philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Higher Ed Meets Hollywood: ASU-Incubated VR Company Raises $20M to Transform STEM Education

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --Dreamscape Learn, today, announced a $20 million Series A investment by backers including Bold Capital Partners, GSV Ventures, Verizon Ventures, and Cengage Group. Built in collaboration with Arizona State University (ASU), the company develops immersive learning experiences that blend innovative pedagogy with the emotional power of cinematic storytelling.

"When I first experienced this technology, I immediately knew it could power a whole new way of teaching," said Michael Crow, president of ASU. "It allows us to place students in situations and roles never before possible. When students are captivated by these environments, we can send them on academic missions that are authentic, rigorous and emotionally compelling." ...

To date, Dreamscape Learn and ASU have focused on the STEM fields with the highest failure rates and impact on college access and completion. Data suggests that just 20% of high school graduates are prepared for college-level coursework in STEM majors...

During the spring semester of 2022, hundreds of ASU biology students piloted Dreamscape Learn's biology lab experience. "Biology in the Alien Zoo" situates students as field biologists within a virtual environment conceived by Parkes and Steven Spielberg as a movie concept. Students are then sent on a variety of missions through which they encounter and solve complex life-science problems in the Alien Zoo. Astudy of this pilot found that participating students performed better on lab assignments and earned higher lab grades than those in traditional science labs. ...

See the full press release here: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/higher-ed-meets-hollywood-asu-incubated-vr-company-raises-20m-to-transform-stem-education-301725400.html