“Meta Quest devices are wireless all-in-one mixed reality devices” with features such as boundary, passthrough and hand tracking, according to the company’s website.
Educators are trying out VR and XR prototypes in their classrooms in order to achieve this, Meta said. Along with giving early access to a range of apps and features to the university partners, the beta test will be an opportunity for the students to experience metaverse technologies up close which could otherwise be inaccessible to them.
Many universities, such as Imperial College London, the University of Glasgow, and the University of Leeds, are participating in the beta test. The feedback from this programme will be used to develop the metaverse technologies, as per the Meta website.
In addition to this, Meta has been working with VictoryXR to develop some of the first digital twin “metaversities” in Europe. Educators and students from universities such as the University of Leeds in the UK, University of the Basque Country in Spain, and University of Hannover in Germany, will be able to remotely attend, explore and socialise live classes but with a fully immersive environment that is identical to their physical campuses.
The University of Leeds has already started its immersive classes in September for Performance and Theater. Other universities such as Clausthal University of Technology, Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences, and the University of Göttingen will be starting their immersive classes in the future.
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Meta’s focus is not just on the students but also the educators. France Immersive Learning created an English language guidebook for educators on how to utilise technologies in this space. Meta, in the Netherlands, is supporting Immersive Learning Academy in order to develop high quality educational content.
