Promoting students’ real case-handling performance and higher order thinking in virtual contexts: a metaverse-facilitated collaborative learning approach

Cultivating students' real case-handling competence is an important objective in vocational education. The typical activities for engaging students in collaboratively dealing with real cases are generally conducted following the BSFE (Brainstorming, Selection of feasible ideas and materials, Forming possible solutions or plans, and Evaluation) model. However, during the conventional case-handling process, students are often not situated in real problem contexts, which could affect their learning performance. Consequently, a metaverse-based BSFE approach was proposed in the present study to facilitate the collaborative learning activity. To assess the approach, we conducted an experiment during a vocational training course. Two cohorts of students from a vocational university were enlisted as study participants. The experimental cohort, consisting of 48 students, utilized the metaverse-based BSFE method. In contrast, the control cohort, comprising 44 students, employed the traditional BSFE approach. The results showed that the metaverse-based BSFE approach better enhanced the participants' learning achievement, creative thinking, collaboration tendencies, problem-solving, and critical thinking than the conventional BSFE approach. Moreover, in the case-handling assessment, the metaverse-based BSFE group showed better capabilities in the dimensions of Completeness, Judgment, and Accuracy, but not in Application. The findings could be a reference for guiding students in collaborative exploration within virtual environments.