The Potential of Metaverse Technology in E-Learning: Case of Engineering Students

International audience ; Metaverse technology integrates virtual and augmented reality, has significantlyimpacted many industries, and opened up new opportunities for educators andlearners alike. This article focuses on its potential to transform e-learning, especiallyin engineering education, and highlights the importance of understandingengineering students' attitudes toward adopting new technologies. This study shedslight on the potential of e-learning in general, and the metaverse in specific, toengage and motivate students. We conducted a quantitative online survey (n=120) to collect data from engineering students. The analysis of collected data explores and evaluates the students' awareness and acceptance of the metaverse in e-learning. Our results demonstrate that engineering students have a good awareness, a positive attitude, and motivation towards using new technologies and highlight a good opportunity for the metaverse to enhance engineering students’ online interactions and participation compared with traditional e-learning methods. We have identified several challenges and opportunities in using the metaverse in e-learning, including the need for new competencies, specialized hardware and software, and data privacy and security concerns. The paper concludes with recommendations for future research, emphasizing the benefits, e-learning's potential, and challenges of the metaverse in e-learning.