Paper short abstract:

This paper will explore the emerging findings of a youth-led experiment in metaverse learning, funded by the British Educational Research Association.

Paper long abstract:

Virtual Ecologies of Learning: Re-Imagining Education in the Metaverse

Abstract:

This paper will explore the emerging findings of a youth-led experiment in metaverse learning, funded by the British Educational Research Association. The contemporary moment is a watershed for educational practice, both in terms of technology and political economy. Critical pedagogy (from Friere to bell hooks) and critical traditions in the sociology of education (from Althusser, to Foucault, to Ball), provide a theoretical underpinning for thinking education beyond the traditional modernist school. In the latter stages of the covid-19 pandemic, we are at an important moment for considering how virtual spaces work as alternative educational spaces complimentary to schooling, where young people can have agency to reimagine for themselves the future of education.

This project has two aims: 1) to map previous and current practice for virtual, youth-led, critical pedagogy; 2) to pilot an innovative form of virtual educational interaction. Through face-to-face and virtual workshops, the mapping component of the project led to piloting how young people (aged 17-18) can use safe virtual spaces – specifically, the virtual worlds of the metaverse - to re-dream the future of education. This presentation will outline the findings so far and important implications for practice in school