As a metaversity, SDSU will later roll out a digital twin, replica campus for students to attend whether they are on campus or learning remotely. In addition, SDSU will receive 50 Meta Quest 2 headsets for students this fall.
“The partnership with VictoryXR and Meta will allow SDSU to offer courses in the metaverse and become an institution at the forefront of VR in education. SDSU will have our beautiful campus green, the Coughlin Campanile and numerous SDSU buildings and labs built to spec in the metaverse. These spaces will be available for multiple courses to have VR classes and labs starting in August,” said Greg Heiberger ’04/M.S. ’06, an assistant professor and the College of Natural Sciences’ associate dean for academics and student success.
Heiberger added SDSU faculty members will receive training from VictoryXR and the university’s Center for the Enhancement for Teaching and Learning and Instructional Design Services.
The partnership was funded, in part, by Meta Immersive Learning (NASDAQ: FB). Meta is providing the Quest 2 headsets during the proof of concept on each campus as well as funding for the digital twin buildouts. Each campus is built by VictoryXR on the EngageVR platform (LON: EXR).
“When the history of metaverse education is written, these are the schools that will be known as the metaverse pioneers,” said Steve Grubbs, VictoryXR CEO. “Remote learning is growing, and these schools have decided to look for something better than a Zoom class.”
Joining SDSU in this cohort are:
• Morehouse College
• University of Kansas School of Nursing
• New Mexico State University
• West Virginia University
• University of Maryland Global Campus
• Southwest Oregon Community College
Using either a virtual reality headset or a PC, students will enter the metacampus with other students and their professor. There, they will engage in classroom experiences like delving into human anatomy, history field trips through a time machine or astronomy on a starship.
VictoryXR is the global leader in metaverse education with active partners like Meta, Qualcomm and T-Mobile. VictoryXR pioneered the first metaversity with Morehouse College in Atlanta. VictoryXR won the Viveport award in 2018 for the best global VR education experience.
victoryxr.com
“SDSU was chosen to be a part of this elite cohort of campuses because of our faculty’s commitment to innovative, engaging and research-supported educational pedagogy,” Heiberger said. “The work our faculty, staff and alumni have conducted in the past year testing VR’s potential in the curriculum and our university’s implementation of VR in outreach and recruitment has placed SDSU at the top of the list of partners for VictoryXR and Meta. Because of the metaversity project, SDSU students will have the opportunity to engage in hands-on learning through VR on a digital twin of SDSU’s Brookings campus, led by SDSU’s premier faculty.”
Last year, accountancy firm PwC published research on the advantages of using VR for learning. The findings showed that 40% of VR learners are more confident in applying what they’ve been taught and 150% more engaged. In addition, VR was found to be 400% faster than classroom-based learning.
