Learning Cultural Spaces: A Collaborative Creation of a Virtual Art Museum Using Roblox

Abstract

This study proposes education on creating virtual art museums using metaverse technology to broaden the understanding of art museums. It investigates the effect of creating a virtual art museum using Roblox Studio, a metaverse platform, on the acquisition of knowledge about art museums, artists, and artworks and the ability to create metaverse content. This study selected the Moonshin Art Museum (MAM), the art museum to be created in the metaverse space, as its local cultural space. Fifteen students participated in a creation workshop to learn to create virtual spatial content using Roblox Studio and also visited an actual art museum. The students were then assigned to architecture, artwork, avatar, and content teams and collaborated with one another. To evaluate the activities, students filled out pre- and post-questionnaires containing items about the MAM, the sculptor Moonshin, and Moonshin’s artwork, as well as the ability to produce metaverse content. Findings showed that creating a virtual art museum through a metaverse platform facilitates the acquisition of spatial knowledge about art museums as well as information about artists and artworks. In addition, collaboration not only helped in the creation task but also identified and solved technical difficulties and improved creative abilities. These results suggest possibilities for using metaverse technology in delivering education regarding virtual art museums.