The metaverse is a concept that has recently emerged as a key topic of discussion across various industries, including education. Although there is no universally accepted definition of the metaverse, it is generally understood as a collective technology-supported virtual space that facilitates interactive communication, collaborative learning, and innovative content creation. This paper seeks to investigate multiple perspectives on the definition of the metaverse, placing special emphasis on its applications within the educational sector, and employing keyword analysis from relevant academic literature to highlight current trends and key insights. The need for this study stems from the potential of the metaverse to transform educational experiences by offering personalized, immersive, and engaging learning opportunities. Nonetheless, successful implementation of the metaverse in education requires overcoming a range of technical, security, and social challenges. Educational institutions must invest in the necessary infrastructure, training, and resources to effectively integrate these technologies into their curricula. This paper contributes to the body of research with a coherent overview of how the metaverse can be defined and applied in educational processes, and by analyzing key terms and trends, aims to highlight the essential technologies and approaches that shape this emerging field. The research findings indicate that the metaverse in education is increasingly linked to the development and application of cutting-edge technologies that foster richer interactive experiences. Key technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), as well as artificial intelligence (AI), Internet-of-Things (IoT), blockchain technologies and others, are revolutionizing traditional educational paradigms by providing immersive environments where students can engage with content in new and innovative ways. Critical issues like ethical concerns, data privacy, AI bias, and the psychological effects of immersive environments, are pivotal to the ongoing discussion and essential for the integration of the metaverse into education in a sustainable, scalable and holistic manner.

This paper tackles the challenge of adaptive level generation in video games, focusing on generating content that aligns with player skill.A key limitation of procedural content generation (PCG) is achieving semantic control.Specifically, generating levels of varying difficulty with limited training data.To address this problem, we propose a hybrid approach combining Large Language Models (LLMs) and Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs).An LLM is used to generate a diverse, difficulty-labeled dataset of Snake game levels, which are validated with A* pathfinding to ensure playability.These levels serve as training data for GANs that are able to efficiently generate new levels.The system is evaluated through user study and playability metrics.Results show that the LLMassigned difficulty labels correlate strongly with human perception.The achieved playability is 87% for easy levels and 36% for hard levels.Our findings demonstrate that the hybrid LLM-GAN approach enables scalable and semantically controlled content generation, balancing quality, adaptability, and computational efficiency.

This paper examines the area of technology development for virtual educational avatars. Since such avatars can be real-like and closely resemble real or fictional persons, the paper examines practical aspects of such designs, linking technology designs to pedagogy requirements. Following these, technology development considerations for realistic voice and video generation and the corresponding architecture which enables realistic virtual avatar for use in education are discussed. Additionally, using powerful CPUs and GPUs shows how current technology allows for efficient and sophisticated video and audio generation, emphasizing the need for optimized resource management to balance processing speed and output quality.

This paper presents a novel method for generating speaking avatars from text, images, and custom audio, designed to enhance digital communication and virtual interaction. Method involves two primary components: image processing and audio synthesis. It starts with a static image of a person and applying facial recognition and animation algorithms to create a dynamic, lifelike avatar capable of realistic mouth movements and expressions. Concurrently, it utilizes text-to-speech (TTS) technology to convert written text into natural-sounding speech, tailored to match the avatar's identity and intended emotional tone. By integrating these two elements, it is ensured that the avatar's lip movements are synchronized with the generated audio, resulting in a seamless and engaging user experience. Additionally, by leveraging powerful CPUs and GPUs, it is demonstrated how current technology enables efficient and sophisticated video and audio generation. The findings underscore the need for optimized resource management to achieve balanced processing speed and output quality. As a potential direction of future research, it is proposed to test virtual avatars in real educational environments, with an emphasis on evaluating the effect on learning, motivation and engagement of students.

This paper presents the results of a systematic review of the research papers on the use of explainable AI in the real world. The present body of research indicates there is a huge drive from the academic society in pushing and exploring explainable AI across disciplines from a research perspective, and there is inherent need to design prototypes with increased complexity to tackle the numerous scientific and methodological issues in the process. The main conclusions of the review are that there exist serious methodological issues with the use of XAI in complex systems which reside on vast or layered information systems spanning across multiple organizational units with important data sometimes missing, potentially limiting the validity of the XAI approach used in practice. For XAI to work in the real-world context of education, the approaches to presenting explanations to the stakeholders such as teachers and students should be understandable by them to take appropriate actions or decisions. This would highlight the need to study of human-computer interaction between AI and users that would lead to better transparency, trust and personalization.

