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Greg Heiberger, an assistant professor in the College of Natural Sciences, led efforts to have South Dakota State University selected as one of seven metaversities in the United States by VictoryXR, a global leader in metaverse education.

As a metaversity, ³ÉÈËÊÓƵ will provide a virtual replica of campus for students to attend classes, whether they are on the main campus in Brookings or learning remotely.

Using either a virtual reality headset or a PC, students will enter the metacampus with other students and their professor. There, they engage in classroom experiences like delving into human anatomy, history field trips through a time machine or astronomy on a starship.

The platform is both synchronous and asynchronous. Professors have the ability to teach the class live, meaning students can come together with their professor regardless of their location. The classes can also be recorded and saved in a content library for students to visit and experience later on their own.

The partnership was funded, in part, by Meta Immersive Learning (NASDAQ: FB). In addition to ³ÉÈËÊÓƵ, the other six original metaversities included Morehouse College, the University of Kansas School of Nursing, New Mexico State University, West Virginia University, University of Maryland Global Campus and Southwest Oregon Community College.