Calling For Investment in Education and Promotion of Effective Communication with Students An Academic at UoB Calls for The Use of Metaverse to Enhance the Educational Environment

Sakhir – University of Bahrain (Khadijah Abdusalem)

19 July 2023

The Head of the Computer Engineering Department at the College of Information Technology at the University of Bahrain (UoB), Dr. Fatema Abdul Qadir Albalooshi, called for the use of “Metaverse” technology in developing practical training and promoting effective communication in the educational environment.

This came during her participation as a keynote speaker in a virtual symposium titled “Metaverse: The New Virtual World”. Metaverse is a 3D virtual world and a form of mixed reality, a combination of augmented reality and virtual reality, where users share a collective digital space.

Dr. Albalooshi stressed the importance of investing in the education sector, integrating new technical skills into the educational process, and discussing opportunities to use the “Metaverse” in supporting student learning, such as creating and simulating real situations in various fields such as engineering and medicine, creating three-dimensional classrooms, organizing virtual university visits and seminars, and interacting with prominent figures of scientists and specialists. As the Metaverse works on integrating modern technologies (such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence) into academic curricula, and improving learning speed, with a focus on creating an attractive environment that enables students to learn better.

Moreover, Dr. Al Balooshi referred to a number of technologies that can be used in the Metaverse system, including mixed reality technology, kinesthetic communication, integrated audio, virtual touch, and actual reality. She also referred to new technologies that could be used in the future, including the technology of optical graphics, creative reality, fusion communication, and emotional artificial intelligence. Calling for more controls and regulations to protect privacy and security in the Metaverse.

The symposium was held through visual communication technology by the “Arab Thought Foundation” in Beirut, which is an international, independent, non-governmental organization. Participants in the symposium included the Executive Director of the Stallone Group for Artificial Intelligence in Dubai, Samer Obeidat, the supervisor of the work of the Center for Applied Innovation affiliated to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in Egypt, Dr. Ahmed Tantawi, and Professor of the Department of Information Systems at the Faculty of Computing and Information Technology at King Abdulaziz University, Dr. Abdullah Al-Tayeb Al-Ghamdi.

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