For the last few years, digital transformation has greatly touched upon lots of areas and continues to leave a significant impact. When the pandemic burst into our lives and changed the way things were running, new initiatives to work, study, and interact must have been urgently adopted. Metaverse became one of the solutions to adapt to the new normal, allowing people advanced options to socialize, entertain, do shopping, and, also, studying.
Talking about the latter, the virtual world has established itself as one with high potential, offering brand new approaches for both teachers and students. Thus, more and more countries adopt metaverse-based technologies to enhance the educational process and reinforce students’ motivation to gain knowledge.
The latest illustrative example of the above-stated is Japanese NPO Katariba which has recently launched a metaverse-based educational platform, dubbed Room-K. The main idea behind the project is to maintain the studying process in some Japanese schools, offering an alternative for students who refuse to attend physical establishments.
Room-K is focused on helping kids acquire and develop communication skills, renew interest in learning, foster trusting relationships with teachers, friendly bonds with students, and overall feel comfortable while studying. This initiative is also believed to become a bridge that will all in all help to return kids to real-life schools.
“Our aim is to create a place where children can learn,” Katariba’s Tomotaka Segawa, who is in charge of Room-K, said. “We want to increase the options for municipalities seeking to support non-attending children.”
110 elementary and junior high school students from Tokyo and Hiroshima agreed on attending classes in Room-K. The program includes Japanese, reading, programming, and other subjects based on students’ preferences. The studying process has an entertaining note. Kids can choose avatars of their beloved heroes and princesses to chat with other children via video calls.
In March 2022, a record indicator of 245,000 non-attending children in Japan was fixed. The country must have definitely come up with new ideas and methods to reshape the studying system and maintain education at a high level.
Let’s wait and see whether this Japanese initiative will be successful in raising school attendance throughout the country.
