A new frontier for higher education: exploring the metaversity and immersive virtual reality foronline education

PurposeThis paper aims to discuss the potential for developing an educational campus in the metaverse, provides a demonstration of an immersive virtual learning environment, and presents a description of the interdisciplinary collaboration focused on incorporating immersive serious game development in online education.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents a description of a prototype immersive virtual reality environment that was created using Unity Game Engine (v.2022.3), with massive loop handling multiplayer functionality. Due to technical instability in the immersive platform, students in an online organizational behavior course did not ultimately participate in the immersive environment; instead, students were surveyed regarding their perceptions of engagement during synchronous online class sessions that incorporated interactive and simulation-based activities.FindingsThe prototype immersive virtual reality learning environment demonstrates the potential for immersive serious games within a Metaversity context. Survey results indicate that students perceive synchronous online sessions incorporating interactive and simulation-based activities as engaging and valuable, suggesting design implications for future immersive learning environments.Research limitations/implicationsThe small sample size and the unstable platform hosting the immersive environment limit the ability to draw generalizable conclusions. However, the prototype immersive environment does provide a demonstration of the potential of the metaverse for serious game education.Originality/valueThis paper further develops the literature of online learning and student engagement by illustrating the impacts of immersive virtual reality as an online learning tool. In addition, the interdisciplinary approach to developing the prototype environment expands, not only the application of technology, but also demonstrates the quality of serious game development for use in the metaverse that goes beyond standard off-the-shelf immersive environments for online educational purposes.