One of the largest public universities in the United States by number of students could be planning to teach virtual classes in the metaverse in the future.
According to records filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, on June 7 and 8, the Arizona Board of Regents, on behalf of Arizona State University, filed seven applications for variations of its name – ASU, Arizona State, Arizona State University – as well as that of their football team, the Sun Devils, for use in a virtual world. The trademark applications included the name of the university, as well as the trident symbol and the Sun Devils logo for use in “virtual worlds in which users may interact for recreational, entertainment or entertainment purposes”, as well as as for educational purposes.
Arizona State University has big plans for the metaverse and Web3.
Per USPTO filings made on June 7th, @TO ITS 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.”#TO ITS #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/PPR89Cu4B2
— Josh Gerben (@JoshGerben) June 13, 2022
For its second semester of 2021, ASU reported that 77,881 students were attending physical campuses in US states, while 57,848 people were attending through “digital immersion.” It’s unclear if the university’s possible move into the metaverse may have been fueled by having more than 42% of its students taking classes online. ASU Senior Director of Strategic Student and Program Mobilization Casey Evans said digital immersion courses were the “best tool to allow students to continue learning during this time of physical distancing”, probably referring to the current COVID-19 pandemic.
The trademark filings also suggest that the ASU could be exploring the use of non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, to authenticate many documents, from diplomas to tickets to college events. ASU has previously adopted Blockchain technology for various uses within the university, including tracking the spread of the COVID-19 infection in November 2020. and the exchange of data from the academic records of its students in 2019.
Other universities have undertaken similar initiatives to “enter the metaverse” in 2022. Cointelegraph reported in May, the University of Sao Paulo plans to investigate the effectiveness of virtual and augmented reality devices, as well as how their use could affect human behavior.
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