Educational Virtual Worlds for Vocational Education and Training Laboratories

The concept of a metaverse, a virtual world that offers immersive experiences, has gained widespread interest in recent years. Designed as a simulation of the physical world, the metaverse covers all areas of human activity and provides a suitable platform for researchers in all disciplines, from health to sport, education, and art. The work presented in this paper is part of the development of a virtual world for the teaching of the “History of Art” course in vocational education and training. Its main goal is to investigate the development process of Open Educational Virtual Worlds (OEVs), and the challenges and issues that arise, starting from the development of the virtual world to its publication and educational use in Vocational Education and Training (VET). This study found that there are online virtual world platforms freely provided for educational purposes as well as free digital repositories of 2D and 3D educational resources. In particular, the use of the spatial.io web environment to develop open educational virtual worlds is suggested. To enrich these worlds with corresponding content, we can use educational resources from digital repositories such as Sketcfab and Photodentro, and the ADDIE educational design model as a methodology for the development of the virtual world.