The Akiva Metaverse Series

Akiva started when two fathers of neurodivergent children decided to
improve the state of global education for children with special needs.
This passion project has been in the works for the last several years,
however the technology was not mature enough to realize the vision of
the co-founders. With the proliferation of virtual reality and the
hard work of a team of the most passionate and experienced game
developers, data scientists, data engineers, security engineers, cloud
engineers, PHD psychology advisors, designers, and quality assurance
engineers, it is finally possible to create the learning ecosystem –
AKIVA on the Oculus Quest 2 VR Platform.

Akiva Episode 2: Bill Macdonald

Bill got involved with the Canucks Autism Network over a decade ago
and has been its Chairman of the Board for the past few years.
Frustration with the inefficient hoops families need to go through
after receiving their first autism diagnosis led Bill to Alex Landa
where they co-founded Akiva. As parents to autistic children, Bill and
Alex understood the need to create a better learning system that
doesn’t rely on the one hour a therapist randomly picks to visit the
child regardless of their ability to learn at that particular moment.

By creating an educational system on a platform owned by the families,
people can learn at their own pace, wherever they are most comfortable
and at times where they are most likely to find success. It literally
puts success into the hands of the individual.

And focusing on the visual engagement most people on the spectrum find
success at, the Akiva Metaverse is accessible through Virtual Reality
on the Oculus Quest 2. You don’t even need controllers to make it
work. Through hand tracking and a companion app, people of varying
degrees of capabilities are able to take part in Akiva and they can do
so at many stages of life development. While currently designed for
both younger kids and older kids, the overall intention is for Akiva
to stay with the individual and help them as they age and transition
into adulthood. Constantly creating new worlds and stories, Akiva is a
great way to immerse the user in an educational ecosystem in a fun and
engaging way.