Meta, a social media company focused on the Metaverse, is helping universities bring their own virtual reality campuses online. The company plans to open 10 virtual campuses as part of its Immersive Learning project, which aims to bring education to virtual reality environments. In partnership with Iowa-based virtual reality education startup Victoryxr, Meta will invest $150 million in the effort.
Meta brings universities into the Metaverse
One of the biggest applications of virtual reality and Metaverse technology has to do with education and the potential for virtual reality classes. Social media giant Meta is executing on this idea, helping 10 universities launch their own Metaverse-based campuses.
One of them is the University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC), an online university. The university’s more than 45,000 students will now be able to come together in an online metaverse to convene and share experiences.
Dean of UMGC’s Department of Information Technology.
We’ve never had a campus before. We have a duck pond.
As part of the plan, the university will offer five courses on the Metaverse campus at no additional cost compared to non-immersive courses. However, there is a limit to the number of headsets (required for the courses) that can be loaned to the university.
Other institutions that will participate in the project include the University of Kansas School of Nursing, New Mexico State University, South Dakota State University, Florida A&U of M, West Virginia University, Southwestern Oregon Community College, California State University Dominguez Hills, Alabama State University A&U of M. U of M. U of M.
Meta’s involvement
Meta donates Meta Quest headsets to these organizations so that students can participate in their courses. One of the goals of Meta’sImmersive Learningproject is to increase student exposure to these technologies by partnering with organizations and universities. Part of Meta’s $150 million investment is helping to provide headsets in partnership with Victoryxr, the company that is designing the Metaverse Campus.
Meta is also helping the university with the cost of designing and building these spaces, which can cost $50,000 for a campus of five to seven buildings, said Victoryxr founder Steve Grubbs.
Education is an exciting use case for the Metaverse, and Meta Immersive Learning will help creators around the world develop skills for the Metaverse and create immersive experiences for learners.
Meta’s pivot to virtual reality has been a loss for the company, as its metaverse division, the Reality Labs unit, posted a loss of $2.8 billion in the second quarter of 2022. The company also made its first bond issue in August, selling $10 billion in debt to invest in Metaverse products and other initiatives.
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