagined through an uploaded background of craters.The teacher greets students and then invites them to sit in one of two chairs to "teleport" to one of two rooms (see figure 5).One room is the Artemis Headquarters (see figure 6), a Metaverse space that can accommodate up to 100 students.The microphone UX object placed at the podium allows the teacher to broadcast their voice to everyone at the Headquarters.Teamflow includes tools that the educator can use to create multiple whiteboards, share their screen, or "app smash (embed)" a link into the Metaverse that creates a window of content such as a YouTube video.The second room where students could teleport when they arrive at the Moon Metaverse is the laboratory (see figure 7).Furnished with a user-uploaded lab station and tables, the students can collaborate on an assigned task.The teacher can send a message to members in any space, including a Tinkercad 3D Design Room, a Visual Arts Room, a Formative Feedback Room, and a Gallery Walk to showcase projects (see video 1).CAST [20] sought to:

With the Moon
• empower students by scaffolding areas of weakness • focus on amplifying students' abilities by giving them the technology tools in an asset versus deficit approach • provide assessment choices to a child to create something visual through technology.For example, a student referred to CAST with a diagnosis of dyslexia versus amplifying her abilities to express herself in other formats, such exhibiting their learning through artwork.
• level the playing field for the students

• help teachers better serve students
The directors of CAST, Anne Meyer, David Rose, and David Gordon realized that all the students, regardless of ability, could benefit from equal access to course materials and resources.The CAST directors concluded that it was the curriculum, and not the learners, that posed the problem.Curriculum in schools can be a series of unnecessary barriers to learning through traditional, single-entry-point printed text and fill-in-the-bubble multiple choice assessment approaches.The UDL approach dispels the myth of the average student and provides multiple entry points for engagement, representation, action, and expression [21].

The Why of Learning
Students' emotional response to become engaged in learning, sustain motivation, and foster their volition reside in the affective, "Why of Learning "networks of the brain [21].Motivation is a student's desire to accept responsibility for a task and sustain effort [22].Volition moves beyond motivation to overcome perceived obstacles, barriers, and hindrances in the learning process [22].Research also links volition to transformative learning that is discovery and curiosity-based [23], and linked to inspiration evoked by something in a student's environment [24].
The Moon Colony Metaspace offered as an example to support teaching and learning (see video 1) provides an intriguing environment that aligns with students' established citizenship in the Metaverse.One of the tenets of the affective network of learning is to optimize relevance according to Meyer and colleagues [21] Base Plan [28].
See figure 9 Choice in the sequence or timing for completion of tasks.
Involve learners in setting their personal, academic, and behavioral goals.
Formative Feedback Room: 1. Use [29] to book time for teacher-student or teacher-group to provide formative feedback in the Formative Room.
See figure 10 Note: The tools listed in this table can apply to hybrid learning environments to facilitate students' choices.
where they can collaborate and, most importantly, exercise choice in activities.
Educators who build the UDL "why" of learning into their curriculum can partner with students to sustain and inspire students with the goal of fostering expert learners who are purposeful, motivated, and lean into volition (see table 1).

The What of Learning
The "What" of learning engages the recognition networks of the brain that permit us to recognize voices, faces, letters, words, and complex patterns [21].In the Moon Colony Metaverse, teachers can "app smash" other applications into each room to incorporate any addressable resource, such as a Google Document, Slides, Form, etc. directly into the "room" for students to access (see video 1).What flexible design formats are under educators' control to provide multiple entry points for all students?Teachers should design assignment documents and supporting materials, that they can enact in hybrid learning environments, in fonts, and high contrast font to backgrounds colors that most readers can see [30].For instance, sans serif fonts such as Arial or Helvetica, without curls or flourishes at the end of the letters, are the most "readable" by all viewers.A high contrast background to font color is best such that readers can easily decipher words from the background [31].
AI, Computer Science and Robotics Technology 11/23   of the materials provided to students, the teacher can fine-tune the accessibility in the "what" of learning (see figure 12).

