As a distribution partner for Meta's Spark AR Curriculum, edX will provide its community of 44 million learners with a variety of free-to-audit courses designed to help learners prepare to become a Certified Spark AR Creator. The first two courses, Getting Started with Spark AR and Creating and Designing with Spark AR, will introduce learners of all skill levels to augmented reality technology and enable them to learn fundamental AR design principles and AR creation skills using Spark AR Studio. Additional free-to-audit courses focused on more advanced Spark AR skills will be released later this year.

"The metaverse has vast potential to change how we experience and access education, much like how various technologies came together ten years ago to increase access to high-quality education at scale with MOOCs," said Anant Agarwal, edX Founder and Chief Open Education Officer at 2U. "This partnership will provide learning opportunities that give creators around the world greater access to the skills needed to envision and build quality and impactful learning experiences within this exciting innovation."

As part of its partnership with edX, Meta will provide a voucher for free access to its Spark AR Certification exam to the first 200 learners who complete the Spark AR for Beginners program on edX.org and receive a certificate of completion from edX. Learners who complete the certification will gain access to the Meta Career Programs Job Board, an exclusive job platform that connects learners who are certified in any Meta Certification with affiliated employers looking to hire talent.

"We're thrilled to work with edX to help students prepare for careers in augmented reality," said Leticia Jauregui, Global Head of Meta Immersive Learning. "Courses in the Spark AR curriculum will empower students to become the next generation of creators with skills needed to build for the metaverse."