Teachers in training often need practice with students Mursion offers that opportunity in a VR environment. The simulation is designed for staging interactions between learners and avatars to achieve realism; therefore, facilitating VR experiential learning.
Mursion can assist students with social emotional learning since the pandemic younger learners have not been immersed in classroom settings. Working the avatars, K-12 learners can develop interpersonal skills and gain confidence when interacting with their peers.
What are your thoughts?
After consideration and further review of their website I would invest in Mursion. I am not sure that I would have been interested in this sort of technology pre pandemic, but I think this looks like a unique idea for usage in virtual education. As we continue to shift towards more virtual offerings in education, I think this type of avator experience is really interesting for creating a more immersive envrionment and switching up the medium from a normal video environment. I like that this pitch showcased the actual technology, had a testimonial and then showed their different customers that are currently using this technology. As an EVA, this provided me with trust in the technology (that so many others are current customers) and allowed me to see the technology first hand. However my background is not in K-12 education so would love to hear another EVA’s perspective from someone with this background 🙂
Hi Robyn,
That is my exact sentiment pre-pandemic this type of technology would not have been of interest to me. But, considering how difficult it is for training teachers I would invest Mursion. Also, the fact that it can assist students in assimilating into classrooms is another plus. My background is also not in K-12 so would like to hear from some in that area.
No, I would not invest in this venture but not because I do not believe in the idea behind it. I love immersive technologies and I do think that the future of education will continue to rely on them. As mentioned by Robyn, the pandemic has changed our outlook on the importance of technologies across all industries, including education. I would struggle with investing in Mursion as I feel when Meta is able to properly rollout the “Metaverse”, it will have a major competitive advantage due to its well-known developers. Although there can be a lot of negativity surrounding Meta, and specifically Mark Zuckerberg, I do not believe it will significantly affect the ability for Meta to be the leader in this space. Although I am a huge supporter for what Mursion is achieving, I just think Meta will be able to do it better and has their track record to aid them.
Mursion: VR for Teachers and Students
Pain Point: Mursion uses AI & VR technology to create a comfort zone to learners regardless of their cultural background.
Solution: The technology addresses the issue of class participation through avatars and immersive learning and helps teachers develop and practice their lessons beforehand.
Differentiation: This particular product provides privacy and enhance authenticity to learners
Marketing: Mursion is a software-based technology that can be downloaded online.
Championship: This particular venture was developed after more than a decade of research, which puts the company in a solid position.
Competition: Mursion’s top competitors are VR Motion, Eight360, HVisions.
The Ask: By the sound of it, it would take a significant investment to take the next step: $49 per learner for a 30 minute session.
The Return: Mursion is listed on 5000 Inc, which means this venture is one the fastest growing private companies in the US. There is real potential here.
My assessment as an EVA is that this is a great venture with incredible potential for the investors and their target markets as well. The VR pitch helped itself by mentioning some of the world’s top educational institutions, such as Oxford, that use their product. I see the value of the product and I would definitely invest in this venture.
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No, I would not invest in this venture. First and foremost, as an EVA I was confused by this pitch. Is it geared towards teacher training? Is it attempting to be an alternative to online teaching? I did not really understand why I saw children interacting with the program if it was directed towards teacher training. If it was implied that the children were acting in realtime alongside the teachers in training I think the concept is very strange. Training teachers requires direct and authentic interactions between real students and real teachers in training- hence the importance of practicums. I’m left wondered what is innovative about this VR program as a whole if it is simply a virtual replacement for video conferencing programs like Zoom.