Analyzing the educational challenges in the metaverse

The ever-increasing use of information and communication technologies and virtual networks has created a possibility for educational development and transformation in the metaverse context. This possibility is related to the infrastructural development capabilities on the one hand and the content and structural aspects of education in society on the other hand. Despite its positive and negative aspects, this subject requires serious attention to achieve meta-education. This study, by taking into account the perspectives of experts, intends to analyze the challenges of education in the metaverse. Here, a qualitative content analysis method was adopted, with the data collection tool being semi-structured interviews with 12 people until reaching the saturation level. The data was analyzed through an inductive approach and the reliability of contents was checked by "independent coders and expert group" method. The findings showed that the educational challenges in the metaverse include themes such as deconstruction of education, gamification, the conflict of diversity and singularity, the challenge of unknownness, the intellectual property interest, educational justice, perceived compatibility, the challenge of conflict, dependence and post-realism learning. It seems that the capabilities of using the educational metaverse in Iran are still not available due to the aforementioned challenges. Since capacities and capabilities are necessary for educational development, preparing grounds for its use by the next generation through a planning based on the findings of this paper can greatly increase the utilization rate of its positive aspects.