Is Metaverse Better than Video Conferencing in Promoting Social Presence and Learning Engagement?
Yan Zhang, Heng Luo, Yonggui Liu, Wei Cheng · 2023
While previous studies have examined the use of the metaverse to support the development of students’ learning outcomes, there has been little research to date on the use of the educational metaverse in learning experiences to provide possibilities for online learning. This study adopted a quasi-experimental design and contrasted the differences between metaverse and video conferencing in terms of social presence and learning engagement. One group of 28 students enrolled in the seminar class used both metaverse and video conferencing for online learning. The findings indicated that compared with video conferencing, the metaverse had a significant impact on social presence. Regarding learning engagement, the influence of the educational metaverse on behavioral and cognitive engagement was not significant, but students who used the metaverse showed a significant increase in emotional engagement. Based on the research results, several practical implications were provided for applying metaverse to synchronous online learning.