The technologies are not necessarily new.
Gaming has been around for decades, as has artificial intelligence.
However, Luis Garcia says that these technologies along with the emergence of the Metaverse concept offers an unprecedented opportunity for the education industry.
“The promise of the digitization of education has been interesting,” Garcia said during his one-man panel at MetaCenter Global Week on Wednesday.
The three-day event has brought in dozens of expert speakers on a variety of technology topics, including AI, gaming, virtual and augmented reality, and many more across a variety of industries to downtown Orlando.
Garcia was one of many local experts able to share the stage with others from major companies like Meta, Google and others.
He said he appreciated that his speech had an overflow crowd.
“It was refreshing to see so many people interested in listening to a talk about education, said Garcia, a former Full Sail University VP who recently became president of the local AI company PETE, which was formerly known as Senseily.
Garcia has been an education advocate for years.
At Full Sail, he helped develop curriculum for a time and then helped establish Full Sail Labs.
“The experience of learning doesn’t have to be limited to a classroom,” he said. “A learner can have a lesson in a classroom then go to a small lab that is gamified to master that knowledge.”
While gaming and artificial intelligence has certainly matured to a point where its use cases for several industries like education have already been proven, the wild card might be the Metaverse.
The technology has been emergent but has drawn criticism from some who say it may have limited appeal in some circles.
Garcia doesn’t disagree but he also believes the concept will survive those doubters.
“Regardless of whether it will be what people think it will be, it’s undeniable it will be a technology we can (use) in education,” he said.