New in Bentley University's Undergraduate Core: "Living in the Metaverse"

• 12/12/22

Grush: Is all of this a big stretch for some students? Are there any particular hurdles they need to overcome in order to join in with their section that's living in the metaverse?

Yates: The students who are less tech-oriented may have a harder time with some of the technology requirements, but ultimately all get to use the headsets and build their metaverse scenes with varying degrees of help. We're fortunate that students who figure out the VR glasses help others in the class.

Grush: What is the importance of interdisciplinary work in the core sections?

Yates: Because the metaverse has implications for both business and society, it is important to connect technology advances, e.g., richer immersive experiences and high-speed networks, to business opportunities and social concerns. The metaverse requires that students reflect on the applications and implications of an interesting emerging technology.

Grush: What is the role of student facilitators in the success of the Falcon Discovery Seminar? In particular, in Living in the Metaverse, how are they able to help other students? They may be just now learning about the metaverse themselves.

Frydenberg: Each section has a student facilitator whose main role is to acclimate the students in the class to their college experience. They are a resource for incoming students as they register for classes, set their calendars, and learn about campus resources. In most sections the student facilitator is not expected to be a subject matter expert on the theme. Our course is a success because we chose an undergraduate tutor who has a keen interest in technology and is able to help with guiding students through the hands-on activities to experience the metaverse.

Grush: What do you hope other colleges and universities might take away as they look at your work on Living in the Metaverse?

Yates: Teaching in an emerging technology environment like the metaverse is fun and interesting for both of us. An important goal of our course is to make learning about the metaverse as fun and interesting for our students as it is for us.  

Frydenberg: The experiential assignments are particularly impactful because they directly relate to the readings. One thing I want to do differently when I teach the course again in the spring is to get students into VR headsets much earlier in the course. For those who haven't used a VR headset before, or those who have used them only for gaming, experiencing a virtual environment provides experiential context to better understand the readings. Just as you can't learn to ride a bike by reading a book, you can't fully appreciate the potential of the metaverse until you wear a headset and experience virtual reality first hand.

Yates: Understanding the importance of making this course engaging for students and giving them the opportunity to learn from each other are the most important takeaways from our work.

Understanding the importance of making this course engaging for students and giving them the opportunity to learn from each other are the most important takeaways from our work.

The peer learning in our section depends on the many small team activities that the students work on together during class. By taking a multidisciplinary approach when selecting relevant readings, and connecting the readings to interactive in-class activities and hands-on experiences, we hopefully create a course that appeals to Bentley students' varied interests.

[Editor's note: Images created with Frame, framevr.io courtesy Bentley University.]