5 myths about the educational metaverse that it’s time to debunk

3 days ago
4 min read

Is the educational metaverse just a fad? Do you need VR headsets to access it? Can’t you really learn by playing? These are the questions we hear most often. Let’s answer them, one by one, with facts.

Myth 1: ‘You need a virtual reality headset to access it’

We’re starting with this one because it’s the one most people take for granted.

The mental image we have of the metaverse includes expensive headsets, cables, and a setup that looks like something out of a science fiction film. It’s an understandable image, but it doesn’t reflect the reality of most educational platforms available today.

Brainlaverse runs in your browser. No installation required, no special hardware needed. The very computer you’re using to read this right now is all you need to get started.

VR headsets can enhance the experience. But they aren’t the gateway. They never have been.

Myth 2: ‘It's just a fad. It'll disappear’

In 2000, the Daily Mail ran a headline that read: ‘The internet may be just a passing fad.’ Today, that clipping circulates online as a joke. But at the time, many people read it and nodded in agreement.

We’re not saying the metaverse is the internet. We’re saying that the history of dismissing emerging technologies as passing fads has a rather poor track record.

Today’s figures: according to Sci-Tech Today, the metaverse will have approximately 700 million monthly active users by 2025, an aggregate figure that includes very different platforms but gives an idea of the scale. Statista projects that figure will rise to 2.6 billion by 2030. In education specifically, Research and Markets estimates that the market will reach $61 billion by 2029, growing at an annual rate of 40%.

It may not be for everyone just yet. But ‘passing fad’ is not the correct diagnosis.

Myth 3: ‘You don’t really learn by playing’

We come across this a lot, especially among teachers with years of experience. And we understand why: there is a legitimate scepticism towards anything that sounds like ‘effortless learning’.

But there is a fundamental misunderstanding here. Immersive learning does not mean learning without rigour. It means active learning, where the learner participates rather than simply receiving information.

Data from the National Training Laboratory, compiled by ISTE, suggests that immersive learning achieves a retention rate of 75%, compared to 5–10% in a standard lecture. This is a widely cited figure that some academics qualify depending on the context, but the direction is clear: actively participating in what you learn changes how much you retain.

At Brainlaverse you learn by doing. You explore, discover and interact, and that sticks. It is not entertainment disguised as education. It is education that works because you have experienced it.

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Talk to the great philosophers in Brainlaverse

Myth 4: ‘It's only for young people or digital natives’

It makes sense that it might seem that way. According to Sci-Tech Today, 80% of current metaverse users are under 16. Platforms such as Roblox and Fortnite have made these environments the norm amongst young people in a way that has no equivalent in previous generations.

But that describes who got there first, not who can get there.

In the professional sphere, companies such as PwC and Deloitte have been training their employees in immersive environments for years. Findings from Takeaway Reality show that employees trained using VR complete their training up to four times faster than in traditional classrooms. They are hardly teenagers.

The generation gap in the metaverse is real. But it is a gap in familiarity, not in ability. And familiarity can be acquired.

Myth 5: ‘The metaverse replaces the teacher’

This is the most damaging myth of all, because it drives away precisely those people who could benefit most from these tools.

No educational technology has ever replaced the teacher. Not television, not computers, not the internet, and not tablets. The metaverse will be no exception.

What does change is the starting point of a lesson. Instead of having to explain something from scratch, the teacher walks into a classroom where the pupils have already been immersed in the subject, quite literally. They have explored, they have seen, they have interacted. The teacher provides the context, the meaning, the direction.

It is not a replacement. It is simply that the teacher now has more to work with.

In conclusion

We don’t expect anyone to change their mind about the educational metaverse after reading just one article. These myths have been around for a while and are rooted in real-world reasons.

What we do hope is that the next time someone says “it’s just a fad” or “you need glasses to get in”, there will be a little more hesitation before agreeing.

Brainlaverse’s Floating City already exists. If you’re curious, the door is open at brainlaverse.com.