Virtual Reality Training – Revolutionizing Learning and Development
Virtual Reality is a game-changing tool for training and development. VR provides innovative experiences that are engaging, effective, and cost-efficient.
It is important to understand that VR training does require resources to develop course aims & objectives, structure, and learning content. It also requires monitoring and evaluation to ensure its effectiveness and relevance.
Immersive Learning
Unlike traditional learning methods, immersive VR creates a distraction-free environment that eliminates environmental and social distractions to enable learners to focus on the task at hand. This allows for better retention of knowledge and increases the effectiveness of training.
Virtual Reality also provides a way to introduce more emotional engagement into the learning process. Using VR, real emotional responses like stress, anxiety and surprise can be induced more authentically to make learning more memorable and impactful. Using these powerful learning principles, organizations are seeing benefits like more on-the-job-performance and higher employee confidence, faster training and better upskilling and reskilling.
With immersive technology, it’s easy to provide a customized learning experience that meets the needs of individual employees. Whether a learner is new to the industry, undergoing upskilling or looking to take on a new role, it’s possible to create a VR experience that mimics their work environment and provides a safe space to practice.
Unlike augmented reality, which superimposes virtual objects over existing spaces, Virtual Reality completely immerses learners in a virtual world. This allows learners to explore their surroundings and experience a range of scenarios they may encounter on the job, from everyday occurrences like customer interactions to more rare situations like armed robbery simulations. These experiences help employees build muscle memory and hone skills before they need to perform them in the real world. This improves retention and allows for quicker training, with learners completing their VR training 4x faster than classroom or e-learning learners.
Empathy
Unlike an eLearning course or classroom-based training session, VR provides learners with an immersive experience that engages all of the senses. Using the power of empathy, this technology can help employees learn better and retain information more effectively.
VR training can also help to reduce costs. For example, VR can be used for safety-critical training where mistakes might have severe consequences. By providing a risk-free environment, VR can help to build confidence and increase learning outcomes.
Additionally, VR can be used to train workers in areas where they may not have access to real-life equipment. For example, an employee who needs to perform a complex task like operating machinery can practice in a virtual reality simulation with the same controls that they would use on-site. This can reduce training time, boost confidence, and improve productivity on the job.
Another benefit of VR is that it can help to foster a sense of empathy and compassion for the workplace community. This can be particularly useful for companies that are looking to train employees in customer-facing roles, as it can help them to understand how their actions can affect others.
VR can also be a great way to teach empathy through role-playing. For example, one organization used a VR simulation to help its leaders develop skills to handle change management conversations with their teams. This helped to encourage prosocial behavior amongst the team and reduced burnout by helping employees to feel supported and understood.
Repetition
The immersive experience of VR transports learners into a virtual environment where they can practice and perfect skills. This can be a lifesaver for workers in hazardous industries that need to train onsite on equipment and machinery that may not be available or safe to access. VR training provides a risk-free space to learn and train with zero consequences for mistakes. A surgeon practicing their procedure on a fake patient can make mistakes all they want without fear of real-world ramifications, which builds confidence and mastery.
The repetition of a learning experience also fosters an emotional connection that can improve retention and knowledge application. For example, when a key point is repeated in a presentation or speech, it becomes more memorable to audiences than when the same idea is communicated in different ways. VR allows instructors to immerse their trainees in realistic scenarios that can be replicated again and again to help them become experts on the job.
This recurring immersive experience can also reduce the time it takes to train employees, which helps organizations achieve their return on investment goals. A recent study conducted by PwC found that VR-trained employees completed soft skills training an average of four times faster than e-learning peers and 1.5 times more quickly than classroom learners.
Feedback
When used in a well-designed training program, VR can revolutionize learning and development by providing an immersive, engaging, and interactive experience for employees. It can also help create a safe and effective training environment, as it can be used to simulate real-world scenarios. Additionally, VR can be used to track employee progress and performance, which can provide valuable insights into how well a training program is working.
VR is a great option for high-complexity training, as it allows users to experience scenarios that are difficult or impossible to replicate in the real world. For example, it can be used to train pilots and aviation staff in flight simulators or to simulate customer service scenarios that would be too stressful or dangerous to recreate in the real world.
Additionally, VR can be used to teach soft skills and procedural knowledge in a safe and immersive virtual environment. In fact, research has shown that VR can improve information recall, with retention levels as high as 80% a year after training.
However, it’s important to keep in mind that VR is still a new technology and can be uncomfortable for some people. As such, it’s crucial to develop a training program that is designed with accessibility in mind. This will include ensuring that the program is engaging and interactive, while also providing alternative options for employees who are unable to use VR.