The How of Learning
The "How" of learning provides students with multiple means of action and expression [21].As exhibited in table 1, student choice is evident to assist students in the persistence of their motivation to take responsibility for tasks and to choose learning paths to work around perceived obstacles or barriers.The "app smashed" Pictochart and Thinglink projects, showcased in the Gallery Walk (see figure 13), provide evidence of the multiple entry points for students to exhibit learning.

Classroom management
Teaching and learning together in a Metaverse space such as on Teamflow requires an enhanced set of management tools for both educators and students.Educators could adopt the core values expressed by the FIRST Lego Robotics League [33] which they call Gracious Professionalism: • Discovery: We explore new skills and ideas.
• Innovation: We use creativity and persistence to solve problems.

• Impact:
We apply what we learn to improve our world.
AI, Computer Science and Robotics Technology 14/23 • Inclusion: We respect each other and embrace our differences.
• Teamwork: We are stronger when we work together.Metaverse rules such that the bar is set high enough to "level-up" behavior aligned with gracious professionalism [5].In his article regarding the Fourth Industrial Revolution characterized by machine learning, advanced robotics, autonomous transport, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and genome mapping, Gray [34] asserts that the top 10 skills required for the future workforce include soft skills: (1) Complex Problem Solving (2) Critical Thinking The Metaverse, aligned with Universal Design for Learning, is a shared education space where educators and their students can immerse themselves in a collegial environment such that they will be well prepared for the future.If the Metaverse represents a location where teachers and students can collaborate, then it merits an investigation to discover the pathways to its adoption.
Smart, Cascio, and Paffendorf developed a Metaverse Roadmap in 2007 to foster a cross-industry public foresight project to document pathways to the 3D Web [35].
The educational nonprofit Acceleration Studies Foundation (ASF) maintains a Metaverse Roadmap (MVR) to sustain research and collaborations to answer the question, "What happens when video games meet Web 2.0?" [35,36].The literature published since the Metaverse Roadmap [37] includes editorial reviews, conference proceedings, book papers, periodicals, and reports (see table 3).
In a commentary on higher education, Collins [41] speculates that about the future of virtual reality that aligns with [37] mirror world scenario including Google Earth and virtual worlds that serve business and industry.Collins [41] extends the speculation about the Metaverse to classrooms in higher education that is bound by the capabilities of the Internet of 2008 when the virtual World of Warcraft achieves 11.5 million subscribers [42].
AI, Computer Science and Robotics Technology 16/23 In 2009, Yasar and Adiguezel [43] support the merits of the now-defunct SLOODLE, a virtual reality platform "merger" of Second Life, a 3D metaverse still going strong today, with Moodle, an online learning system.Yasar and Adiguezel [43] support the merits of a 3D online learning system but lament that the merger of a virtual environment and a learning management system do not provide adequate quizzes and communication capabilities.
The collaborations of higher education institutions in the United States and Japan by Barry et al. [44] reported on the merits of problem-based learning (PBL) conducted in a Metaverse using Second Life to carry out building activities through the collaborations of avatars in the 3D environment.Barry et al. [44] concluded that the Metaverse supported PBL collaborations by eliminating the restrictions of time zones and location.
In 2012, Mattar argues for the merits of 3D virtual worlds to move beyond the physical metaphors of "desktop" and "file folders" to embrace avatar-based virtual environments.Mattar [45] posits that a minimalist approach to provided content motivates students to seek out collaborations and unique, constructed content.

