Andragogical Leaders Immersing Into the Metaverse

Introduction

This chapter will not go into the principles of andragogy, as this author assumes the readers of this book collectively know more about andragogy than one single author could include in a chapter. What this chapter will do, however, is to interpret progress, direction, and current research on the immersion of Metaverse into organizations and the impact it will have, and is having, on andragogical leaders.

The Metaverse is the post-reality universe, a perpetual and persistent multiuser environment merging physical reality with digital virtuality. It is based on the convergence of technologies that enable multisensory interactions with virtual environments, digital objects, and people such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Hence, the Metaverse is an interconnected web of social, networked immersive environments in persistent multiuser platforms. It enables seamless embodied user communication in real-time and dynamic interactions with digital artifacts (Mystakidis, 2022).

Significant investments in the Metaverse by leading technology companies indicate that humanity’s next emerging global trend is here (Pritchard, 2022). It is intended to be a quantum leap toward virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), supported by all existing technologies such as blockchain, 5G, and AI. The evolutionary progress of both hardware and software will offer a new experience that will be called a progression of virtual worlds as a replacement or substitution for direct reality, which is an ongoing trend (Feezell, 2018; Richter, 2020).

Current and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain, represented by NFT (digital objects), sensory-rich environments, virtual reality headsets, and brain-computer interfaces, are envisioned to be embedded in the foundations of the Metaverse (Musk, 2019; Zuckerberg, 2021). Ongoing global wars, dreadful pandemics, ecological challenges, and economic regrouping may also be in line with the development of the Metaverse, which could provide answers to some of these issues (Saxon et al., 2004; Smith, 2021). For example, decreasing public transportation and the use of personal vehicles can help deal with climate change. The same can be said for the spread of viruses, which are seen as a threat in the future as well (Smith, 2021).

Tools in the Metaverse are “rapidly becoming as infrastructural as electricity,” (Cascio & Montealegre, 2016, p. 350). The essential AI technologies that will serve as the basis for the Metaverse include visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and language translation. Through learning from humans and their digital footprints for the last 30 years, AI algorithms have acquired the knowledge needed for the Metaverse to be set up. Examples of these are Google’s question-and-answer algorithm based on its search engine, as most human beings are unconscious volunteers through their trillions of searches (Soricut & Brill, 2006). Some platforms currently offer Metaverse-like experiences, mainly in the realm of video games, which are combined with virtual economies (cryptocurrencies), enabling some of the users to make a living by taking part in these virtual realities including Axie Infinity, a play-to-earn games, Second Life, where users socialize, learn, and do business and Decentraland, a digital world that merges social life with cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and virtual real estate.

The potential popularity of the Metaverse can be envisioned by the number of people using VR games and apps that can be considered predecessors to the Metaverse. For example, there are 150 million Roblox monthly active users. A large portion of this is children, 2/3 of them aged 9-12 in the USA, and 1/3 of them under 16 (Meier et al., 2020).