A consensus-based single valued neutrosophic model for selection of educational vendors under metaverse with extended reality

Selecting the right educational vendors in the Metaverse, particularly those utilizing extended reality (XR), is crucial for creating an engaging and immersive learning environment. Careful vendor selection ensures the delivery of high-quality XR educational content, considering factors such as seamless integration with different XR devices and addressing associated challenges, which can affect the comfort and well-being of learners.This paper proposes a decision-making model to address the complex task of selecting educational vendors within the Metaverse with a focus on extended reality (XR). Recognizing the challenges inherent in such selections, this work presents a consensus-based measurement of alternatives and ranking according to compromise solution (MARCOS) model, incorporating single-valued neutrosophic (SVN) information and SVN Dombi-Archimedean weighted aggregation operators. Attribute weights crucial for decision-making are determined through an optimization tool employing cross-entropy measures with partial weight information. The evaluation encompasses nine criteria, including cost, security, privacy, pedagogical alignment, configuration, maintenance, level of control, output tools, degree of immersion, availability of XR learning contents, and time. Four leading vendors including Victory XR, ARuVR, zSpace, and Varjo Technologies are assessed, with zSpace emerging as the most favorable alternative with the highest overall utility value of 0.6889. The paper further conducts sensitivity analysis and performance comparisons to establish the robustness of the ranking results, providing a comprehensive methodology for educational stakeholders addressing the evolving dynamics of the Metaverse.