A library that grows by coursework, not by purchase order
Most universities that want 3D and XR content for teaching end up renting it. A global XR content library sold per seat arrives ready-made, but the university pays again every year, cannot reshape the content and does not keep it when the contract ends.
MIHWAR starts from the opposite premise. Its tagline is “the 3D and XR teaching platform the university owns”. It is a library of interactive 3D models and 360° captures that the university's own students and faculty build, review and keep, replacing a per-seat subscription to somebody else's content library. Eleven colleges share one core.
The engine of that library is student-generated 3d content. The student home screen, seen in the prototype through a third-year applied medical sciences student, lists tasks set by instructors, and one of them is to contribute a model to the library. Work that would otherwise be marked and forgotten gets a destination: it is submitted, reviewed and published as a teaching asset. That is a design for the library, not a claim about results: MIHWAR is a prototype.
From coursework to library asset
An instructor sets the task
The student home screen lists tasks set by instructors, such as contributing a model or building an experience from three library models.
The student builds and uploads
The student uploads the model and declares its licence. The library keeps it as glTF, with a named owner.
An academic reviews it
The submission waits in the review queue. An academic in the owning college decides whether it is fit for students.
It becomes a shared asset
On approval the model is published. Every instructor in the university can teach from it, alone or inside a scene or a 360° capture.
Four ways content enters, one review gate
| Route | Who produces it | What it adds | Passes the academic review gate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Student coursework | Students, on tasks set by instructors | Models and experiences that grow the library as a by-product of teaching | Yes |
| Campus capture | Lecturers with a consumer 360° camera | Places such as a ward, a hangar or a dig site, with teaching hotspots | Yes |
| AI-assisted generation | Staff who describe what they need to teach | A draft model in under a minute, which a human then judges | Yes |
| Commissioned modelling | Specialists briefed by the university | Specialist models where a module needs them | Yes |
Why cost per module falls each year
A per-seat subscription is a recurring cost. The invoice returns every year, and the content it buys stays on the supplier's side of the contract.
A library that grows by coursework behaves differently. Each approved model is made once, in the course of normal teaching, and then reused by every module that needs it. Next year's students add to the stock rather than replace it. The library grows by coursework rather than by purchase order, so cost per module falls each year instead of recurring.
We are not publishing figures. MIHWAR has no deployment to measure, and any number would be invented. The argument is structural: one cost recurs, the other is spread across a growing set of reusable assets. Student coursework is one route of four. We cover the AI route in our post on AI generation and the review gate and the capture route in our post on 360° captures.
Coverage, not asset count
What matters is how many assets map to the university's own course modules, carry a defensible licence and were checked by an academic in the owning college.
Declared licence, named owner, open format
A review gate only works if every asset says what it is and who stands behind it. In MIHWAR every model, scene and 360° capture carries a declared licence and a named owner. That includes work submitted by students.
Storage matters as much as the label. Assets are kept as glTF in the university's own storage, so they stay readable and exportable, and still work the day any supplier contract ends. The same scene then runs four ways: in a browser with no install, in a headset over WebXR, on a phone in AR from the same URL, and inside Unity or Unreal as glTF plus a scene manifest. Our post on one scene, four ways out covers that, and owning a library versus renting per seat makes the case against subscriptions.
A published asset is more than a file. Each model also carries teaching content: what it teaches, its intended learning outcomes and its key features, each with a note. The prototype's example is a high-bypass turbofan sectioned to show the gas path. Run the animation and the fan, compressor and turbine turn on one shaft.
Who owns what a student builds is a question for the university, not for us. MIHWAR gives every asset a place to record the answer. The policy itself belongs to the university's legal office.
The student marketplace: a proposal, not a promise
The prototype includes a Marketplace screen built around a proposed idea: students could earn from models they contribute. We present it as a proposal for the university's legal office only. It touches intellectual property, student contracts and tax, and we expect it to change in review.
That means three things. It is not a feature the university has adopted. It promises no earnings to any student. And student-generated 3d content reaches the library through the review gate whether or not a marketplace ever exists, because the coursework route described above does not depend on it.
What can go wrong, and how it is handled
| Risk | Why it matters | How it is handled |
|---|---|---|
| Uneven quality | Student models vary, and a weak model teaches badly | An academic in the owning college reviews it before publication, so nothing reaches the library unreviewed |
| Unclear IP | A model built on someone else's work exposes the university | The licence declaration is part of the gate, and every asset carries a declared licence and a named owner |
| AI drafts that look finished | A generated model can look plausible and still be wrong | Drafts enter the same queue, and a human decides whether they are fit for students |
| A library too big to use | Many assets, few that match a course | The measure is coverage of course modules, checked by an academic in the owning college, not asset count |
| Supplier lock-in | Content trapped on someone else's platform | glTF in the university's own storage, readable and exportable |
A working prototype, with honest limits
MIHWAR is a working prototype built by Nplay for Interactive Solutions, Amman, and prepared for a Jordanian university. It is not a mock-up and not a video: models are real geometry rendered in the browser, the level builder composes scenes, the review queue publishes and the export writes files. We claim no deployment, contract, users or results.
The limits are plain. The 3D models are indicative rather than teaching-grade, the 360° captures are painted rather than photographed, and four stages of the ingest pipeline are represented rather than executed. Nothing needs an install, plugin or network connection to try it, and a guided tutorial of 22 stops takes about six minutes across three roles: student, instructor and university.
Try the MIHWAR prototype and see where student-generated 3d content would enter. For related work, see our 3D content studio and Nplay Scholar, a concept for 3D interactive training.
Student-generated 3D content: frequently asked questions
Can a student really add a model to the library?
In the prototype, yes. A student uploads a model, it enters the review queue, and an academic decides whether it is published. Nothing reaches the library without that review.
Who owns a model a student builds?
Every asset carries a declared licence and a named owner. What that licence says for student work is a policy decision for the university and its legal office. MIHWAR records the answer and does not decide it.
Will students be paid for their models?
We promise no earnings. The marketplace is a proposal for the university's legal office, it touches IP, student contracts and tax, and we expect it to change in review.
Is MIHWAR in use at a university?
No. It is a working prototype built by Nplay and prepared for a Jordanian university. It is not deployed, and you can try it directly in your browser.