From Immersive to Metaverse: The Gap of Learning and Technology in Agriculture Education Application

Abstract

Immersive technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality, social media, virtual avatars, and online games have supported education. Agriculture, as one of the essentials process for human well-being, demands interaction-rich and content-rich educational technology to increase student understanding of the complex agriculture environment. The current trend of education technology is starting to shift to the metaverse. However, there is a gap between the current implementation of immersive technologies and the mature metaverse. Moreover, previous research indicates the lack of emphasis on learning theory, learning content, and design elements for immersive application in education. This research aims to identify those gaps, especially in agriculture education. We systematically analyze previous publications which developed an immersive application for agriculture education in higher education. We conclude that (1) most of the learning content and design element of metaverse technology is underutilized; (2) there are many implementation gaps between the current implementation with a mature metaverse; and (3) A mature metaverse education is complex and expensive, so careful long-term planning and identifying use cases is recommended. These gaps are essential for subsequent research on developing metaverse for education, especially in agriculture. We hope the results of this research will provide educators with a baseline knowledge of metaverse technologies to make better decisions on utilizing metaverse in educational institutions.