A manifesto for the metaverse: opportunities and challenges for learning development

Drawing upon a section of the co-created learning development (LD) Manifesto (ALDinHE, 2018), in this workshop we invite participants to come and be creative – and imagine beyond what learning developers do now into what they may do in the future, inspired by the metaverse. The metaverse is a science fiction hypothetical iteration from the book Snow Crash (Stephenson, 1992) set in a near future where the global political structure has collapsed(!), a tiny number of super-corporations control most aspects of life

• collaborating with the wider community.
• It works with the hidden curriculum.
• It legitimises the different forms of knowledge our students have.
• It levels the playing field and widens the academy.Keywords: learning development; metaverse; inclusion; virtual reality; augmented reality; reimagining education.

Community response
This was an inspirational, horizon scanning session focused on examining emerging innovative practice and provided an opportunity to explore implications for our community, described by participants as 'interesting and thought provoking'.
The presentation began with an outline of what the metaverse is, working from the origins of the term taken from a novel Snow Crash (Stephenson, 2003).It is described as 'an embodied internet where you're in the experience, not just looking at it'.An overview and context setting was provided of this experiential, immersive internet that 'merges inside out and outside in', identifying some of the major players -Facebook through FINTECH -and   In order to better explore this, colleagues were asked to discuss in groups, which aspects of our teaching best map to the metaverse?The playing cards (Figure 2) provided a series of prompts to consider technological barriers to participation and ethical challenges that students might face accessing and using the metaverse for study.They were particularly appreciated as an effective means of scaffolding conversation in groups.Some participants used the cards as a frame for all their contributions to the session, providing different equity, diversity and inclusion lenses to the use of the metaverse.Given the concerns related to access, the cards helped to frame much of the debate.Figure 3 displays the conversation prompts which consisted of a 'flat' triangle with the key words of 'Equality Diversity and Inclusivity' around the sides, and the term 'metaverse' as the pivot point when the triangles were folded and assembled into 3D.Participants then engaged in collecting thoughts on their tables.
It was clear on the day that many colleagues had difficulty envisaging how the metaverse might impact our practice as learning developers.As one participant commented 'I personally struggle to envisage a world where HE takes place in the metaverse.For that reason, I found it hard to imagine what LD would look like in this way'.
This meant the resulting conversation, while far reaching, largely focused on hypothetical implications of the metaverse rather than concrete practical applications.This does mean much of the conversation focused on ethical considerations -the opportunities and challenges raised by moving learning development into a virtual space.One group suggested that we actually use Chat GPT to 'create' an argument of the type that LDs use to illustrate viewpoints to students.This is 'Cats versus Dogs as companions', from the different views of Socrates and Confucius: below in Appendix A we have copied and pasted the result, which led to a great debate around the relative standpoints, the quality of argument, the possible sources and how, moving forward, as teams working with students, we approach the use of AI tools.

Editorial comment
This looked like a fascinating session, both inspirational and provocative.One of the biggest challenges to me appears to be the risk of further separating exploratory learning methodology from the business of awarding degrees, where VR and the metaverse could be added to a list of new and innovative, playful approaches to learning while assessment remains limited to traditional forms.While the concept of alignment of assessment isn't new (Biggs and Tang, 2011) as universities grow the administration of learning feels increasingly separated from the conversations around learning innovation: these different functions are managed by different teams.If the future of learning is immersive how do we ensure a coherent creative student experience, embedded in this new context, an experience that prioritises learning?In order to fully explore the huge opportunities this offers, it seems more important than ever for learning developers to work outside of our usual organisational silos, to be able to bring learning developers' perspectives to the table when staff are designing learning.

Authors' reflection
Carina: I, too, have struggled with the concept of the metaverse -or perhaps I'm just averse to the whole idea of handing over large elements of our existence and interactions to big tech?I'd like to believe that face-to-face contact will remain the norm and maintain its central importance in human relations, even in HE; perhaps the excitement and interest over the cards, a tangible, tactile resource, is reassurance in that regard!However, perhaps any reticence felt around the metaverse -in many ways understandable, as this is being done to us rather than with us -can be transformed from fear to opportunity by grasping some of the affordances that AI and technology generally offers us and learning development.This is our moment to decide what LD could look like in the metaverse.
Rather than succumb to the relentless sweep of technology, we can affirm our values and actively work to create safe spaces online for all our students (and ourselves).We can champion access and inclusion for every student, and harness some of the power of technology to ensure that this inclusion is meaningful.HE is changing -inevitably -so LD may have to as well, but if we keep our values at the centre of everything we do, in whichever medium we do it, then the metaverse can be more opportunity than challenge.
Debbie: An evaluation piece by TechTarget (2023) describe it [the metaverse] as this: Imagine -a virtual world where billions of people live, work, shop, learn and interact with each other -from the comfort of their coaches in the virtual world… our devices become a portal to a 3D virtual realm, like real life only bigger and better.
Avatars move seamlessly from one experience to another -taking our identify and our money with us.
My concerns remain with the 'have' and 'have nots' with claims made for Universal access by tech giants companies seeking to commercialise their platforms.Technology is not value-free, and there is a cost to access -the right devices to connect effectively and robustly; the access to infrastructure -for example, swathes of Canada, populated by the First Nation are in a satellite blackout spot; South Africa have scheduled rolling 'blackouts'; how does this equate to the 'grand claims' for social justice and access to education?The learning development manifesto, re-visited through the lens of the affordances of the metaverse offers a framing for the questions that need to be asked (and answered).LD values underpinning the manifesto statements, for me, point to a continuation of shared emancipatory practice for both LD practitioners and the communities they serve.
The LD Manifesto: • It contextualises, embeds and maps knowledge, and contributes to learning gain.

