Metaversity

LMU Metaversity Virtual Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

^{March 14, 2023}

Taking a 21st century approach to education on the bluff, LMU has been awarded a grant that will offer a virtual reality experience of classes in a “metaversity” or digital twin campus.

“A metaversity is a live, synchronous forum for students to interact in ways much like they would at a traditional university — it’s just happening in virtual reality,” said Jeffrey Schwartz, Director of Digital Learning and Innovation at LMU. Metaversities open immersive, 3D classrooms to students who are learning in virtual reality. It enables students and professors to be together on a simulated campus in a group setting so they can learn by doing. 

The initiative is funded by a $72,000 external grant and led by VictoryXR, which provides immersive classrooms and campuses through virtual reality, allowing students in online or hybrid classes to interact in a synchronous yet virtual environment. The company trains educators and gives them 3D objects (more than 6,000 and growing) to teach a variety of subjects. VictoryXR’s partnership with Meta launched 10 metaversity campuses across the U.S. in fall 2022. LMU is among 16 additional universities, large and small, now offering a digital twin.

LMU’s digital twin campus includes a building to represent each of our six colleges, plus the library and the chapel. In addition to the assorted virtual classrooms that are available via VictoryXR, our metaversity campus currently showcases UHall for LMU School of Education and LMU Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts; Hilton Center for LMU College of Business Administration; Fitzpatrick Pavilion for LMU School of Film and Television; Foley building for LMU College of Communication and Fine Arts; the Featherston Life Sciences Building for the Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering; Sacred Heart Chapel; and the Hannon Library, with the potential for additional campus structures and common spaces to be added in the future.

LMU has offered courses with a Virtual Reality component since 2018, with faculty from Computer Science, Animation, and the M-School exploring this innovative modality. In 2019 LMU Information Technology Services purchased 12 headsets and established LMU’s first VR Pop-Up lab.

“In addition to our digital campus,” said Schwartz, “participating faculty and students will have access to more than 60 learning environments and VR classrooms along with more than 6,000 virtual learning objects and assets in the ever-growing VictoryXR library. From traditional virtual classrooms and lecture halls to chemistry labs to gallery spaces to assorted locations around the globe and even time travel, the opportunities to learn and interact in these virtual settings is truly limitless.”

“We hope to pilot the VictoryXR platform for synchronous, online instruction with interested faculty partners for one course this summer and one course this fall,” said Schwartz. “Participating students in these select courses will have access to an Oculus headset for the duration of the course as part of the VictoryXR grant.”

For more information about LMU in the Metaverse, please contact jeffrey.schwartz@lmu.edu.