This paper describes the results of a systematic review dealing with the use of personas, avatars, and characters in conjunction with AI-supported tools such as chatbots or generative AI in education. Although the use generative AI in education is gaining traction, this study seeks to systematically review the body of knowledge dealing with personified and conversational approaches to education with both pre-generative and generative AI. The results of the study emphasize the importance of the three key elements of such systems: the use of pedagogical agents, interaction, and personalization. These key elements can be relevant when considering the adoption of the new generation of generative AI in education. Such systems should scaffold learners’ understanding providing guidance and support, promote self-directedness and ensure effectiveness in learning, provide customized learning paths, and promote ethical use.

In this paper, the use of generative AI for creating educational personas is presented. Prior to the appearance of generative AI, conversational AI was used to enhance educational environments with the use of technologies such as chatbots. Generative AI brings a new dimension as it allows for the creation and use of personas mimicking real people, historical figures, and even fictional characters. Such designs potentially bring a new immersive and interactive dimension to learning, but further research is required to understand the full potential of these technologies. In this paper, the experiences and challenges in appropriating language learning models to act as potential educational personas are described.

In this paper, a model for identifying e-book reading style is proposed and applied onto a learning log dataset. Learning log data available as non-structured data source is processed to identify patterns of reading exhibited by users using three main structures: reading sessions, reads and passages. These structures are used to extract information on users’ reading style to be used as part of user modeling process. The proposed model is applied on a set of log data generated by university students during one semester of digital resource use. The findings show students adopt predominantly receptive reading style, while responsive style occurs rarely. Further analysis revealed no significant relationships between reading style variables and student academic success for the Architecture course indicating the variables of responsive and receptive reading bring new information as part of user modeling.

This paper introduces a system for collaborative learning which is designed to assist teachers in forming and grading groups for in-class group activities. The system is implemented as an extension of a learning analytics dashboard system and uses log data from a learning management system for operation. It consists of a group formation parameter console and the results console where formed groups are visualized and can be graded. The system supports teachers by using algorithms based on reliable learning evidence thereby simplifying the group formation process. All the group formation and grading data is logged thereby cyclically providing an infrastructure for subsequent collaborative learning activities.

To assist young learners of Chinese Language in developing general orthographic awareness (i.e., the knowledge of Chinese character structures), a novel mobile game-based learning intervention was designed. In playing the “Chinese-PP” game in a 1:1 (one-deviceper-pupil) setting, each of the 31 participating 9-year-old pupils was assigned a Chinese character component in her smartphone. A pupil may make use of her own and peers’ character components to form a legitimate Chinese character, and invite the peers with matching components to join her group, resulting in rapid social negotiation. In this paper, the students’ collaborative learning processes in three game sessions are analyzed. The relationships between pupils with varied learning styles and their game behaviors and learning gains are unveiled. Through the intervention that stimulates active peer coaching and social learning, we discover that all the pupils (regardless of their learning styles) became active learning participants and achieved high learning gains towards the last game session.

This paper describes two mobile learning journeys in the zoo using either smartphones or tablets, and a mobile learning application SamEx, all designed and implemented as part of a research study in a Singapore primary school. Out-of-school semi-formal learning activities such as zoo trips present standard curricular topics where students go out of their schools in order to explore topics of interest in a semi-controlled designed environment. Typically, students observe and connect their observations with prior knowledge or further extend their knowledge on the go or later with their teacher in the classroom. The initial study in 2013 included the whole Primary 3 (P3) level of students, 305 of them, while the subsequent study in 2015 included 321 students. Between the years technology shift was inevitable — the participating school switched from smartphone devices to tablet computers, where each child has a tablet with the option to connect to both a WiFi network and to a mobile broadband network. Furthermore, the changes in the design of the mobile learning SamEx application were carried out in collaboration with the teachers, through a design-based research process. SamEx allows for the collection, organization and storage of media collected by students typically as responses to questions and prompts set up by their teachers. The initial design was oriented towards individual students, to support their individual in-class and homework learning tasks and assignments. The main features added to the application incorporated additional teachers' needs in carrying out curricular topics including inquiry learning and collaborative learning. The paper explores the evolution of both technology and the implementation of the application in the period, and problematizes the notion of inevitable technology change, constant software maintenance and enhancement and the effect of these changes on learning activities and outcomes.

