Conceptions of the metaverse in higher education: A draw-a-picture analysis and surveys to investigate the perceptions of students with different motivation levels

In recent years, the application of the metaverse in higher education has attracted the attention of numerous educators and researchers. It allows students to engage in immersive experiential learning and to experience a variety of real human interaction modes. Researchers have pointed out that although the introduction of emerging technologies may bring a sense of novelty, it cannot sustain student learning for a long time. Learners' learning performance still depends on their learning motivation. The present study aimed to explore the conceptions and perceptions (i. e., growth mindset, learning attitudes, and self-efficacy) of students with different motivation levels regarding the metaverse in higher education. A draw-a-picture analysis and surveys were conducted. The results indicated that most students believed that with the metaverse, they could learn the knowledge of unspecified subject domains in any location, realizing the idea of studying for practical application. In the drawings of students with low motivation levels, they still conducted static learning activities (i.e., reading/studying, and searching for sources) in the metaverse learning environment. On the other hand, students with high motivation levels focused on experiential learning, operation, or practice (i.e., hands-on practicing/performance and observing/experiencing). Moreover, the students with high motivation levels generally show better growth mindsets, learning attitudes, and self-efficacy than those with low motivation levels. This implies that learning motivation could be an important factor affecting students' growth mindsets, learning attitudes, and self-efficacy of learning with the metaverse. The findings of this study serve as a foundation for future research, and provide preliminary evidence for understanding the conceptions of students with different motivation levels regarding the metaverse in higher education. Lastly, based on the analytic results, this study puts forward suggestions for the learning approaches of students in the metaverse as a reference for future researchers and teachers in higher education to design related activities.