Buckley, Holley and Fallin
A manifesto for the metaverse: opportunities and challenges for learning development Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Special Issue 29: October 2023 7 • It teaches how to learn and scaffolds learning.
• It widens opportunity, not participation; it can trouble what we mean by participation.
• It infiltrates throughout the university and operates in a 3rd space, connecting and • collaborating with the wider community.
• It works with the hidden curriculum.
• It legitimises the different forms of knowledge our students have.
• It levels the playing field and widens the academy.
Lee: Facilitating this session really got me thinking -not just in the session, but also saw new relevance for the premise not just for entertainment but for work and socialisation as well.I also realised that such technology was not just about connecting people in a technical sense but was about providing spaces for people to interact in new, equitable ways.There is no need to declare identities or disabilities -but if you do, it can also provide a safe space to interact where it might not be possible offline.
I recognise Virtual Reality (VR) is often bound in conceptualisations of the metaverse, but it has always worried me.I invested in a PlayStation VR when it first came out, but found it uncomfortable with glasses -and nauseating.Perhaps newer technology and more blended forms of VR will provide a way forward for me but it is also a concern I have for others when accessing such spaces.
Preparing for this session allowed me to revisit the concept, and I very much enjoyed reading Snow Crash (Stephenson, 2003), acquainting me with the origins of the term.
While Snow Crash may ultimately posit a neoliberal hell, with ultimate power to the corporations, it also represents one of the significant issues facing a modern-day metaverse.In Snow Crash the internet infrastructure is owned by one person, allowing a common protocol and common base of access.While we may do that with our current opportunities and challenges for learning development Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Special Issue 29: October 2023 8 internet (thanks to Tim Berners Lee HTML and HTTP), our current metaverse seems wrapped into proprietary technologies and devices.To allow seamless movement between different virtual metaverse environments, it requires a common interface and right now we have too many apps and environments to make it work.
As an educator, and someone who has long championed equity, diversity and inclusion, the metaverse worries me.If I possessed the most expensive VR technology, the fastest internet connection and no disability that would prevent my engagement, the metaverse may seem like some utopian way to connect and explore the world in new ways.Even though I have some of these tools, I don't have them all and I recognise the majority of the planet has none of these tools.The metaverse dream is far, far away.As Debbie reflects, it comes back to the 'haves' and the 'have nots'.Right now, most people have not.I fear metaverse learning tools will provide a two-tier experience.We can't readily provide an equitable experience for a video, let alone an immersive three-dimensional environment.
There are also practical considerations too.Right now I'm writing this while looking after my three little ones -it wouldn't be appropriate for me to be buried in a headset unaware of what they were doing, which my laptop at least affords.Don't get me wrong.The metaverse excites me.I just worry it will leave a lot of people behind, and we've not even solved the digital divide with the current (and previous) generations of technology…

Next steps and additional questions
• Would it be possible to arrange a sandpit session for staff to explore uses of VR?
(Yes, we will offer an LD@3) • If LD is to be conducted virtually in the metaverse, how can we continue to ensure our practice and codes of practice (ethical, supportive, inclusive) extends to include the virtual?
(This session is a first step in that direction -and LD values really came to the fore) • What would that LD code of practice for the metaverse look like?
(See Holley, 'Exploring the metaverse through metaphor', 2023, starts to position some of the wider questions) • How can we best support students and staff engage with the metaverse?
(in all the ways LDs do best!blogs, workshops, sharing practice and engaging staff and students from where they are now).

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Selection of playing card conversation prompts.
Buckley, Holley and FallinA manifesto for the metaverse: opportunities and challenges for learning development Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Special Issue 29: October 2023 6 rethinking my journey up to this point.My relationship with the metaverse has been a long journey over the last two decades.This started through engaging with pre-cursor technology like The Sims Online (2002) and Second Life (mid-2000s) where I began to interact with others in real-time via an avatar.Even games like World of Warcraft have, over the last twenty years, seen me spend inordinate amounts of time online, investing in characters through which I interacted with the avatars of others.Yet -I stepped away from much of this technology as my career and family life developed.It was in the pandemic I Buckley, Holley and FallinA manifesto for the metaverse: opportunities and challenges for learning development Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Special Issue 29: October 2023 9