As part of an ongoing effort to embed virtual reality (VR) in education, Meta has launched a new partnership with a slew of universities in the U.S. and U.K., designed to provide feedback on a new product that Meta hopes will finally make VR just a little more mainstream.
The new Meta for Education beta program will see Facebook’s parent company partner with 13 educational institutions, which will get access to an early version of a product that Meta has been teasing for a while already. In a blog post on Monday, Meta said it wants to “make it easier for educators to discover interactive and engaging content,” spanning subjects such as science, medicine, history, and language arts.
Ahead of the program’s formal launch, universities will be tasked with testing VR and mixed reality (XR) prototypes in class, ahead of a more formal launch in the future. The 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 & Design, The University of Glasgow, University of Iowa, University of Leeds, University of Miami, and University of Michigan.
Meta says “immersive classes” have begun already at the University of Leeds, with an initial focus on performance and theater. The University of Basque Country, meanwhile, will follow suit in February 2025 with classes on physiotherapy and anatomy, while the University of Hannover will offer immersive classes starting in the next academic year.
