Yangcheon-gu Public Officials Jump on the 'Metaverse'!

Metaverse Utilization Training Conducted Twice on September 17 and October 1 for About 100 Interested Employees...Accessing Metaverse Platform from Home, Comprising Theoretical Education and Experiential Practical Training (Workshop)

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Yangcheon-gu (Mayor Kim Soo-young) will conduct employee training using the metaverse twice, on September 17 and October 1.

The metaverse is a compound word of Meta, meaning "virtual," and Universe, meaning "world," referring to a three-dimensional virtual world where economic, social, and cultural activities are possible.

As non-face-to-face communication has become a daily routine due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, the metaverse has rapidly emerged as a "New Normal" (a new standard or norm arising from changes in the era). Accordingly, Yangcheon-gu has actively incorporated the metaverse into employee training.

The instructor for the training is Director Jeon Jae-hyun (JJ Creative Education Research Institute), an expert on the metaverse platform "Gather Town."

The training will be conducted remotely, with employees accessing Gather Town from their homes. It will last four hours and include theoretical education and experiential practical training (workshops).

Employees select individual avatars and connect to Gather Town, then gather in the central auditorium prepared within the virtual world to begin orientation. The orientation starts with an encouragement speech by Mayor Kim Soo-young, followed by a lecture on "digital literacy" by Director Jeon Jae-hyun.

"Digital literacy" means "literacy in the digital world" and is an essential quality for talents in the Fourth Industrial Revolution era. Understanding of the training will be assessed through a true/false quiz, where employees use their avatars representing themselves in the virtual world to choose between true and false for each question.

After one hour of preliminary education and familiarization with the Gather Town platform, employees will engage in a three-hour team-building mission. Over three rounds of missions, employees will solve problems by exploring, combining, and evaluating digital information based on team communication and collaboration.

The district expects that this process will naturally strengthen employees' digital literacy capabilities.

Mayor Kim Soo-young of Yangcheon-gu said, "The metaverse, which is rapidly growing as a next-generation platform leading the future, will play an important role in administrative infrastructure. To proactively respond to the rapidly changing digital environment, Yangcheon-gu will provide employees with opportunities to utilize the metaverse platform and review various administrative services that can be implemented within the metaverse."