Plans to establish Metahkust, an online-based metaverse campus.
The university will take the first step toward this aim by developing a mixed virtual reality classroom, which will allow students from different latitudes to attend lectures as if they were in the same room.
Institutions are discovering new functions and uses of metaverse environments, and they are gradually integrating these technologies into their daily operations. The Hong Kong University revealed plans to build a shared metaverse that will connect both of its campuses as if they were one. The technology, called Metahkust, will allow students from the university in various latitudes to attend classes and events as if they were in the same venue.
The opening of the university's campus in Guangzhou in September of next year will serve as the first test event for this metaverse-based system. Pan Hui, professor of computational media and arts at the Guangzhou campus, noted that “many attendees may be from abroad and unable to attend, thus the event would be held in the metaverse.”
The university outlined the advantages that metaverse-based classrooms and campuses may provide over a more standard remote classroom configuration that includes video conferencing applications such as Zoom. According to Hui, metaverse environments provide greater engagement for students, making them feel as if they were attending lectures in the actual world. He elaborated:
“When you use Zoom, it seems like you're gazing at a 2D screen. However, virtual reality allows you to feel as though you are there. Interaction, in my opinion, is critical for learning. Your learning outcome will be enhanced if you interact with other students.”
Furthermore, Hu stated that this new focus will foster a sense of oneness and engagement that would otherwise be hard to attain owing to geographical limits. The institution will deploy a variety of sensors and cameras to give information to the metaverse system in order to build this cohesive virtual campus.
Recently, the University of Tokyo has revealed plans to use metaverse technology in its educational programs. The university said that later this year, it will begin offering fundamental engineering courses in the metaverse.
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