The context
This success story is positioned at the intersection between applied Artificial Intelligence (VR/AR; Data Analytics; UAVs; Information Systems) and a portfolio of interdisciplinary applications (i.e. Energy Sector and Educational Systems with Extended Reality - XR). In this field, the standards and expectations for educational attainment have risen globally although the diversification of the IT infrastructure of the public educational systems has declined and has not followed the trends of the XR advancements. The young population has advanced aspirations and expectations in terms of IT support in schools, which is essential to achieve their educational and learning goals. This work analysed existing standards regarding their ability to support the concept of ethically aligned 3D educational systems and the need for XR Ethics educational content metadata has emerged. In particular, the need for the standardisation of ethics metadata in XR and Metaverse is of immediate priority.
Within my activity, I plan to contribute towards the ethical concepts of the 3D learning objects’ schemas used for education and training. This activity can set standards for metadata to inform educational managers, intermediaries, and regulators (like departments of education on member state level, educational infrastructure providers, school systems) so they can systematically identify appropriate enhancing actions and ensure ethically approved XR learning resources for the provision of XR education anytime anywhere.
Eleni Mangina, Professor at the School of Computer Science, University College Dublin
The challenges
XR is increasingly used in education and training to support learning, practice, or even guide performance. Standards, however, are scarce, incomplete, with existing work scattered across standardization bodies and committees. For example, existing relevant standards work is not necessarily conducted under the auspices of IEEE Computer Learning Technology Standards Committee (C/LTSC) but can also be found in hardware-oriented, industry-focused, or human-computer interaction sponsorship. Moreover, several existing standards applicable to learning technologies at large focus on web and mobile apps and thus fall short of taking into account specificities of the new XR medium, delivery and interaction devices, and related management and usage protocols.
Setting of targets for education and training services and augmented infrastructure implies the ability to:
- Measure the current learning object metadata.
- Define a process to set the target for implementation of ethically approved XR educational platforms.
- Define specific targets based on impact assessment within specific educational subjects.
How standardisation activities help face the challenges
The standardisation activities in the area of the development of the Ethics Educational Metadata for XR and Metaverse, will face these challenges through the following actions:
- Define a high-level overview of the conceptual data schema that defines the structure of metadata instance based on ethics’ concepts for a learning object [based on reviewing the current LOM (Learning objects metadata) and ARLEM (Augmented Reality Learning Experience Model) Schemas].
- Develop examples of usage of the conceptual data schema through an applicable pilot studies proposed by the working group
- Define a process to set the target for implementation of ethically approved XR educational platforms.
- Collect feedback from stakeholders and actively involve other technical and working groups to support further development of the XR Ethics educational metadata.
- Propose a high-level ethical assessment methodology for the design of XR learning objects via an applied ethical approach utilising IEEE’s Ethically Aligned Design (EAD)
The Benefits
The activity has led to a CEN-CWA on "eXtended Reality (XR) for Learning and Performance Augmentation" available here for public review.
The CWA is intended to be used by:
- educational providers to establish targets for XR learning content services provided and boost resilience of the XR learning and performance augmentation infrastructure, ensuring that there is a complete and systematic way of setting up a service for teaching and learning anytime anywhere with 3D experiences;
- educational managers, intermediaries, and regulators to systematically identify appropriate enhancing actions and ensure effective allocation of digital learning resources for the provision of education anytime anywhere;
- investors to properly allocate resources to 3D content infrastructure.
- IEEE (P7016.1) will help support XR educational designers and developers and policy makers to adapt their processes to prioritize ethically aligned design of their XR products, services or systems.
Future plans
The next step is the development of the P7016.1 new standards (pending IEEE SSIT-SC approval) which will provide the following:
- to establish a uniform set of definitions, parameters and a methodology for the implementation of ethically designed and implemented XR learning objects in a human-centric, ethically aligned manner,
- to help support XR educational designers and developers and policymakers to adapt their processes to prioritise ethically aligned design of their XR products, services or systems,
- to define ethical educational XR learning content and
- to promote ethically aligned values and robust public engagement in the research, implementation and proliferation of XR in Education that has been provably aligned to increase human wellbeing and educational flourishing, which can be of support to educational applications in the Metaverse.
Stakeholders for the Standard are XR Educational Designers and developers, Policy makers, public and private sector research foundations or academics supporting the implementation of socio-technically oriented, ethically aligned educational applications of Extended Reality