Committing to immersive education, IE University to provide virtual reality headsets to students
IE University, a world leader in educational innovation, will provide VR and AR (virtual and augmented reality) headsets to all its students in a reflection of its commitment to immersive education methodologies. Furthermore, the institution will open campuses in several metaverses in 2023, including Roblox and Descentranland, where students can attend classes and enjoy events in a digital environment. IE University will also enrich the education of its 8,000 students in 140 countries with additional immersive experiences in the next academic year 2022/23. This technological commitment is a new step for the academic institution, which works to promote positive change through education, innovation, and research. IE University was a pioneer in Europe 20 years ago in the design of online Masters, has created a unique Liquid Learning model, and is ranked among the most innovative universities in the world.
“Technology allows us to live new experiences, to bring education into a new dimension. We work with our own liquid learning own methodologies in an active, collaborative, applied, and personalized way,” said Diego del Alcázar Benjumea, CEO of IE University. He added, “XR, the new extended reality, is key today because it represents a new way of relating to one another and also to machines, and thus narrows the boundary between the real and digital worlds.”
According to Alejandro Ameneiro, Director of IT Commercial Innovation at IE University, “At IE University we believe it is essential for our students and community as a whole to understand this new reality, and this is why we are making active use of these technologies and bringing them into the classroom and campus life.”
IE University has also designed several methodologies, content, and experiences with virtual reality in the areas of technology, sustainability, negotiation, marketing, and communication that deepen learning and encourage decision-making and class discussion. In addition, IE University is already working with technology partners such as Meta, with which the academic institution developed the Immersive XR Labs at its Madrid and Segovia campuses and where students can train via the liquid learning model using Meta’s latest generation of VR headsets, Meta Quest 2. IE University also collaborates with companies in training applications such as Bodyswaps and Virtualspeech, and others for metaverse development and immersive experiences such as Unity.
IE University is one of the few universities in the world that will have a campus in several metaverses in 2023, such as Roblox and Descentraland, where students and professors will meet and teach their classes from anywhere in the world. Campus life will take on a new dimension, from the student admissions process to the immersive classroom experience to international employment post graduation.
In addition, IE University is working on the design of spaces such as:
- Immersive XR Lab and Immersive Corners where 8,000 undergraduate and graduate students will work with immersive AR, VR, and hologram technologies, learning how to apply them to business. Beginning in fall 2022, these spaces will be located on the IE University campuses in Madrid (IE Tower and María de Molina) along with the historic campus in Segovia.
- VR Classrooms will be specific classrooms where students and professors will work with VR with an academic objective within the program.
- Booths and unique spaces will be equipped with VR devices for students to individually discover the potential of the virtual world.
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