My Name is Andrew Wright, I'm an Educator, Virtual Learning advocate Virtual World builder, and wannabe innovations specialist.
For the last year I've been building virtual worlds for teachers, shaped lessons alongside them, and taught with them in real classrooms. I primarily teach junior school students, which might be a unique perspective.
I'll be the first to put my hand up and say that none of my worlds are winning a game design award, or an Nvidia bending trophy for graphical fidelity! However, I do pour lots of love into them, because I know the following day they are going to be full of shrieking critics who will let me know if I didn't.
So, after 1 year of making and teaching in multiple schools and with well over 2,000 little 'testers', I'm sharing this with you because this generation is coming for you!
Here are the main 7 things I've learnt on this incredible year long journey. I've added some genuine quotes as well.
1) Stunning graphics and incredibly detailed worlds only impress other industry peeps, not children.
"If I wanted cool graphics I'd play my xbox!"
2) Having legs is nice for adults, but kids are happy sliding.
"What do you want legs for in here?"
3) Content is King!
"What do you do in here? Just stand in the heart?"
4) VR Headsets are nice, but not necessary for educators to get incredible experiences from the metaverse. In a year, no one has ever asked me for a headset.
"Eugh that made me feel sick!"
5) Young students prefer collaborative spaces over passive ones. They will switch off much quicker in a solo space!
"Is that Mike from 3C?... Yo Mike!"
6) Anyone can create with WebXR and Web 3.0
"Just grab it from sketchfab?"
7) The metaverse is whatever we want it to be, whatever we shape it as.
"During Covid we couldn't go anywhere, in here we can go everywhere!"
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