TPACK-XD: Expanding the TPACK Framework for Metaverse-Based Higher Education Learning Environments

The integration of immersive metaverse-based environments into higher education challenges existing conceptualisations of teacher knowledge. While the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework has guided technology integration in traditional and online settings, its sufficiency for immersive higher education metaverse-based learning environments (HEMLE) remains underexplored. Grounded in a design-based research (DBR) problem-analysis phase, this qualitative study draws on expert interviews with immersive education practitioners and platform developers to identify the knowledge domains required for effective curriculum design in HEMLE contexts. Using a hybrid thematic analysis informed by TPACK, findings reveal that immersive teaching demands expanded attention to Learner Knowledge (AK), Design Knowledge (DK), and strengthened Contextual Knowledge (XK), reflecting embodied interaction, experiential orchestration, and infrastructural constraints unique to immersive environments. Based on these insights, the study proposes TPACK-XD as an extended framework that accounts for the design-intensive, contextually embedded, and learner-centered nature of metaverse-based higher education. The findings contribute to the theoretical refinement of teacher knowledge models and offer guidance for curriculum development in immersive digital learning spaces.