Immersive Learning (VR Simulations)
Research shows that, while engaged in a an immersive simulation, the human brain perceives the new environment as “reality” after only a few minutes. This biological fact is what makes immersive (VR) simulations one of the most impactful learning modalities in the industry. For soft-skills training, the greatest return on investment is to create simulations that give the employee learner a truly “live” environment.
What is “Live” VR?
In Live VR, those avatar-looking people (see screenshots below) are real actors, who can see the employee trainee via web cam, and respond to the employee input in real time. The dialogue between the employee learner and the on-screen avatar actors is guided by a preselected topic. However, because the avatars can interact with the employee in the moment, the employee’s success in achieving the desired outcome will depending on how quickly s/he can adapt and guide the conversation with the actors.
My team and I developed a multitiered training approach for a Management Fundamentals curriculum that takes full advantage of this technology as one part of the overall solution.
selected screenshots
Topic: Management fundamentals
Curriculum for emerging and front-line people leaders, developing techniques for managing individuals and teams
My Role: Solution Architect, Performance & Analytics Lead
Target audience: Emerging leaders
Modality: Blended (real-time immersive simulations, vILT, online cohort networking)
Business Issue: Employees were being promoted into supervisor roles without formal training or experience in leading a team.
Objectives
Define the role of the manager and the key capabilities needed to succeed in role
Apply critical building block skills for managing individual and team success
Create pull-through e-learning and cohort-based online networking
Results: ~ 200 sessions conducted annually. Updated delivery format from traditional ILT to adding cohort-based social networking, and immersive VR soft-skill training with real-time conversation feedback. Immersive Learning VR: 90% found it useful and authentic and would recommend it to a peer. Level 1 Eval: 4.7 (out of 5) average score across all curriculum tiers.
