10 American universities join metaverse

Tertiary education is moving to the metaverse with ten US universities rolling out digital twin campuses for their cohorts to attend classes via VR headsets.

Universities and colleges including Morehouse College, University of Kansas School of Nursing, New Mexico State University, South Dakota State University, West Virginia University, University of Maryland Global Campus and Southwestern Oregon Community College are creating ‘metacampuses’ using VictoryXR’s EngageVR platform.

Meta Immersive Learning has funded the partnership and will provide Meta Quest 2 headsets for each campus.

Students will don the headsets or join the metacampus via a PC where they will be able to engage in classroom experiences such as travelling back in time for history trips, or to the moon for astronomy.

“Just like the real world, students will be able to break into small groups and work on projects together, no matter their physical distance,” said Steve Grubbs, VictoryXR CEO.

“But unlike the real world, they will be able to shrink to the size of Ant-Man and tour the human body. It’s no wonder student retention is so much greater.”

The International Space University is another tertiary educator that recently delivered a lecture in the metaverse, partnering with Metavisionaries for the project.

According to Arif Goktug Karacalioglu, SSP22 director, manager, new professional development programs and digital education the event was a historic moment for the university.

“ISU is known for its in-person programs like the space studies program however we are now moving into virtual education at a very high pace. For the last two years we have been designing fully interactive and fully virtual programs but this is the first time we are taking it to another step.”

Grubbs has named the universities “metaverse pioneers”.

“Remote learning is growing and these schools have decided to look for something better than a Zoom class,” he said.

According to Dr Muhsinah Morris, associate professor at Morehouse College, “More than any learning innovation I have been involved with, Morehouse in the Metaverse has made the biggest difference for the students I teach."