Metaverse-based education for sustainable development and improving the performance: Discussing the future research agenda

In the last few years, the uptake of cutting-edge technologies in the education system has been expedited, mainly as a reaction to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Innovations have emphasized the imperative for new and sustainable education practices. Out of the new technologies, the...

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Main Authors: Rita Roy, G Appa Rao, Debajyoti Pal, Sesetti Anuradha, Subhodeep Mukherjee
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-12-01
Series:Sustainable Futures
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666188825006550
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author Rita Roy
G Appa Rao
Debajyoti Pal
Sesetti Anuradha
Subhodeep Mukherjee
author_facet Rita Roy
G Appa Rao
Debajyoti Pal
Sesetti Anuradha
Subhodeep Mukherjee
author_sort Rita Roy
collection DOAJ
description In the last few years, the uptake of cutting-edge technologies in the education system has been expedited, mainly as a reaction to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Innovations have emphasized the imperative for new and sustainable education practices. Out of the new technologies, the metaverse has potential for high transformative power towards improving teaching and learning experiences, particularly in the context of sustainable development in higher education. Though having immense potential, there has been sparse academic discussion on the use of metaverse-based environments for the promotion of sustainability education. This study seeks to address the gap by presenting a theoretical framework for the uptake of metaverse-based education towards the promotion of sustainable development, and its impact on students' and lecturers' performance. A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted, covering 105 selected articles on the basis of given keyword combinations. Through bibliometric analysis, the study identifies five major thematic clusters that represent research trends, keyword co-occurrences, citation patterns, and top publications. On that basis, the study formulates a comprehensive agenda for future research that combines metaverse technologies with sustainable education and performance measures. Though findings offer high conceptual inputs, the theoretical direction of the research suggests limitations, and it is recommended that future research should focus on empirical validation of the proposed framework in different education contexts.
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spelling doaj-art-fe18cd0b25b3437091a6c9fe1bd378482025-08-20T03:37:31ZengElsevierSustainable Futures2666-18882025-12-011010109110.1016/j.sftr.2025.101091Metaverse-based education for sustainable development and improving the performance: Discussing the future research agendaRita Roy0G Appa Rao1Debajyoti Pal2Sesetti Anuradha3Subhodeep Mukherjee4Department of Computer Science and Engineering, GITAM Institute of Technology, GITAM (Deemed to be University), Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, IndiaSchool of Information Technology, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok, ThailandSchool of Information Technology, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok, ThailandDepartment of Computer Science and Engineering, GITAM Institute of Technology, GITAM (Deemed to be University), Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, IndiaKL Business School, Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation (Deemed to Be University), Vaddeswaram, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India; Corresponding author.In the last few years, the uptake of cutting-edge technologies in the education system has been expedited, mainly as a reaction to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Innovations have emphasized the imperative for new and sustainable education practices. Out of the new technologies, the metaverse has potential for high transformative power towards improving teaching and learning experiences, particularly in the context of sustainable development in higher education. Though having immense potential, there has been sparse academic discussion on the use of metaverse-based environments for the promotion of sustainability education. This study seeks to address the gap by presenting a theoretical framework for the uptake of metaverse-based education towards the promotion of sustainable development, and its impact on students' and lecturers' performance. A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted, covering 105 selected articles on the basis of given keyword combinations. Through bibliometric analysis, the study identifies five major thematic clusters that represent research trends, keyword co-occurrences, citation patterns, and top publications. On that basis, the study formulates a comprehensive agenda for future research that combines metaverse technologies with sustainable education and performance measures. Though findings offer high conceptual inputs, the theoretical direction of the research suggests limitations, and it is recommended that future research should focus on empirical validation of the proposed framework in different education contexts.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666188825006550MetaverseSustainable educationPerformanceHigher education
spellingShingle Rita Roy
G Appa Rao
Debajyoti Pal
Sesetti Anuradha
Subhodeep Mukherjee
Metaverse-based education for sustainable development and improving the performance: Discussing the future research agenda
Sustainable Futures
Metaverse
Sustainable education
Performance
Higher education
title Metaverse-based education for sustainable development and improving the performance: Discussing the future research agenda
title_full Metaverse-based education for sustainable development and improving the performance: Discussing the future research agenda
title_fullStr Metaverse-based education for sustainable development and improving the performance: Discussing the future research agenda
title_full_unstemmed Metaverse-based education for sustainable development and improving the performance: Discussing the future research agenda
title_short Metaverse-based education for sustainable development and improving the performance: Discussing the future research agenda
title_sort metaverse based education for sustainable development and improving the performance discussing the future research agenda
topic Metaverse
Sustainable education
Performance
Higher education
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666188825006550
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