Advantages of Metaverse for universities and colleges

With innovations like gamified interactive virtual worlds, virtual reality, and mixed reality, they have enhanced in-person and distant video learning.

Through one of the major initiatives to date, 10 U.S. universities and colleges have partnered with the Irish virtual reality platform Engage and Meta to build 3D digital versions of their respective campuses, termed "metaversity." It will provide students with an immersive virtual reality headset experience while learning.

Let's discover the advantages that the metaverse provides to colleges- 

1. Reduces the cost of educational resources 

Budget restrictions and a lack of resources for learning are some of the major issues that colleges face. Such restrictions can be eliminated with the use of the metaverse.

Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, for example, has not acquired cadavers because of exorbitant prices and maintenance issues. A more cost-effective alternative, virtual reality cadavers, is being added to the university's pre-med course.

A cadaver's chest cavity can be dissected in the virtual reality lab so that a human heart can be removed. Students have the impression that they can hold the heart in their hands and feel its weight while analyzing it. It can be expanded for a better view. The students can see and feel the ventricle walls. The outcomes of the health choices that people made while they were alive can be comprehended by students by comparing various hearts. They have a conversation and decide on an accurate diagnosis.

In addition to being easy to upkeep, virtual cadavers don't deteriorate. Surgical treatments and relative learning between animals and humans can be incorporated in the future.

2. Enhances the similarity of virtual to real-world interactions

The internet is an efficient means of transferring emails, spreadsheets, and PDFs from one device to another for independent and asynchronous examination or modification. It wasn’t intended for live, interactive engagements between people, particularly those involving many people.

Similarly, single-conversation settings are common in virtual platforms like Zoom. Participants can easily transition from one topic to another during physical events.

Several universities are utilizing metaverse technology to address the constraints of the internet and video conferencing tools. Metaverse-related technologies enable people to engage more naturally, bridging the gap between real-life and virtual interactions.

Gather, a virtual meeting space that simulates real-life interactions is used by professors and students at the University of Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania. A virtual map that depicts the real world, such as a building, is navigated by users using the avatars they create. The proximity chat feature gives users the impression that they are bumping into other students and professors in the hall. Users can view and listen to the video and audio streams of nearby participants. The sounds are muffled and the video vanishes as they go away. Users are not required to participate in a single conversation as they are on Zoom. They can switch between roles as speakers and listeners with ease. 

The computer and information science department at the University of Pennsylvania utilized Gather to recreate Levine Hall, the department's home. The structure of the virtual building replicates Levine Hall's classrooms, laboratories, elevators, stairwells, and other features. Weiss Tech House, a student-run technology innovation hub, has also been virtualized. 

The Gather space has 200 seats, allowing for multiple conversations to take place at the same time. The building's six storeys correspond to six virtual spaces. Small groups can be divided into subgroups to complete tasks or discuss ideas.

 3. Boosts academic performance 

With step-by-step directions to exemplify tasks, virtual training offers an efficient way of visually exhibiting concepts. They offer chances for students to gain knowledge through experience. The level of involvement with learning exercises can be enhanced through game immersion.

A metaversity with courses in global history, biology, and chemistry has been developed by Morehouse College in Atlanta. Virtual reality courses improved student satisfaction, participation, and accomplishment, as well as academic performance when compared to traditional and online methods. For example, the virtual reality world lecture increased students' GPAs by 10% as compared to a similar class given via Zoom and face-to-face last year.

 4. Makes distant students more accessible 

There are significant disparities in higher education between rural and urban regions.

In 2015, 18% of men and 20% of women aged 25 and over living in rural parts of the United States had achieved a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 32% and 33% in urban areas. 

Metaverse technologies can bridge this gap by providing learning resources accessible to distant learners. Using its metaversity, South Dakota State University intends to connect with the state's rural students.

5. Makes hard-to-create phenomena experimental

Learning in real-world scenarios, like chemical experiments and flying airplanes, can be dangerous in some cases. In these circumstances, special tools like virtual reality headsets, software, and gloves with haptic feedback can provide realistic representations of real situations. The digital environment seems real to learners.

In the real world, it would be impossible or unrealistic to recreate some of the situations that can be created by these technologies.

Students in Fisk University's proposed in-person history courses will use virtual reality headsets to explore significant historical places. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, and the National Mall in Washington, D.C. are among them.

Virtual reality in chemistry classes helps students see how atoms are grouped in a protein. This information assists pharmaceutical drug research.

 6. Draws young audience

The majority of people in well-known metaverses, which are found in the gaming industry, are children and young adults. 

Half of all Roblox players are under the age of 13, and 66% are under the age of 16. Similarly, in 2021, two-thirds of Fortnite gamers were young adults. This group is more experienced than previous generations and discovers innovative and intriguing learning experiences in the metaverse.

The metaverse is being used by universities to draw students. The officials of Southwestern Oregon Community College believe that the metaversity will enhance admissions. The reason for this is that a larger percentage of today's youth, like Generation Z, were raised with virtual reality technologies.

The metaverse is more appealing and engaging for younger generations. According to a survey done in the United States in March 2022, 64% of Gen Z respondents were interested in creating a digital avatar, and 56% in going to a music festival in the metaverse. For baby boomers, the numbers were 28% and 25%, respectively. 

Younger generations discover the unique experiences offered by metaverse technologies, such as virtual reality, intriguing, and this can make them a valuable recruiting tool for universities. 

ALSO READ- 6 ways the Metaverse can boost learning and skill-building