Exploration on the application scenarios and inner mechanisms of educational metaverse in college teaching

Since the global outbreak of COVID-19, the traditional face-to-face classes in colleges have been seriously challenged, and the discussion about the function and application prospects of the educational metaverse has become a hot topic. Some scholars have analyzed and predicted the use of metaverse in the field of education, covering various aspects of basic education, inclusive education, vocational education, and lifelong education. However, the higher education stage has been little studied. In order to rationalize as much as possible the real problems faced in the current educational metaverse, and in the absence of sufficient reference materials, this paper composes the concept and development of educational metaverse through literature analysis and theoretical research, defines the characteristics and current patterns of educational metaverse, analyzes four application scenarios of educational metaverse in colleges, such as contextualized learning, personalized learning, gamified learning, teacher training, and finally reveals the inner mechanism of metaverse empowering college teaching from three aspects: the embodiment, immersion, and concretization of educational metaverse. The paper shows a new progress and blueprint for the development of information technology in college education, hoping to contribute to the development of the education meta-universe and to provide some materials for later researchers' research and practice concerning college education.