Metaverse and Training, What's the Benefit?

The Metaverse is a technology offering numerous advantages in terms of training. Its primary strength lies in its ability to create an infinite virtual socialization space where participants can interact and move around. This can be especially useful for remote training when learners are geographically distant but wish to learn together in a shared virtual environment. It also enhances collaborative experiences and gamification. This allows learners to work together on projects, such as design thinking workshops or collective intelligence-based brainstorming sessions. By combining the immersive experience with gaming elements, like a virtual escape game, the Metaverse strengthens memory retention and facilitates learning. But what's the current status of the Metaverse's involvement in training? Although tech giants such as the GAFAM are developing their own Metaverses, they still encounter many challenges, making training use cases in the Metaverse relatively scarce. The most common experiments are currently taking place in the field of education. For instance, in France, the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts (CNAM) has created a Metaverse where students and teachers from the JENII project can interact in an immersive practical workshop room. Abroad, the University of Hong Kong offers a similar learning experience to its Hong Kong students for those on its Guangzhou campus, using virtual reality headsets. The "Metadiversities" project brings together several universities in the United States aiming to offer courses in a 100% virtual campus, covering subjects such as human anatomy, history, or astronomy. These initiatives allow students to practice technical skills without risk to real patients, as in the healthcare field. Companies are also beginning to experiment with the Metaverse for training their employees. The Accenture group has also embraced the Metaverse in Australia and New Zealand, where over 2,000 new employees have been onboarded via the company's Metaverse "One Accenture Park". This usage addresses logistical issues by hosting a large number of employees in a virtual environment, which would be impossible in a physical location. Despite these inspiring initiatives, the professional training field still lacks concrete Metaverse use cases. Yet the benefits for professional training are there. As a virtual socializing space, it facilitates interactions among participants and allows for collaborative and gamified experiences. Although use cases are still limited, experiments in the fields of education and business show strong potential. However, to fully leverage the Metaverse, it will be necessary to rethink the trainer's posture, paying special attention to user-friendliness, inclusiveness, and pedagogical design tailored to this new virtual environment. Despite these inspiring initiatives, the professional training field still lacks concrete Metaverse use cases. #training #metaverse #continuingeducation