In its ongoing interest to respond to the current needs and demands of the University and Society, CEU has created a think tank about the metaverse which, along with the current Metaverse I&D Community Lab Observatory, aims to continue exploring this technological environment which is already transforming the way we see and interact with the world, as a space where the line between the real and the virtual is extremely thin.
This Reflection Group, coordinated by Juan Manuel Corpa, vice rector of Digital Transformation at CEU Cardenal Herrera University (Valencia) and the driving force of the CEU Metaverse, aims to focus on the possibilities that this technology can offer in the academic field, as a useful tool for both teachers and students.
CEU, which has launched a university metaverse, was the first in Spain to virtually replicate its campuses, as well as the urban environment of its three universities: San Pablo (Madrid), Abat Oliba (Barcelona) and Cardenal Herrera (Valencia).
The think tank, which will include the participation of teachers from all faculties, experts in different subject areas (legal, economic, anthropological, education, health, communication, etc.), will organise regular meetings to discuss new trends, updates and ideas related to this reality.
Incorporating the metaverse into teaching is another objective of this forum, which believes that in a few years it will become a tangible reality, for which we must be prepared for and take measures that allow us to anticipate. Studying, analysing, developing and integrating the metaverse into the classroom in order to show it to students is necessary in a world in which many of these students will carry out their professional careers.
Moreover, the metaverse and all the technology that is developing around it can become a business opportunity for corporations that understand it, take the initiative and know how to adapt.
CEU Metaverse
The virtual world of the CEU Metaverse encompasses the campuses of the three CEU universities, where students can interact, get to know the facilities in detail, participate in different learning activities to consolidate the knowledge acquired in classes and carry out various administrative procedures such as accessing courses or finding a job. In addition, the goal is to integrate the CEU Universities with the cities and towns where they are physically built in order to strengthen the interaction between neighbours and students. To achieve this, as the metaverse grows, local businesses will be incorporated to provide services to university students.
The integration of a layer of real 360º images and videos maximises the user experience. Several university services have also been incorporated through non-playable characters (NPCs), giving students access to their virtual desk. The pilot experience of this project has been successfully developed and tested in the educational version of Minecraft (Minecraft Education Edition) and, at present, its migration to the commercial version of Java and other platforms is being studied in order to increase the number of concurrent users in the same world.
The University also continues to make progress in the development and research of new ideas related to the metaverse. It is currently working on the incorporation of an economic system, regulated by blockchain. Students will obtain rewards (tokens) depending on the academic results obtained within the metaverse. In this way, students will be able to exchange these tokens for activities within the university or even for products in the real world. It would therefore be an innovative reward system based on academic excellence, whereby students would be rewarded for their efforts in their studies. In other words, it would be a new type of scholarship, but adapted to the metaverse.