Post COVID-19 higher education empowered by virtual worlds and applications

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic forced higher education institutions to switch to remote learning environments, for which many universities lacked prior contingency plans and/or infrastructures to run all of their courses online. Now, it has become compulsory that higher education institutions invest in educational technologies in order to survive and thrive in such a challenging platform, as this has become the 'New Norm' in higher education. This paper investigates literature related to post COVID-19 universities' experiences in applying virtual worlds and applications in higher education worldwide, to achieve a developed remote learning for their students in a risk-free educational environment. The paper highlights the advantages and suitability of virtual world technologies for higher education's requirements in this period, and provides examples from universities globally, which applied virtual worlds and applications in their students' education post pandemic. The paper also delivers recommendations to higher education institutions when considering virtual world technologies for their online learning activities.