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The coronavirus pandemic has forced educational institutions worldwide to adopt new learning methods that minimize the virus’ transmission such as distance or online learning. The trend isn’t likely going away anytime soon with a prestigious Japanese university planning to launch courses where learning would entirely take place inside the metaverse.
The University of Tokyo, also known as Todai, will offer a range of courses this year where the learning process will take place in the Metaverse, the online virtual-reality space that has become the latest target for expansion by various businesses such as Meta, formerly known as Facebook. These courses will be targeting a wide range of audiences from junior high school students to those already in the workplace, according to the local news outlet The Asahi Shimbun.
The Metaverse study program aims to address the shortage of workers who have the technical expertise to keep up with advanced technologies and handle digital transformations. The project will be set up by the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Engineering and engineering-related graduate schools.
However, the project won’t be a regular faculty of the university that offers degrees. Instead, students will receive certificates when they complete a course.
The educational programs available for junior and senior high school students will introduce them to engineering and information science fields and offer information and guidance on potential career paths in these areas. The program will also try to encourage female students considering that “they remain poorly represented in university engineering programs.”
Access to the Todai metaverse will also be granted to students at other universities to allow them to search for information about engineering career options.
Meanwhile, the program also offers opportunities for those who are already in the workforce as well as university students will have the opportunity to upgrade their skills. They can enroll in online courses covering topics such as “artificial intelligence, entrepreneurial education, and next-generation communication technology.”
Crypto and non-fungible token (NFT) courses were not specifically mentioned in the report. However, given their popularity and their association with the Metaverse, it is highly likely that some programs will cover these topics as well as blockchain, the technology behind popular digital currencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), according to Cointelegraph.
