Reporting by XinZhiyuan
Edit: Good sleepy little salted fish
【Introduction to New Wisdom】Stanford University's "Meta universe" class has begun! The 263 students who signed up wore VR headsets, held handles, and even built a metaverse of their own in VR.
In the summer of 2021, Stanford University opened a course.
In this class, students have to wear VR glasses (issued by the school).
This was the first course in Stanford's history to face the "metacosm".
The 263 students who chose the course spent more than 200,000 minutes together in the metaverse.
Not only did they participate in group discussions, but they also performed live musical skits.
During the "field" expedition, you can personally travel in the boundless space and look down on the blue planet we live on.
Or swim in the beautiful coral reefs and watch the erosion of the reefs by climate change.
Of course, you can also build your own virtual world.
Referring to the scenario building assignment, teaching assistant DeVeaux said: "The only limit is the students' own imagination.".
For example, some people have pulled all kinds of special effects to the fullest.
Some are mainly "simple".
And all of this is the content of Stanford University COMM166/266: "Virtual People" course.
A bold attempt
Virtual People isn't really a new lesson.
Since 2003, Thomas More Storke, a professor in the College of Humanities and Sciences, and Jeremy Bailenson, a professor of communication, have opened "virtual people", and demonstration VR hardware has been part of it.
Jeremy Bailenson
However, after March 2020, all courses have had to be taught remotely.
Professor Bailenson said: "After more than a year of distance learning, people are eager to break the Zoom social and try something different".
So, why not just let the whole class run in VR?
So Stanford mailed Meta's VR headset and handle to all the students who attended the course.
Of course, it will be returned after the end.
"In 'Virtual People,' students don't just try VR a few times," said Bailenson, founding director of Stanford's Virtual Interpersonal Communication Lab (VHIL), "VR has become an indispensable medium."
"As far as I know, in the history of virtual reality, even in the history of university teaching, there is no precedent for hundreds of students to use VR devices to connect to the Internet for months."
Although the modeling of the character may still be a little sloppy, the courage is commendable.
Interact in the metaverse
Since Facebook changed its name to Meta and officially entered the metaverse, the popularity of the term "metaverse" has not diminished.
The recent virtual music festival in Decentraland attracted nearly 50,000 visitors.
On Friday, Meta also opened up its own virtual world platform Horizon Worlds, officially taking the first step in making the metaverse a reality.
Once users enter Horizon Worlds, they can create a 3D avatar. However, this avatar only has an upper body and no legs.
The user then enters a custom world where custom worlds and games can be built.
The "virtual man" at Stanford is the first time to move the "metaverse" into the classroom.
"Our course is a metaverse," Bailenson says, "and it's a perfect example of how to build a virtual world that people can use for a long time."
Going forward, Bailenson plans to continue teaching "virtual people" in VR, with the goal of familiarizing his students with this valuable technological tool.
"I'm relieved to see how much progress virtual reality technology has made in the early 2000s," Bailenson said, "and I'm sure it will go even further."
The students who took the "Virtual Man" class were full of praise.
"I used to understand VR as something just for playing video games," says Allison Lettiere, who graduated in computer science in 2021 and is preparing to pursue a graduate degree.
"But now, I've found that this technology has the ability to resonate, and learning VR can make it easier for me to gain the trust of others and help me with my work."
Sophie Marie Wallace, 23, also changed her perspective on VR in this class, "I found what I wanted to do in the future, which was to use VR to improve athletic performance on land and water sports."
Professor Bailenson said: "This course is learning by doing, there is no better way to understand something than to experience it for yourself, and that is exactly what this course does".
The course also attracts students from a variety of majors, including economics, communication, anthropology, biology, computer science, film and media studies, literature, art practice, psychology and sociology.
Curriculum
To make it easier for students to understand, the professor has written two textbooks for this course: Experience on Demand and Infinite Reality.
In addition, there are some additional reading materials and videos.
Set up groups
Students will need to join a student group through Zoom. Each group will consist of approximately 10 pairs of students and will discuss what the group reads with Professor Bailenson.
Weekly quiz
Each week there is a 20-minute quiz with 10 multiple choice questions and 1 short answer question. If you encounter technical difficulties, you can apply for a retest. At the end of the semester, the lowest grade will be ignored, and the final test score will be calculated using the grade point average for the remaining seven times.
Participate in the discussion
Students are required to participate in the discussion through the ENGAGE platform. You need to read and think about the course content before the class, and be prepared to be asked about the key points of the course content.
VR journey
Students will be doing many different activities in VR, where each journey lasts about 1 hour.
After reading
Each student submits one page (300-500 words) of post-reading feelings each week. For example, a new VR application can be proposed based on this week's topic, discussing the ethics of VR, and more.
Build a VR scene
In the sixth week of the course, there will be no reading, group discussion or quizzes. Instead, each student will focus on building their own VR scene using ENGAGE and show it to the class at the end.
Resources:
https://stanfordvr.com/comm166/
https://www.stanforddaily.com/2021/12/01/stanford-launches-first-class-taught-completely-in-virtual-reality/
https://news.stanford.edu/2021/11/05/new-class-among-first-taught-entirely-virtual-reality/