Foundations of the Metaverse

This unit introduces students to the origins, platforms, and core technologies of the metaverse while establishing safe, ethical, and practical entry skills. Students will explore virtual economies, platform differences, hardware setup, and early business and educational use cases to prepare for deeper design, development, and implementation units.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze the historical development and distinguishing features of major metaverse platforms and frontrunners, comparing target audiences, capabilities, and business opportunities
• Demonstrate safe and ethical metaverse practices by configuring privacy and security settings, identifying risks, and creating a basic crypto wallet account
• Apply knowledge of metaverse economies and hardware by explaining virtual currency mechanisms, simulating a simple transaction, and selecting an appropriate VR headset for a given use case
• Evaluate potential applications of the metaverse across gaming, entertainment, education, healthcare, events, and workplace training and propose initial marketing or adoption strategies that leverage first-mover advantages