Virtual truth headsets will be used in schools as a component of a new Meta program, unless teachers can monitor what students are doing, Sir Nick Clegg said amid developing considerations about protecting children in the metaverse.
Clegg said: “This won’t be used in the classroom unless teachers feel they have full visibility over what’s going on.
“And most importantly, that parents, especially those of younger people, also feel the same way, in a different way. Why would you use this in an educational setting?”
Meta has announced a new package for schools to use virtual and augmented truth as a learning tool by allowing teachers to adapt the way they use virtual reality headsets for users at the same time in the classroom.
Students over the age of thirteen will be able to access the metaverse in their study rooms for immersive categories that will allow them to make stopovers in museums, practice speaking other languages, or access three-dimensional versions of environments they otherwise couldn’t. access.
The company has also incorporated a feature called “sharing mode” in which young people won’t be able to access the Meta Quest store to download new apps or games and other users won’t know the identity of the school user, M said. Clegg.
He added: “It will be a much more engaged, participatory and immersive experience than it is currently in the classroom and because of that the teachers will have full control. “
The metaverse is an umbrella term for immersive 3D virtual worlds where other people can interact with each other and create a shared area that many users access with a headset.
There are several metaverse platforms, Fortnite, Roblox and Meta’s Horizon Worlds.
The total number of monthly active users on metaverse platforms reached six hundred million by the end of 2023, according to figures released through Metaversed, the metaverse consultancy.
The vast majority of metaverse users are children. Approximately 84% of users are 18 years old, and 51% of the total users are thirteen years old or younger.
Rani Govender, Senior Director of Online Child Safety Policy at children’s charity NSPCC, said: “Young people deserve to be in the online world, anywhere they access, and their protection and wellbeing deserve to be at the forefront of Meta’s decisions if they need to thrive. the use of those children’s products.
“Children continue to enjoy unacceptable harms in the metaverse and protections will need to be put in place at all levels so that other young people who can potentially enjoy safer experiences at school are not threatened when Meta produces at home. “
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Clegg said that would be a barrier for some schools.
He said, “Whenever you have a new generation, whether it’s a calculator or a blackboard, that gradually becomes a mainstream school system, you have an early adoption problem, which is that the generation has the tendency to be more liked at first. “than at the end when the volume increases.
“This makes it less difficult for schools and schools with more resources to utilize the generation as soon as possible. All we can do is try to get the generation as early as possible. “
The product is expected to be introduced through Meta later this year.