One of the largest public universities in the United States may want to offer virtual courses in the Metaverse in the future.
According to June 7 and 8 documents filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office, the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University has filed seven applications for variations of their name, namely ASU, Arizona State, Arizona State University, as well as the name of their football team, the Sun Devils, for use in a virtual environment. The trademark applications included the name of the university as well as the Sun Devils logo for use in “virtual environments where users can interact for recreational, recreational or entertainment purposes” as well as for educational purposes.
Arizona State University has big plans for the metaverse and Web3.
Per USPTO filings made on June 7th, @ASU plans to offer:
1. NFTs for event tickets and artwork of campus landmarks.
2. NFTs for video of sports highlights.
2. Classes in a “virtual environment.”#ASU #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/PPR89Cu4B2
– Josh Gerben (@JoshGerben) June 13, 2022
For the fall semester of 2021, ASU reported 77,881 enrolled students at physical campuses in the United States and 57,848 people who participated via “digital immersion”. It’s unclear whether the university’s plans for the metaverse stem from the fact that more than 42 percent of enrolled students take online courses. The senior director of Strategic Learner and Program Mobilization at ASU Casey Evans said that digital immersion courses are the best means “to enable students to continue learning in this time of physical separation”. This is probably referring to the current pandemic.
The trademark applications also suggest that ASU might consider using NFTs to authenticate documents, such as diplomas or tickets to university events. ASU has already used blockchain technology for various purposes within the university, including tracking the spread of COVID-19 in November 2020 and sharing data from its students’ academic records in 2019.
Other universities also want to enter the metaverse in 2022. Cointelegraph reported in May that the University of Sao Paulo plans to conduct a study on the effectiveness of virtual and augmented reality devices. It also looks at how their use could influence human behavior.
Log in to our social media so as not to miss anything: Twitter and Telegram – current news, analyses, expert opinions and interviews with a focus on the DACH region.
