The social media-inclined corporation, Meta, is set to create 10 campuses in the virtual space, for 10 universities. Meta plans to partner with Victoryxr which is a VR education organization. Victoryxr is located in Davenport, Iowa, United States.
The Campuses
The creation of these ‘metaversities’ is Meta’s $150M worth of Immersive Learning project. The exciting aspect of this project is that it will bring education to the metaverse.
The social media giant is set to assist 10 universities to create their virtual reality-based campuses. This will actualize the VR classroom possibilities. Taking universities to virtual space will go down as one of the greatest developments in the virtual world.
An online institute, the University of Maryland Global Campus, is a beneficiary of this project. The institute has over 45,000 students. This development will enable their students to meet and share thoughts and experiences for the first time.
The I.T. department’s head, Daniel Mintz, shows his excitement about having a virtual campus. He said this is the first time the school will have a campus.
Meanwhile, the university is set to kickstart its virtual campus experience with five courses. These courses will maintain their original costs. The only challenge is that the VR headsets available won’t be enough to go around.
The remaining 9 beneficiaries of this Immersive Learning project are Southwestern Oregon Community College, South Dakota State University, California State University, Florida A&M University, New Mexico State University, Alabama A&M University, the University of Kansas School of Nursing, West Virginia University, and Dominguez Hills.
Meta’s Contribution
According to Meta’s Immersive Learning objectives, they plan to assist many students to gain easy access to virtual learning technologies through partnerships with educational institutions.
To achieve this goal, Meta will pay for the design of the 10 virtual campuses. The cost is over $50,000 for a campus that has about 7 buildings. The virtual campuses will be designed by their partner, Victoryx.
Also, Meta will provide the headsets needed by the students to partake in their virtual courses. Steve Grubbs who is the founder of Victoryxr added that virtual campuses will help students enjoy exciting learning experiences on the metaverse.
Finally, Meta’s Reality Labs unit recorded a $2.8B loss in their second quarter report for 2022. In August, however, the firm issued $10B worth of bonds to finance their Immersive Learning project and other programs.
