How do emerging technologies CRAFT our education? Current state and future research recommendations related to AI and the metaverse

Educational technology tools, such as video conferencing, learning management systems, and educational games, once considered innovative or optional, are now essential for uninterrupted learning in contemporary education. Emerging technologies like generative AI, the metaverse, chatbots, intelligent tutoring systems, and blockchain have the potential to transform the ways people connect and collaborate with each other and their environment. These transformations simultaneously disrupt our research and practices (e.g., Adeshola & Adepoju, 2023; Büyüközkan & Mukul, 2024). Technologies transform learning, teaching, and training in both schools and the workplace (e.g., Chiu, 2023; Martins et al., 2023). We expect researchers and practitioners to continue innovating to advance our knowledge. Accordingly, this editorial discusses how two types of emerging technologies – AI and the metaverse – can CRAFT education based on current research and suggests future research directions to advance this field. CRAFT refers to five areas: Care, Reinforcement learning, Assessment, Future competencies, and Transdisciplinary learning.

Care

The current studies focus on human-centered education by caring about the benefits and risks of emerging technologies. The technologies can benefit education by delivering more personalized, interactive, and immersive learning content, feedback, automated grading, and predictive analyzes (e.g., Büyüközkan & Mukul, 2024; Hong, 2023). However, they also place some risks in education, such as academic integrity, social justice, human values, AI ethics, and bias (e.g., Adeshola & Adepoju, 2023; Kousa & Niemi, 2023). This line of work focuses on outlining what we should care about when using technologies in education. We need more studies to understand how to balance the benefits and risks. How can we be digitally healthy, responsible, and ethical learners or teachers? How can we design more effective learning environments without jeopardizing other aspects of student growth, such as independent study and academic integrity? How do employers use the metaverse to organize their meetings for training and recruitment?

Reinforcement learning

The latest research emphasizes that the primary benefit of AI and the metaverse is reinforcement learning. The technologies could improve reinforcement learning by adapting to student demands, identifying knowledge gaps, and proposing personalized learning paths to improve educational outcomes (Chiu, 2023; Hsia et al., 2023). Their findings suggest design and development considerations for the technologies, including how to give feedback to and interact with learners. However, further development enhancements are necessary to boost effectiveness. For example, the studies overlook the significant roles of facilitators and peers in a social constructivist learning environment. Therefore, further research is necessary to address the question: How does the design of human-machine interaction, specifically in the roles of facilitators and peers, impact the effectiveness of reinforcement learning for corporate training or classroom learning?

Assessment

Recent literature suggests emerging technologies can transform assessment – diagnostic, formative, and summative – in many ways, making it more effective (Chiu, 2023). For example, they can automate diagnostic assessment and grading, provide immediate feedback for learner improvement, and simulate risk-free assessment scenarios that are difficult or impossible (e.g., Hong, 2023; Hsia et al., 2023). Most current studies focus on school and higher education, but not the workplace. Employers can utilize AI and the metaverse to effectively identify suitable candidates for recruiting at a reduced cost. Moreover, the findings play a crucial role in the development of self-regulated learning (e.g., setting goals, evaluating work), viewed as a lifelong skill. This learning can be facilitated by AI- and metaverse-based assessment. Therefore, we need more studies to answer these questions: How do AI and metaverse technologies transform training and assessment in workplaces and schools? Do the technologies foster or suppress self-regulated learning, and how?

Future competencies

Emerging technologies encourage us to reimagine our future learning and training, as they will transform current educational practices and job roles. Future competencies driven by technologies are the most tenuous area of research, but they are very important to our society. We must first understand how the technologies will impact the future of work, then prepare our students and upskill employees to do existing jobs. Our students should have the capacity to not only learn and work with AI, but also work better with each other. They also should have a culture of creativity and lifelong learning. Therefore, more research should investigate what future skills and competences our students and employees’ needs. For example, what new literacies and competencies (e.g., AI, data, digital, and STEM) do our students need? How can we better foster student critical thinking and creativity when learning with ChatGPT? How can they effectively communicate in a metaverse meeting? Is fostering fact-checking and a self-elective mindset essential to our future education?

Transdisciplinary learning

Transdisciplinary learning enables learners to create connections between various disciplinary concepts and knowledge through their own applications, which can be facilitated by emerging technologies. AI can be seen as an alternative intelligence that provides students with different perspectives on learning (Chiu, 2023). For example, learners can get disciplinary knowledge they are not familiar with from ChatGPT for their solutions; they can complete some tasks they thought they were not able to do, such as video and poster making; they can seek alternative opinions and advice from ChatGPT; and they can try their ideas or solutions in the metaverse (e.g., Adeshola & Adepoju, 2023; Arpaci & Bahari, 2023). This learning fosters innovative problem-solving and a deep understanding of the versatility of the concept, and it should be collaborative and competency-based in relation to digital media. Additional research is recommended, for example, how do the technologies foster transdisciplinary learning? What role do technologies play in transdisciplinary learning?

This is my first editorial as associate editor of Interactive Learning Environments, and I am privileged to be working alongside Dr. Susan Greener and Mr. Pericles “asher” Rospigliosi in this capacity. I want to thank them for their mentorship and support during my tenure as an associate editor and their feedback on this editorial.