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As part of ongoing efforts to integrate virtual reality (VR) into education, Meta It was launched A new partnership with a slew of universities in the US and UK is designed to provide feedback on a new product that Meta hopes will eventually make virtual reality more mainstream.
The new Meta for Education pilot will see Facebook’s parent company partner with 13 educational institutions, which will have access to an early version of the product that Meta has been promoting for a while already. In a Blog post Meta said Monday that it wants to “make it easier for educators to discover interactive and engaging content” that includes subjects such as science, medicine, history and language arts.
Prior to the official launch of the programme, universities will be tasked with testing virtual reality and mixed reality (XR) prototypes in the classroom, ahead of a more formal launch in the future. Universities include: Arizona State University, Houston Community College, Imperial College London, Miami Dade College, Morehouse College, New Mexico State University, San Diego State University, Savannah College of Art and Design, University of Glasgow, University of Iowa, University of Leeds University, and University of Miami And the University of Michigan.
Meta also said it would bring its “digital twin” program to Europe, starting with the University of Leeds in the UK; University of the Basque Country in Spain; and the University of Hannover in Germany. This comes more than two years after Meta a partner With a company called VictoryXR To run virtual university programs in the United States – in environments that directly mimic their real-world campus counterparts.
Meta says that “intensive classes” have already begun at the University of Leeds, with an initial focus on performance and theatre. Meanwhile, the University of the Basque Country will follow suit in February 2025 with classes in physiotherapy and anatomy, while the University of Hannover will offer intensive classes starting next academic year.
Virtual education
Today’s announcement comes about seven months after Meta teased a new education-focused product built on top of the Quest headset, including a hub for education apps and tools, and controls to enable administrators to centrally manage multiple headsets. At the time, Meta said it planned to make the product available to “institutions serving learners 13+,” but today’s news suggests that — for now at least — it’s focused on older learners.
However, it also shows that Meta is far from abandoning its expensive VR endeavors – Meta’s Reality Labs group, which focuses on all things VR and AR, The money continues to drain. more Recent earnings Show it while Revenues rose Its expenses also rose 29% year-over-year to $270 million, resulting in a total third-quarter loss of $4.4 billion, a number the company expects to continue to grow due to “continuous product development” and “investments to expand our ecosystem.” “.
But with Apple throwing its hat into the immersive headset ring with the Vision Pro, some believe this could be the catalyst to catapult mixed reality — including virtual reality and augmented reality — into the mainstream arena.
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