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Table 3. Metaverse literature by publication year.
Moretti and Schlemmer [49] support Mattar's [45] argument to support virtual learning through communities of practice in the Metaverse.
Perara et al. [50] write about the merits of training individuals for disaster recovery using the 3D Second Life platform.However, the study team laments the difficulties encountered when downloading, implementing, and maintaining the multi-user virtual environment to align with their organizations policies.Gadalla et al. [52] also extols the virtues of Second Life as a customizable 3D environment to support and enhance social experiences in retail service.
Garrido-Iñigo and Rodríguez-Moreno [53] describe positive outcomes of a study about French language learners in a virtual environment.The authors conclude that students' avatars assisted them to improve reading and listening comprehension, and written expression.In a survey conducted to query teachers' perceptions of Web tools, Kurt et al. [54] reported that the educators revealed a preference for augmented reality and the Metaverse.
In a 2020 International Conference on eLearning, Erturk and Reynolds shared a literature review and sample project implemented using Metaverse Studio [56].The authors conclude that immersive media enhances motivation and engages students.
Han [57] confirms that an immersive environment such as the metaverse is as concrete as learning in the physical world, however, it is necessary to teach students how to decode images from a cultural standpoint.
Kern [58] examines the concept of "presence" and the merits of the feeling of being in a place that aids learning and memory.As delineated in table 2, Kye et al.
[40] provide present-day examples of the four Metaverse Roadmap scenarios and conclude that the metaverse is a space for social communication with a high degree of freedom to share and create.

Conclusion
Authors of the literature regarding the Metaverse, from its inception as a concept in

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Universal design for learning paradigms.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2.An example of a Roblox avatar.

Figure 3 .
Figure 3.An example of a Bitmoji avatar.

Figure 11 . 23 Figure 12 .
Figure 11.QR code -Read with the camera of your mobile device.Click on the resulting link and press the play button to hear a Mote audio message.

•
Fun: We enjoy and celebrate what we do!We can travel full circle to the topic of contagion theory discussed in the opening paragraphs of this paper.If individual behavior is "demoted" to the level of the one group member who is most outspoken (Duan et al. 2019), then educators can set

Stevenson' s
Snow Crash to the Kye et al.[40] updates to the Multiverse Roadmap, wrote about this 3D environment predominantly from the comfort of a pre-pandemic world.The authors and their stakeholders could safely toggle between face-to-face, hybrid, and online environments without the worry of a deadly contagion.Metaverse platforms such as Teamflow offer teachers and their students with an opportunity to safely collaborate in an environment that permits unique identities in the form of avatars who can free themselves from business meeting platforms such as Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet to collaborate a customizable environment to support learning objectives and outcomes.Incorporating the Metaverse into as a shared learning adopts a world where students already reside, collaborate, and thrive.AI, Computer Science and Robotics Technology20/23 to achieve the day's learning goals.This diffusion of responsibility crumbles when all his students are locked down in their respective homes during his Google Meet online classes.Some students refuse to put on their video cameras.Once a dominant group member refuses to use their video camera, then a domino effect ensues when most students decline to use their video camera (Anonymous Science Teacher, Northeast U.S. Urban Context,February 22, 2022).
Northeast United States shared what he calls the diffusion of responsibility that he establishes successfully in face-to-face environments that breaks down during solely online classes.He asserts that he and his students share a rapport and commitment AI, Computer Science and Robotics Technology 2/23 by being in the same "space" both Zoom and Google Meet, forming a disconnect between the teacher and her students whose "home rules" rather than "classroom rules" are in force.Not being in the same physical space limits her ability to refocus students' attention on learning goals (Anonymous Math Teacher, Northeast U.S. Urban Context, February 21, 2022).
NealStephenson coined the term Metaverse in his 1992 novel Snow Crash, where his main character, Hiro Protagonist, spends a great deal of time to escape his living quarters in a U-Stor-It unit in Los Angeles during the 21st century.

Table 1 .
The "Why" of learning examples.
. The Moon Colony aligns with platforms relevant to students' activities outside of school AI, Computer Science and Robotics Technology 10/23 scenarios fifteen years ago in 2007.Kye et al. [40] provide more up-to-date examples of the four scenarios.Table 2 reveals the progress from 2007 to the present year in 2022 to illustrate how quickly platforms become obsolete.

Table 2 .
Comparison of metaverse roadmap scenario examples.