This paper problematizes the challenges of setting up a new mobile learning project in a Croatia, a country where technology-enhanced tools in classrooms are not often used due to a number of reasons, two of which are the lack of infrastructure and no teacher professional development. There are three focal points of this paper: designing scalable and durable mobile learning solution, working with teachers in order to ensure an adequate teacher development and creating appropriate digital contents to match primary school level 2, 3 and 4 curriculum. Scalable and durable mobile learning solutions in the context of this project include two main platforms: (1) a mobile learning tablet application for primary school students and (2) a designer application mainly aimed at digital contents designers and producers, to also be easily used by the teachers. On the other side, it describes the processes of strengthening digital competences of the participating school teachers, including technology competence, leadership capacity and technology supported curricular innovation processes. Thirdly, the issues of design and implementation of digital lessons are explored with a special focus on digitalization of the existing non-digital lessons together with the teachers, wherever appropriate and feasible. As a result, conceptual prototypes of digital lessons are produced to be analyzed and discussed amongst teachers and researchers, after which the selected ones get integrated into digital lessons for tablet computer. In addition to describing the threefold process and the accompanying issues, the paper presents preliminary experiences and results in this novel research initiative, sets up mid-term goals and proposes and adequate methodology in achieving the project goals.

There are many tools that enable the development of the augmented reality (AR) activities, some of them can even create and generate an AR experience where the incorporation of 3D objects is simple. However AR tools used in education are different from the general tools limited to the reproduction of virtual content. The purpose of this paper is to present a learning environment based on augmented reality, which can be used both by teachers to develop quality AR educational resources and by students to acquire knowledge in an area. Common problems teachers have in applying AR have been taken into account by producing an authoring tool for education which includes the following characteristics: (1) the ability to incorporate diverse multimedia resources such as video, sound, images and 3D objects in an easy manner, 2) the ability to incorporate tutored descriptions into elements which are being displayed (thus, the student is provided with an additional information, description or narrative about the resource, while the content gets adapted and personalized), (3) the possibility for the teacher to incorporate multiple choice questions (MCQ) into the virtual resource (useful for instant feedback to students on their understanding, it can be useful for the student to know what are the most important points of that issue and for the teacher to assess whether the student distinguishes different concepts) and (4) a library of virtual content where all resources are available in a simple and transparent way for any user. In this study ARLE is used to add AR technologies into notes or books created by the teacher, thereby supplementing both the theoretical and practical content without any programming skills needed on the designers' behalf. In addition to presenting system architecture and the examples of its educational use, a survey concerning use of AR amongst teachers in Spain has been conducted.

Appropriate design of collaborative learning activities for students using 1:1 handheld devices can lead to peer scaffolding, building up students‟ collaborative skills. Building on such prior studies in mCSCL (mobile Computer Supported Collaborative Learning), we derived Chinese-PP, a novel design of in-class mobile synchronous collaborative learning game on constructions of Chinese characters from components, with the unique characteristic of spontaneous small group formations. In this paper, we propose a framework, namely, “SCaffold Analysis and Provision Envisioning” (SCAPE) to guide us in examining and refining/revising the interplay among various forms of scaffolding in the learning model across various Design-Based Research (DBR) cycles of our study on Chinese-PP. We believe a generalized SCAPE framework has the potential to inform TEL research in a structure to embark on the iterative process of enacting and redesigning the socio-techno-pedagogical frameworks developed by individual research projects.

This paper proposes and examines a design of technological scaffolding for cooperative learning. An application for learning fractions with handheld devices was designed and tested in a primary three classroom. The outcomes were interpreted according to a two-dimensional framework consisting of the cooperative learning principles (maximum peer interaction, equal opportunity to participate, individual accountability and positive interdependence) and the observed interplay of social, technological and teacher scaffolding which emerged throughout the activity. The focus of our analysis is the technological scaffolding and the support it can give to cooperative learning activities based on the feedback received from two sources: primary school children using the software and a group of teachers trying out and reflecting on our design.