University Metaverse

[Nathen Paisley]

NirKshetri does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

In one of the largest efforts thus far, 10 U.S. colleges and universities have teamed up with U.S. technology company Meta and Irish virtual reality platform Engage to create 3D digital versions of their campuses, known as a metaversity. Students will engage in learning wearing immersive virtual reality headsets.

Virtual training provides an effective means of visually demonstrating concepts with step-by-step instructions to illustrate tasks. They provide opportunities for learning by doing. Immersion in games can increase engagement in learning activities.

Some universities are using metaverse technologies to overcome limitations of the internet and video meeting tools. Metaverse-related technologies bridge the gap between real-life and virtual interactions by allowing people to interact more naturally.

In some situations, learning in real-world environments, such as those involving chemical experiments and flying airplanes, is risky. In such cases, special equipment, such as virtual reality headsets, software and special gloves for haptic responses, can create immersive simulations of real environments. Learners feel as though the digital world is real.

Younger generations show a higher level of interest and involvement in the metaverse. In a survey conducted in the U.S. in March 2022, 64% of Gen Z respondents were interested in having a digital avatar and 56% were interested in attending a music event in the metaverse. The proportions were 28% and 25% for baby boomers.

The metaverse is the next evolution of the internet. It spans a range of technologies, including VR headsets that transport you to whole new environments, AR glasses that will one day project computer-generated images onto the world around you, and mixed reality (MR) experiences that blend both physical and virtual environments. These technologies create a more immersive, 3D experience where you feel like you are right there with another person or in another place.

We are collaborating with 15 universities across the US who are actively embracing immersive learning. The universities are each conducting classroom sessions and exercises in virtual reality to examine how immersive technologies can contribute to the future of education. They include:

There are a range of education-related apps available for Meta Quest across an extensive range of topics including science, engineering, technology, and math (STEM), history, language and more. To help parents, teachers and students more easily find age-appropriate education content in the Meta Quest store as they return to school, we are looking at new ways to help spotlight the apps available and are testing dedicated shelves in the store over this period.

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To be sure, many leaders in the metaversity space have sound motivations. Grubbs is an affable guy who once served as the chair of the House Education Committee in the Iowa House of Representatives. His education work was inspired, in part, by his schoolteacher father.

Likewise, administrators and faculty members at Morehouse College found themselves unsatisfied with remote learning options early in the pandemic, and they looked to Grubbs for help. Soon after, in February 2021, Morehouse piloted a proof-of-concept metaversity with VR courses in world history, biology and chemistry.

The VR world history class registered a 10 percent increase in student grade point averages relative to grades in both the same class taught concurrently via Zoom and taught face-to-face the previous year. The college also collected empirical data in its other VR classes that showed an overall increase in student satisfaction, engagement and achievement relative to traditional and online formats.

Another concern is that humans will ultimately be responsible for representing history, science, art and other subjects in metaversity courses. That means that biases held in the real world may transfer to the virtual world. Perhaps the same could be said about history, literature and art books in traditional curricula. But those who create VR curricula for schools may have a heightened responsibility. Eisikovits cites the difference between learning about history from books versus from a powerful movie about a historical event.

Also, in the metaverse, people are represented, either accurately or inaccurately, with avatars. When Morehouse first launched its metaversity, one professor did not initially join the effort out of concern that the avatars poorly represented students and faculty at the historically Black institution, according to Morris.

Some of these problems may be solvable, even amid differing academic and corporate incentives. For example, market pressures in the past have pushed companies to address algorithmic bias in their products. But anyone entering the metaverse space should be cognizant of the array of concerns.

In addition to Morehouse and Fisk, VictoryXR has already launched metaversities at the University of Kansas School of Nursing, New Mexico State University, South Dakota State University, Florida A&M University, West Virginia University, the University of Maryland Global Campus, Southwestern Oregon Community College, Alabama A&M University and California State University, Dominguez Hills.

For now, a small number of metaversities are essentially running as pilot programs. The potential to reach more and different students, deliver compelling student outcomes, and generate new revenue streams could prove an irresistible lure for universities.

Immersive virtual platforms have been around for two decades. Some perhaps remember Second Life, an online multimedia platform that allowed people to create an avatar for themselves and live a virtual life in a virtual world. Back in 2003 when Second Life was launched, this was a novel idea and as such, a few universities experimented creating a few virtual classes and avatars. However, the technology required was not there yet.

Almost 20 years later, the Metaverse can be defined as a network of 3D-virtual worlds focused on social connection. Facebook (rebranded as Meta), Microsoft, and others define the Metaverse and what it means today as the virtual world that will usher in the next phase of the Internet, or Web 3.0. In order to achieve this, the Metaverse requires a powerful, fast network. And here is where 5G becomes relevant for higher ed institutions.

Powerful 5G network technology with its low-latency, and Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) will play a paramount role in the efficiency of the Metaverse experience. A Metaverse campus can support digital learning, expanding academic and training opportunities by enabling immersive Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) learning experiences, giving life to the Metaversity.

The Metaversity is a university immersive environment which combines VR and AR technologies, a Digital Twin of a physical campus, and where students and faculty can interact with each other via their Digital Twin, a digital representation of themselves. The Metaversity-vision will enable universities to scale and teach billions globally, offering all the regular benefits but at a fraction of the price.

A shift in education brings a greater emphasis on inter-disciplinarity. The insights of fields such as the humanities, the natural sciences, engineering, design, and political science among others may find in the Metaverse an easy playground where students can immerse themselves and interact in different fields.

Elysium Ventures is a global Metaverse Fund based out of the Silicon Valley that Invests in technologies and daring entrepreneurs aiming to advance the human race with next generation technologies in the Metaverse which integrates the physical and digital worlds in building the future of Communications, Commerce, Collaboration and Learning in the Metaverse.

The creation of the Metaverse Center is also part of IE University's strategic commitment. IE University will open campuses in several metaverses in 2023, including Roblox and Decentraland, where students will be able to attend classes and enjoy events in the digital sphere.

The student-led collaborative effort aims to blur the lines between the physical and digital environment by allowing students to participate in campus tours, events and classes in an immersive experience from anywhere with access to the internet.

Using avatars, virtual guests will be able to navigate throughout the ASUniverse and, at designated virtual Zoom kiosks, connect via live Zoom meetings with real people such as professors, TAs and other student services personnel. The Zoom room acts as a window to the physical world for those in the ASUniverse, allowing students to connect their avatars with real people in the metaverse.

While the ASUniverse is not yet open, this is only the beginning. In the meantime, ASU students will continue to gather data and take broad steps toward creating a digital future that blends the physical and virtual worlds to create greater access to learning from around the globe.

Top photo: Teams at Learning Futures, which is part of ASU Enterprise Technology, focus on exploring and designing immersive learning experiences, which aim to blur the lines between the physical and digital environment by allowing remote students to participate in campus tours, events and classes. Photo by Kevin Pirehpour

Unlike in-person open houses, the metaverse event enables students from around the world to interact with current students for an authentic perspective of life on campus within a virtual experience. Metaverse visitors will explore a digital version of the University by using a VR headset, mobile device, or PC.

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