Is Immersive Learning the Future of Training?
Things are happening in the world of professional training. Artificial intelligence, augmented reality and virtual reality are now very much … a reality! That’s right if your HR department offers you to undergo training by wearing a VR headset while completely immersed in a digital environment, that’s because they want you to learn new skills quickly and more effectively. Find out all there is to know about immersive learning, the teaching method that’s revolutionizing professional training.
What Is Immersive Learning?
Immersive Factory, which provides a cutting-edge social platform where digital training sessions can take place, sees immersive learning as a means for businesses to achieve educational perfection. Such ambition stems from the observation that learners master newly acquired notions better when they are given the opportunity to utilize them in a real-life context. However, in-the-field training typically comes with its own set of risks, at least when one needs to replicate certain situations. The medical field, EHS, or the army – for instance – need to train the members of their personnel by confronting them to a reality they absolutely must know how to face and react to.
The true revolution behind immersive training is that the virtual world within which the session unfolds is incredibly lifelike. Yet, the mistakes that the participants are bound to make are entire without consequence. Immersive learning, therefore, constitutes an exceptional solution for “learning by doing”, which promotes long-term memorization.
Another important aspect of immersive training is gamification. Adults too show better motivation when a learning experience is presented as a game! The simulation encourages them to be more daring and to put their knowledge to the test without fear. They feel engaged enough to really want to “rise to the challenge” and see acquiring new skills as a personal victory.
How Will Immersive Learning Support the Evolution of Training?
Immersive training boasts several benefits that predispose it to all manners of concrete applications in a variety of fields (to learn more about benefits, read this article). For instance, it allows businesses to save time and money as new modules can be implemented very easily. In addition, associates get to use the tool whenever and from wherever they please. It provides revolutionary solutions to assess participants who move through a completely virtual environment and can learn together without any physical interactions required. Even telecommuting won’t get in the way of effective training!
Onboarding
Extraordinarily flexible, the concept can be adapted to serve very diverse purposes. Onboarding, for instance, is as necessary as it is time-consuming for all the people involved. Thanks to a virtual headset and an ideally designed computer program, new recruits can visit the company’s premises all by themselves or with the help of a virtual guide who will explain everything they need to know.
Recruitment
From a different point of view, recruitment may be facilitated by the advances of virtual reality. For example, the technology can be used as part of recruitment campaigns to raise the candidates’ awareness about what their mission will entail. HR departments can also take advantage of it to assess the candidates’ skills and have additional criteria at their disposal to make their selection.
Assessment
Immersive training naturally integrates the notion of assessment, since the participants are specifically made to become aware of their mistakes as they evolve through the scenario. Beyond that, the program is designed to help them better understand anything they do not fully master yet. It allows them to keep on practicing by redoing the same levels as many times as they see fit.
Employment Termination
Though this idea may not be alluring, it is important to understand that any tool that can be used to assess a level of expertise is bound to reveal any potential incompetence. However, the big advantage of immersive learning – when applied to assessment and auditing – is that it remains formative. The employee immediately understands the reason (and the consequences) behind their mistake and has exceptional tools at their disposal in order to progress. Therefore, the technological advances of this solution could, on the contrary, be seen as a remarkable way to avoid unnecessary dismissal by targeting problematic notions and addressing them as needed.
The future of professional training will be nothing if not virtual! Efficient, economical, convenient, and engaging for the learners, immersive learning represents a real step forward. It is poised to find new applications in an increasingly varied range of fields with truly compelling results.