[Explanation] Recently, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology announced that it will establish an Extended Reality Twin Campus (MetaHKUST) in the Metaverse to provide a better teaching experience for the school campus and the Guangzhou campus that will open in September.
Xu Bin, a professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, introduced in an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Agency that the twin campuses will further realize the interconnection of teaching between the two places through digital twinning.
[Concurrent] Xu Bin, Professor of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
The "twin campus" is because we have two campuses, one is in Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, and the other is in Nansha, Guangzhou.
The students on both sides can use their "virtual people" together in a virtual space, or we say "digital people" to have a class together, it can also be a mixed augmented reality classroom, and those 20 students may sit In the classroom, it is in Guangzhou, and (other) 20 students will be in the classroom here (Hong Kong).
Through his augmented reality glasses, the teacher looks like 40 students are sitting together in the same classroom.
[Explanation] Xu Bin revealed that the school is currently building relevant infrastructure, including the construction of extended reality classrooms, installation of sensors, video cameras and visualization equipment, etc., and invited all members of HKUST to conduct a full range of 3D scans for the physical campus to establish Virtual twin campus image.
Talking about the original intention of establishing the plan, Xu Bin admitted that in recent years, the epidemic has hindered the communication between teachers and students in the two places, and the students' learning effect of online classes is also unsatisfactory. Teachers and students are truly integrated into the classroom learning atmosphere, and also allow more exchanges between students.
[Concurrent] Xu Bin, Professor of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
In fact, according to our virtual teaching research, the difference between the teaching of the metaverse and the online class, that is to say, if the classmates in the class learn well, they generally need what we call a social present (social presence), that is, you a sense of social existence.
You will feel that you are in a social circle. Of course, if we only take online classes, there will be a lot of (classmates) distractions, because you may be doing different things at the same time, but if you are a virtual person in it, You can also see that the virtual person is next to your classmates. In this case, you feel that you are in a real social environment, so you will be more concentrated.
[Explanation] Xu Bin said that when the system is completed, members of the two universities can create their own content in the system, such as personal virtual avatars, NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), etc., and the schools can issue them in the form of NFTs in the future. Events such as encrypted diplomas or transcripts, open houses or graduation ceremonies can also be conducted both virtually and physically.
He said frankly that under the trend of integrated development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, it is believed that more young people will know and understand the Greater Bay Area.
[Concurrent] Xu Bin, Professor of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Indeed, the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is a big trend, and there will definitely be more integration.
Take Gemini Campus as an example. Many users are young people, so they will be more receptive to technology. Then, through this platform, we can better allow young people in the Greater Bay Area to be on the same platform. to cooperate.
By bringing their relationship and distance closer, they will know more about each other, which may be of great help for young people to understand the Greater Bay Area.
Reporter Luo Siyu reports from Hong Kong
Editor in charge: [Song Fangcan]