Building Pathways in the Metaverse

By Jon Sheldon, Region 10 ESC Digital Media Producer

WITH a quick chirp and flash, the holodeck of Star Trek comes to life and previews the future of education. In this virtual and augmented world, students listen to Shakespeare delivering a line for Romeo and Juliet, collaboratively analyze the work of Jane Austin with students from around the world, and write essays with the help of Baldwin, Woolf, and Twain.

Meeting people from across the world, collaborating on projects, physically manipulating objects that all participants can see and experience, and doing it all real-time in a virtual space seemed like fantasy wrapped in technobabble a decade ago. No more. The science fiction worlds of The Matrix, Neuromancer, and Star Trek are all, in their own way, becoming a vision of the future; that future is the Metaverse.

“In simplest terms, [the Metaverse] is the next generation of a more immersive internet,” explained Hakan Satiroglu, General Manager of XR Terra - an Extended Reality (XR) training and resource platform. “As an industry, XR is going to have a $13 to $15 trillion impact globally by the end of this decade… so it’s going to affect all our lives from professional to personal.”

So, what is the Metaverse? The Metaverse is a catchall term used to describe the future of the internet and how people will interact with it. Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are ways in which a person can interact with the internet. VR typically involves wearing a headset that covers the eyes and ears allowing a person to be fully immersed in a virtual world around them, such as experiencing Shakespeare's Globe Theater from the convenience of the classroom. AR is used to add on to the world around the user - using a camera on glasses to display the paralleling themes in Jane Austin’s work. XR is, and continues to be, a growing industry with “applications in corporate education, healthcare, automotive manufacturing, oil and energy, defense, and more,” explained Satiroglu.

Earlier this year, XR Terra partnered with Region 10 ESC to bring XR education into the classroom by training a group of 30 teachers. “We ran a very simple four-day program. We had the teachers learn the basics like ‘What is XR?’ ‘What is AR and VR?’, but we also taught three or four apps that they can immediately offer in their classroom,” explained Satiroglu. “They have already started utilizing some of what they learned in the classroom.”

“What [XR Terra] does aligns directly with several goals of the Texas Education Agency,” explained Pflug. “What they are doing is moving to be a part of accountability through the Industry Based Certification. One of the Industry Based Certifications is the Unity Certified Programmer. Hakan’s training really jumpstarts the teachers into understanding Unity which can be parlayed into the certification exam.”

In addition to the quick summer bootcamps introducing teachers to XR, XR Terra will offer more indepth programs to teachers. “We have programs running at various times to accommodate different schedules,” previewed Satiroglu.

These training programs will give teachers the opportunity to master the applications and tools necessary for developing extended realities.

Additionally, Region 10 ESC, through the Texas Regional Pathways Grant, will create a mobile computer lab where teachers and students can learn about the Metaverse together.

“It’s going to be a fantastic way to get teachers exploring, to get them learning, and to get them working towards their Unity Programmer Certification,” explained Pflug.

Extended reality and the Metaverse can seem like a fantastical future rooted only in science fiction. It can be hard to believe that within a decade or two people will be able to meet and collaborate in ways that can only be imagined. Thankfully, partnerships like the one between XR Terra and Region 10 ESC are working to prepare the next generation for the future-the Metaverse.

Want to prepare your teachers for the Metaverse? Interested in the mobile lab? Contact Michael Pflug today! Email: michael.pflug@region10.org. Phone: 972.348.1270

Are you a campus partnering with Region 10 ESC and the Perkins SSA grant? Expand VR integration into your classroom by simulating various industries. Contact Julie Anderson today! Email: julie.anderson@region10.org Phone: 972.348.1758