In 2003, Second Life, was a phenomenon, that allowed people to create a fictional representation of themselves in a open world environment where one could buy land, create items for sale, explore environments, and connect with others in a massive online environment. The appeal of having a "second life" was imaginative but brief as it not only reflected the good but the bad elements of the real world too (e.g. gambling, pornography, etc.).
The potential to create virtual things either govern by virtual physics or things only the imagination could create were also greatly inhibited by the control interface, awkward interface, tedious tools, and somewhat overwhelming business of the environment. An article, "Implementing Second Life: Ideas, Challenges, and Innovations" by Joe Sanchez (published via ala.org) explores how students interact with Second Life and describes the short comings it has for learning.
It is surprising that not many articles are comparing the possibilities of the Metaverse in education with Second Life. Metaverse's addition of VR does not eliminate the challenges described above. What seems new will be old again unless, Metaverse tackles the above constraints and tries to find ways that makes thing more accessible with the focus on the creation and, for the lack of saying it better, make it a better place than the real world we live in right now.
Like Second Life, the Metaverse will likely remain as a niche platform technology. Second Life is still around too but it's focus in education diminished along time ago... maybe one day something like the Metaverse will allow learners share ideas and collaborate in new ways that haven't been explored before. Until then...
let's continue to dream the possibilities
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