Universe to Teach Custom VR Course with the City of Newark Summer Youth Employment Program‍

August 3, 2022 - Universe has designed a custom VR development program specifically for the City of Newark this summer. Students aged 13-24 will be entering Universe's metaverse classroom to learn game fundamentals and create their own VR worlds.

Universe is partnering with the City of Newark Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) to launch a brand-new VR development course taught live in the metaverse. On July 11^th, Universe welcomed 50 Newark SYEP Participants into its metaverse classroom. Students will learn Unity and C# programming fundamentals as well as advanced Unity skills for VR world building and application development.

“We are delighted to partner with Universe in this effort to bring Virtual Reality (VR) Developmental Courses to youth ranging from 14-24 years of age. We believe VR is a powerful tool and is changing education as we know it today. As we believe VR is the future, we wanted our City residents to have an understanding of this space and the countless career opportunities that may come as they learn and master new skills in VR development,” said Cody Piggot, Project Developer for City of Newark Mayor’s Office of Employment & Training.

The 6-week partnership includes a daily trip into Universe’s auditorium-like virtual classroom for live instruction by expert teachers, who will appear as holograms & avatars. Students will use Oculus headsets to attend class, interact with instructors via 3D real-time assessments and other teaching tools, and collaborate with one another on course projects entirely in the metaverse – alleviating the need for physical co-location to achieve a fully immersive and interactive learning experience.

“This is a first-of-its-kind offering for what learning will look like in the future,” said Nicolas Barone, Founder & CEO of Universe. “We have taught over 13,000 students to date and are excited to partner with forward-looking institutions like the City of Newark to pioneer the next wave of live, immersive cohort-based learning.”

The partnership will feature Universe’s first VR curriculum customized for the goals of a citywide education initiative. Universe sees this growth as a way to fulfill the company’s core value of expanding access to VR education and career opportunities for underrepresented students.

“Teaching VR in VR is the clear first step for a metaverse education platform,” said Nicolas. “We look forward to expanding into other Web3 topics and helping all types of organizations upskill their students in the next wave of reality building.”

For further information on how to partner with Universe and teach in the metaverse, contact Nicolas Barone at Nicolas.Barone@tryuniverse.com

About Universe:

Universe (tryuniverse.com) is bringing education to Web3. Unlike traditional online education providers, Universe creates community-based, interactive learning experiences in the metaverse. Universe has taught over 13,000 students and achieved 4X higher retention and course completion rates compared to today’s online class platforms. Universe leverages their VR expertise and tools to fulfill the metaverse goals of enterprises and universities – from launching custom courses to enabling new learning experiences. Universe enables students to learn, educators to teach, and enterprises to build in the metaverse.