Standford University Conducts the First-Ever Class Entirely in Virtual Reality (VR)

Dec. 12, 2021

With the inception of the COVID-19 pandemic, digital learning got a new meaning to it as most schools, colleges, and educational institutions started relying onvideo conferencingto conduct classes. However, Stanford University recentlytook it up a notchas a University professor recently conducted a course-class session entirely in virtual reality (VR), a first in the institution’s history.

Engage is essentially the driving force of the VR class that enables students and teachers to interact with each other in a virtual space. It is very similar to what Meta istrying to achievewith the Metaverse ecosystem. Students and teachers have already spent over 60,000 shared minutes in the VR environments as part of the Virtual People course during the summer session. They are projected to spend about 140,000 shared minutes during the fall session of the Virtual People course.

“In Virtual People, the students don’t just get to try VR a handful of times. VR becomes the medium they rely on. To the best of my knowledge, nobody has networked hundreds of students via VR headsets for months at a time in the history of virtual reality, or even in the history of teaching. It’s VR at an incredible scale,” said Bailenson in an official press release.

Furthermore, Bailenson designed the classes in such a way so that students would not experience simulator sickness. So, each of the classes was limited to 30-minute sessions. Plus, to protect the privacy of students, Bailenson askedMeta-ownedFacebook to allow students to use fake accounts when logging in for the VR classes. In return, the professor promised to use Oculus’ (another Meta-owned company) VR headsets to conduct the classes.

If you want to know about Standford’s Virtual People course and how Bailenson and his teaching staff were able to transform their classes into interactive virtual spaces, you cancheck out the official press release of the coursefrom right here. Also, let us know your thoughts about classes being conducted in virtual reality (VR) in the comments below.

A geek at heart, you’ll find me fidgeting with an iOS device or sitting in front of the laptop, scouring the internet to find interesting technological innovations. In my free time, you’d find me playing Valorant or listening to Pink Floyd.