The Benefits of Immersive Learning Solutions in 2024
Immersive learning solutions are becoming increasingly valuable, not just in the broader educational landscape but within the enterprise, too.
Skill gaps are increasing in an environment of constant digital transformation and disruption. In fact, 87% of companies say there’s a significant skills gap in their teams. Unfortunately, delivering traditional educational experiences to employees isn’t easy. Hybrid and remote work is making it harder to ensure every employee can access the same practical training initiatives.
Moreover, many traditional training methods fail to adhere to modern learning styles and a growing demand for hands-on experiences.
Immersive learning solutions address these problems, revolutionizing how staff members gain and share knowledge with realistic simulations and adaptive experiences. Here’s why companies should consider investing in immersive learning in 2024.
1. Immersive Learning Solutions Improve Knowledge Retention
Traditional training initiatives rarely deliver long-term performance improvements. Up to 70% of what employees learn via traditional courses is forgotten in as little as 24 hours. Alternatively, immersive learning solutions connect with students on a deeper level, improving knowledge retention.
XR solutions leverage multi-sensory feedback, storytelling, and hands-on simulations to make training sessions more “experiential. While students only remember about 30% of what they hear and 20% of what they see, they recall up to 90% of what they experience. That’s what makes immersive learning so effective. Students get hands-on experience in environments replicating real-world scenarios, allowing them to put what they learn into practice.
They don’t just learn the theory behind skills, they interact with digital twins, and AI avatars, building new muscle memories, and accessing real-time feedback. Companies like Deloitte have already found that VR exercises lead to better information retention and higher levels of engagement, boosting the ROI of training initiatives.
2. Reduced Risk and Improved Employee Safety
One of the reasons that traditional learning programs are often considered ineffective is that they fail to offer employees “hands-on” experience. Companies often need to balance the need for realistic simulations with the potential to expose students to risks.
Immersive learning solutions provide access to realistic experiences without the risk. Students in the industrial metaverse can operate heavy machinery and develop new skills without threats to their personal safety. Doctors can practice surgical procedures without risking the safety of patients.
Even firefighters and police officers, can practice dealing with potentially life-threatening situations risk-free. Studies show that the safe hands-on experiences enabled by immersive learning solutions improve workplace confidence, boost engagement, and reduce workplace injuries by up to 43%.
3. Immersive Learning Solutions Deliver Valuable Insights
A significant challenge many companies face when implementing comprehensive training, upskilling, and reskilling initiatives is an inability to track useful insights. It’s often difficult to determine how different training strategies impact employee performance and productivity.
Surveys and analytical tools built into learning management systems can reveal some useful data, but immersive learning provides even more valuable insights.
With XR software, companies can proactively test the skills of their employees as they move through training strategies and monitor engagement levels. You can track how team members respond to scenarios by monitoring heart rate and eye movement, and monitor how often employees repeat sessions in a program. With XR tools, it’s even possible to record sessions so managers and business leaders can offer feedback based on an employee’s performance.
4. Boosted Participation and Completion Rates
Consistently upskilling employees is crucial in today’s world, as every industry continues to evolve at an incredible pace. Currently, 70% of employees don’t believe they have the skills they need to navigate the future of work. Unfortunately, while many staff members see the value of consistent development, many avoid participating in traditional educational experiences.
Employees are often overwhelmed by distractions in the workplace, making it hard for them to focus on online courses, videos, and other resources. Additionally, many find old-fashioned training initiatives boring, which is one of the reasons why the average completion rates for online courses usually fails to exceed 15%.
Immersive learning solutions can address these problems. They eliminate distractions by embedding employees in unique environments where they’re constantly interacting with gamified experiences. Additionally, they ensure employees in any environment can access the same training resources, without having to find time to travel to a specific learning environment.
5. Immersive Learning Solutions are More Accessible
Diversity is becoming increasingly crucial in today’s modern teams. Companies with diverse, inclusive teams are 35% more likely to outperform their competitors and often achieve higher profits. However, supporting diversity can be complex when it comes to training.
Different team members from different generations and groups have varying learning styles. Some respond best to self-guided and controlled training initiatives, while others need access to constant feedback and step-by-step support. Immersive learning solutions empower companies to deliver diverse training initiatives to all kinds of students.
Businesses can use virtual “metaverse” environments where employees can interact with content independently. They can also design augmented and mixed reality experiences that combine self-serve content with feedback and support from a subject matter expert. AI innovations in the XR landscape even allow companies to create adaptive learning experiences that dynamically change according to an employee’s needs, skills, and performance.
6. Save Time, Money, and the Environment
While investing in immersive learning solutions can seem expensive at first, many reports have shown it’s actually more cost-effective than traditional training methods. One report found companies can save up to 30-70% in training costs by implementing XR initiatives.
Immersive training reduces the need for travel, prevents companies from having to invest in specific training rooms and classrooms, and reduces downtime. With an immersive environment, you don’t have to switch machines off when training staff how to use them or put high-cost equipment at risk by exposing it to untrained staff.
Additionally, once you’ve created a lesson with immersive training solutions, you can share it with endless employees. You don’t need to pay an instructor to come and host endless sessions with new staff members and different groups.
7. Immersive Learning Solutions Attract Talent
Finally, immersive learning solutions can give companies a crucial edge in the skills-short recruitment landscape. The right platforms and solutions can boost employee engagement and satisfaction, by providing teams with more fun, gamified training experiences.
They also ensure companies can consistently develop and optimize their teams. This is important now that employees prize development opportunities in every role. Not only do immersive learning solutions help companies to retain top talent, but they can help to differentiate their employer brand from the competition. Many younger staff members now expect businesses to leverage the latest metaverse and XR technologies in their training initiatives.
Implementing these strategies into your training program could help you to attract more talent, streamline onboarding initiatives, and reduce turnover.
Invest in Immersive Learning Solutions
Immersive learning solutions are quickly emerging as the future of employee training and development. Not only can they reduce training costs and improve knowledge retention, but they empower companies to boost productivity, attract new talent, and increase engagement.
As immersive technologies become more flexible, agile, and affordable, the demand for immersive learning solutions will only continue to grow.
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