Through the Looking Glass: Exploring the Metaverse for Teaching Media Education in Real-Time International Collaboration

Media education is undergoing rapid changes, brought about by technological innovations that are challenging universities and teachers to acquire new skills. When it comes to teaching immersive media technologies, new affordances like XR technologies have emerged that present opportunities and new challenges. Through a series of pilot workshops and a media education course conducted during 2023 and 2024 between universities in Finland, Norway, and the United States, this article investigates the potential of immersive metaverses to assist universities in international collaboration by creating virtual classroom experiences for students. Moreover, the article compares traditional two-dimensional video collaboration with three-dimensional Virtual Reality (VR) collaboration, highlighting key components for successful international collaboration, including curriculum design, communication skills, cross-cultural understanding, and metaverse platform selection. Despite challenges like platform accessibility and varying VR proficiency, the study shows that VR fosters deeper engagement and cultural exchange. The findings provide a framework for integrating VR into media education, offering recommendations for educators and universities to enhance their teaching practices.