Metaverse made it to the list of popular new words of 2021. Companies including Meta (earlier, Facebook Inc.) and NVIDIA initially made bold statements and took steps towards the parallel virtual universe. However, other tech giants are not far behind either. Google, Microsoft, Epic Games, and now Intel have also entered the Metaverse.
While there is great potential, the Metaverse has already started being in the bad light. A week after Meta launched its first virtual platform, Horizon World, cases of sexual assault and harassment were reported on the platform.
According to media reports, the market for transactions in the virtual reality (VR) universe is expected to touch $6.1 billion by the end of this year, with Meta betting big on AR/VR technology in an attempt to provide immersive experiences. Further, the metaverse market is expected to hit $42 billion globally by 2026.
However, with the growing popularity of the Metaverse, it is inevitable that techies will be interested in learning more about the virtual reality universe. Still in its nascent stage, some educational platforms have already come up with courses to help you learn better about the Metaverse. Today, we list the ones available online.
Metaverse Masterclass: Udemy
Available on Udemy, this course is delivered by Senior Blockchain Project Manager Henrique Centieiro. Post the completion of the course; learners will comprehend what Metaverse is, how NFTs are unlocking its potential, the different shapes of Metaverse (games, cryptocurrency, assets, blockchain protocols, etc.), asset classes, metaverse tokens, industries that would be disrupted by the Metaverse, investing in the VR space, platforms involved, VR, AR, mixed reality and extended reality, and metaverse land ownership. There is no minimum requirement to join this Udemy course. However, one must be curious to learn about the space.
Virtual Reality Specialisation: Coursera
Offered by the University of London, the Virtual Reality Specialisation course does not directly talk about Metaverse but delves into the larger aspect of it, that is, virtual reality. Taking this course will enable learners to discover the fundamentals of VR, its history and hardware, applications, its challenges and psychology. Additionally, learners will know more about interacting in the VR world, gain insights into its concepts and technologies, learn about the basics of 3D graphics, and create objects in the VR environment. By taking this beginner-level course, learners will be able to acquire the skills necessary to create one’s own VR game or project. The course instructors are Sylvia Xueni Pan (Lecturer of the Department of Computing) and Marco Gillies (Senior Lecturer).
Introduction To Metaverse & How To Invest In It: Skillshare
Offered on the Skillshare platform, this 33 minutes course is spread across eight lessons. It covers the following topics: components of the Metaverse, journey to web 3, NFTs role in the virtual world, investing in metagaming token coins and Metaverse ETFs and stocks, and finally, investing in metaverse gaming. Digital entrepreneur Ali Matar is the instructor for this course. He plans to update the course as we delve deeper into the Metaverse. For more information on the course, click here.
Start AR and VR Metaverse Business: Udemy
Delivered by Alex Genadinik, Start AR and VR Metaverse Business is a two-part course on Udemy. While the first part is for beginners to better understand AR and VR, in the second part of the course, the instructor dives into the different business ideas that are possible to get into AR and VR. The course content includes 58 lectures spread across 11 sections. Topics covered include:
- Introduction to VR and AR
- Business ideas for AR apps
- Outsourcing developers to create AR apps
- Selling freelancing services in VR and AR
One just requires a computer to take this course.
To know about some of the career opportunities that will be available in the Metaverse going forward, click here. The intersection of VR, AI, blockchain, gaming, 5G and AR promises these job opportunities.
