MSU Denver enters the metaverse

Future leaders in the fields of event and hotel management can visit resorts around the world without ever leaving their classrooms, thanks to Metropolitan State University of Denver’s recent partnership with social-technology giant Meta and software developer VictoryXR.

MSU Denver’s School of Hospitality was the first higher education program in Colorado to launch a Metaversity, a virtual reality education initiative supported by Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and a long list of other technology platforms and products.

Meta donated to the school 40 sets of its Oculus 2 virtual reality goggles, training materials and other resources needed to create immersive 3D experiences for students. Two MSU Denver Hospitality professors and five students were trained to roll out VR learning modules in classes this fall.

Assistant Professor Kiyan Shafieizadeh, Ph.D., is using the technology in his Hotel Management classroom, while Assistant Professor Smita Singh, Ph.D., is giving her Event and

Meeting Management students an international perspective of their field.

“Different countries have different types of events and festivals, and VR will allow our students to immerse in those environments,” Singh said.

Shafieizadeh uses VR in two courses. “The tool allows us to give (students) different experiential opportunities they couldn’t have otherwise,” he said.

Both professors are encouraged by the statistics they’ve read about the success of VR as a learning tool.

Those who train with the technology are four times more emotionally connected when using VR, learn four times faster and emerge more confident in their skill sets after using the technology, according to a study by professional services firm PwC.

“It’s not a matter of, ‘Here’s a headset — let’s go play,’” said Annie Butler, Ph.D., interim dean of the School of Hospitality. “Rather, the faculty will be creating an environment for students to interact in a much more in-depth manner than they could otherwise.”