The education industry today is facing a major challenge. Should educational facilities and businesses embrace modern technology in their training programs?
More often than not, technological progress comes to every industry, including education. However, the ability of the business to embrace technology depends on several factors, such as the goal of the training or budget.
One of the most versatile and efficient technologies being applied to training programs is virtual reality. VR makes it possible to bring together the missing pieces that make any learning process truly effective: interactivity, engagement and visual representation.
But it’s important to note that some companies may be perfectly fine sticking to traditional education or applying VR to particular steps of education only—for example, welders need practical experience with their equipment, and it is easier to achieve with training in the real world. For this case, VR training lacks appropriate force feedback and manipulators that resemble welding machines; however, it can be used for learning the principles of brazing, adhesive bonding and more.
The global market of VR in education is projected to reach $13,098 million by 2026. In 2018, the annual figure was as little as $656 million. Just imagine: compound annual growth in this sector is expected to be around 43% for this period.
This tremendous growth is explained by the benefits VR brings to education.
• Learners feel 40% more confident when studying using VR compared to classroom training.
• On a large scale, VR learning can be more cost-efficient.
VR learners complete their training four times faster than those in classrooms.
Despite having tons of benefits, VR has limitations too. For example:
• Building VR training solutions has an expensive barrier of entry, even though they save budgets tremendously in the long run.
• VR is not suitable for every training scenario. Sometimes it’s better to examine other options, like blending traditional methods with VR.
• The majority of solutions lack force feedback features that are crucial for learning practical skills.
Let’s start with the benefits and see how these advantages are demonstrated in the various types of educational VR applications.
Soft Skills Training
According to one study, VR learners are 275% more confident about applying soft skills learned in VR than classroom learners. By providing VR tools for employee training in soft skills, such as conflict resolution, critical thinking, logical reasoning, etc., employees can practice with virtual people without the need to involve extra staff for training.
Reconstruction Of Events
A VR simulation can recreate clearly how and why an accident happened and teach employees how to behave more safely in similar situations. Some companies are already building such solutions, such as The Boiler Room, and using these VR apps at manufacturing facilities to train workers on following safety protocols—for example, when the plant is on fire or when a worker gets hurt using equipment.
Sport Skills
With VR, it’s possible to polish sports skills. Users benefit from VR sports solutions not only because they are fun to use but also because they provide a real opportunity to practice and work on real skills. VR Motion Learning’s sports education programs, for example, help optimize motion techniques by analyzing the individual biomechanics of users. The solution offers an authentic tennis experience with realistic physics and even allows users to participate in comprehensive virtual tournaments.
Medical Manipulations
Solutions like Immertec allow for collaboration on live surgical cases no matter where the participants are located. Doctors can „stream“ live surgeries, enriched with extra data, for any interested participants. The users can observe the surgery and up to four live medical imaging feeds, and the whole experience is customizable for each participant.
AR is also used for immersive training, and here we have an example of successful technical training done in AR. Field workers and engineers at manufacturing facilities need proper hands-on training to perform their jobs efficiently and in accordance with all safety precautions. Solutions such as 3spin Learning allow for training workers using AR as a substitute for dull manuals and pictures. With AR, workers can learn how to perform anything from day-to-day tasks to emergency responses to equipment failure and dangerous situations.
When VR Is Not The Best Option
Of course, there are situations when VR is not the best solution due to its limitations.
Again, when hands-on experience with particular equipment is a must, a VR solution should come with custom manipulators that will help students really feel what they do—like welders. Crafting these manipulators that will resemble real equipment is extremely expensive.
Also, extra expenses are caused by the need to employ a storyboard writer—a specialist who will create a thought-out description of an upcoming VR education experience. Usually, it is an expensive specialist with a rare set of skills. Usually, they possess skills from both educational and business analysis spheres.
The ability to combine these skills is vital for the project’s successful execution. It is important to describe a solution in a way that other people would comprehend and deploy the right way. If the budget for training is limited and there’s no way you can employ a storyboard writer, it is worth considering other options than VR.
To Summarize
Immersive technologies have the potential to disrupt many industries and change how we work, chat, play and learn. In terms of learning, VR is driving the development of advanced immersive learning solutions; even the metaverse is a descendant of VR.
Nevertheless, there are other effective options. For some companies, it could be better to use VR for only a part of their educational program, especially for those with limited educational budgets or focused on hands-on practice with real equipment.
I believe this is what a significant part of the future of global training will look like—immersive, interactive and much more efficient, thanks in part to the use of VR and AR.
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Foto: GETTY
