We all know that start-up companies promoting a new technology will always brand themselves as that one that would revolutionize how you do something, in this case, eLearning. This was the case with immersive technologies that sprung up before the pandemic, although the technology has been around for quite some time. I have also covered some applications for engineering education and medical education in previous posts. There are a lot of papers published in reputable journals that have tested the technology for educational purposes, in many different educational subjects. A lot of applications come from medical education, in this case, there might be some use for it. But my recommendation would be not to buy the hype right away and check first with your learning goals. Don’t put the carriage before the horse. The need for VR (virtual reality, that is, immersive technologies) should be dictated by the course learning objectives not by the “wow” factor that this tool may bring to the course.
First, Build the Course
Look at your subject matter, learn who your audience is, the level of skills of your learners, their age range, and so on. If you are designing an eLearning course for adults in the range of 50 years-old and up, there might be a need to first make these learners train for the use of immersive technologies. If there are no resources to create such a training, I would recommend doing away with VR. But if you are creating an eLearning course for medical students in their 20’s, there may be an opportunity for its use. You must check if the teaching subject would be better delivered through VR. See, if you are creating an introduction course in anatomy, the use of this technology for tutorials or testing will make the course engaging, but you still need to create these opportunities for learning in such a way that they do support learning. You don’t want your learners to get distracted with extraneous materials (such as an annoying talking guide) in an immersive environment, which will defeat learning.
Your final goals or objectives can tell you if VR technologies can help you achieving those, especially if you are hoping for your learners to acquire a certain skill. Not all skills are the same, some will be related to following a certain procedure (so-called near transfer skills) already codified step by step. In this case, the trainee is expected to practice what they learn as soon as they finish the course. VR technologies can help by providing scenarios that help practicing those procedures with different levels of difficulty, you can introduce roadblocks learners are expected to find during the actual performance at their respective positions. On the other hand, if the skills that the trainee is expected to pick up are those so-called “soft skills” (also known as far transfer skills), then the use of immersive technologies can provide scenarios where they can apply all their previous knowledge to solve the case presented. We will expand on this in the next section.
Then Check Your Learning Objectives or Goals
If the learning goals are connected to an activity (or can be achieved better by using this technology) that requires practicing a highly cognitive skill, which requires solving problems by constructing knowledge from previously acquired elements, VR can provide a suitable option. If you are training o teaching a procedural skill, such as how to measure the pressure off a tire, then VR will be of little use. You are better off making some demonstration videos and a couple of activities with any old tire, the immersive environment is just a way of killing flies with cannon balls.
Problem solving skills and other high cognitive skills benefit from this technology, since these skills require a lot of previous accumulated knowledge and experience that can be applied to novel situations the learner has not experienced beforehand. A great example is the systems used to train pilots where they face many simulated complex problems that test their capacity to come up with fast and usable solutions. Even if they face a failure, they accumulate this experience for future situations.
Finally, although any member of the organization can learn a lot while performing their respective jobs, it will be difficult they would encounter all possible cases that could spring due to the nature and complexity of their activities. In these cases, VR technologies can offer the possibility of accelerating learning by presenting those rare cases, this way highly skilled workers can practice and apply their knowledge. This will be beneficial not only to the worker but also to the organization since now it has a more prepared member.
Conclusions
But using VR or immersive environments does not replace teachers, coaches, or trainers. Although, depending on the subject, this might be an asynchronous course that is learner-paced, some guidance must be added to the course, even if you are planning on having a population of learners that can be considered experts on the subject. This technology is not recommended for novices that require a lot of guidance and coaching. But if the course is for informational purposes, where not a lot of high cognitive skills will be used (a virtual museum tour), an immersive system may prove to be fun and helpful, especially for a younger population. In any case, remember that your course dictates what you will need integrated in it. Specifically, your objectives, goals, milestones and so on will tell you what you need to achieve those. You need to review your learning goals and ask yourself if VR is the right solution for your course. For example, training for procedural or high-performance skills do require some level of interactivity built-in the course. Don’t create a course that works like a book and expect it to deliver performance goals, your learners will not be engaged in such course and there will be little cognitive engagement from trainees. Also, I wouldn’t recommend using it just because it is available, or it is the lates shiny tool your organization purchased because somebody else thought it would “spice up” your courses. This technology offers many possibilities, if used well and in the appropriate settings and conditions.
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