Abstract:

This study was based on a documentary research aimed at a critical and reflective review on the incorporation of augmented reality and the metaverse to the processes of appropriation of competences for research in higher education students in Latin America. The characteristics of these tools are reviewed, the level of access that currently exists in Latin America and the relevance of its implementation in the investigative function of higher education institutions, that is, in the generation of knowledge and the development of skills for said task in virtual learning environments.
The Metaverse and Augmented Reality (AR) are two technologies that have been incorporated into the educational field in recent times. Although both have the potential to revolutionize the way people interact with each other in learning environments, they are fundamentally different in the way they work and what they offer. The use of digital technologies to support the improvement of the quality of education, from early childhood to professional training, has been increasing exponentially in the present century (Cabero & Martínez, 2019; Cabero, 2020; UNESCO, 2019)
Latin America needs to join this type of process. Although the number of publications of scientific documents has been increasing in recent years from the region, Brazil, the leading country, barely appears in 14th place worldwide.
There is a growth that shows a commitment to open science policies emanating from the declaration of Budapest in 2002 (BOAI), that of Bethesda and Berlin in 2003 (González-Parias, 2023); However, these countries are still a long way from joining the first lines of knowledge production. The first Latin American magazine in the Scimago Ranking is ranked 2049 for the year 2023, it is the Brazilian Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation.
In this line of growth, the main actor in training for research is the teacher, "educational systems require new techniques to change the individual behavior and personality of students. The teacher, therefore, must be qualified not only for the didactics of the subject he teaches, but also to assume new responsibilities in his role as tutor and researcher" (Navarro et all, 2019, p. 75).
The resources given from the internet should be used to prepare new researchers. It is important to take into account that the reduction of the life of the knowledge generated by the human being is a constant; according to Guaman et all (2019), humanity created 150 EB of data in 2005; in 2010 it is estimated that 1,200 EB were created; and in 2020, 35 ZB of data were created, that is, close to 35,000 EB.
Although much of this information comes from video and social networks, these and other resources are valid for the dissemination and debate around scientific knowledge. Ke and Sugimoto (2017) found that “Twitter is used by scholars across the disciplinary spectrum: historians were widely represented, as were physicists, political scientists, computer scientists, biologists, economists, and sociologists.”
The routes of incorporation of the metaverse and augmented reality in research training processes are essential.

Keywords:

Virtual learning environments, Augmented reality, Metaverse, Research skills, Knowledge production.