July 6th, 2021
Virtual Reality Training allows workers to practice in complete safety. Going VR can also impact operational stress, carbon footprint, upskill time and overall training cost. Today's VR Training Experiences are loaded with hyper-real immersive environments, interactive equipment, 3D characters and animations, recreating how things are done in the real world. Organisations dealing with high risks like Transport for NSW & Sydney Trains now use VR to prepare apprentices for dangerous jobs and cut training time in half. The systems, interactions and learning design were custom built to make high quality training easier to deliver.
Sydney Trains High Voltage Training Case Study:
Here’s a roundup of ways workforces can benefit from VR Training:
1 - Upskill Faster
Every workforce has limited time and limited resources towards training. Technology is helping to revive Experiential Learning, making “practice” easier to access to get faster results. VR Training roll outs can be customised to suit how you can improve accessibility, distribution and quality of training for any scenario. Remove human bias and other unwanted variables so training experiences and how they are measured are consistent for every team member. This means less planning for trainers, more practice for trainees.
Training Simulation Operational Impact:
2 - Ultra Portability During Times of Logistics and Scheduling Challenges
When training for high risk scenarios, building the right facilities and training programs quickly becomes a major expense. In recent years, container based Training Facilities, where infrastructure can be deconstructed, shipped and rebuilt, has helped to reduce costs in certain areas of training.
Taking portability a level further, advances in Simulation Production allow for the delivery of advanced training facility features:
- Complete Worksites and Scenes, Built with 1:1 Scale
- Hazardous Exposures and Events Simulated
- Digital Twins, Showcasing Site Hotspots
- Display Equipment, Showing Inner Mechanics of Machinery
- Monitor and Record Learning Progress
- Role Playing with Real World Equipment
- Get Real Time Feedback of Behaviour, Decisions and Actions
Virtual Reality Production can now capture all these elements and more, built at a fraction of the cost of real world facilities. All this can fit within one case that can even be posted from location to location, unpacked to be operational in a 2.5m x 2.5m training area.
.3 - Consolidating All Real World Elements That Matter for Skill Development
Deliver real world interactions by capturing scenes, equipment and supporting characters. Develop roleplaying scenarios that last and give you consistent results. Here are some thought starters on where today's VR Production capabilities will perform well:
- Construction and Building Sites
- Industry and Manufacturing
- Public and Civil Safety
- Medical and Science
- Working with Height and In Confined Spaces
- Handling Chemicals and Electrical Hazards
- Equipment Failures, Safety Checks, Evacuations
- Operating Heavy Machinery
- First Aid and Health Processes
Having everything you need to conduct your training, that was once challenging to organise in the real world, can now be built virtually. Interactions and Sequences can be tuned to feel like you’re interacting with the real world.
4 - Better Understanding Hazards, Without Risk
Trainers can work with VR Learning Designers to create long lasting practical training exercises, allowing skills to be passed down from one generation of engineers to the next. Simulation Training also creates lasting impressions by simulating shocking moments. This achieves a deeper understanding of what can go wrong and lets workers know why to follow what they learn. Explore risks through different perspectives that are hard or impossible to create in real life.
5 - Upgrade Existing Training, Not Replace
Strengthen your results by upgrading your Learning Ecosystem. VR Training Experiences can be designed to compliment existing e-learning content and other areas where training already works well. By adding VR Interactions to how you train, Simulation Tracking can be enabled to collect insights like never before. Your Learning Ecosystem can be expanded with:
- Milestone Tracking with Dashboards
- Simulated Exception Points
- Collection of Insight Driven Data
- Create Learning Analytics Dashboards
Microlearning Content/Videos (online accessibility) combined with Practical Runs (Simulated) can fast track development of skills and behaviours. Add layers of scoring and feedback to the simulated runs to give learners increased confidence they can perform in the real world.
VR Memory Retention Benefits:
Bottom Line:
Just as we expanded from the walls of the classroom to online learning, VR will expand the walls of training facilities, unlocking the same quality of high risk interactions - all practised in complete safety. Advancements in motion capture to 3D character design are happening quick and making VR production more affordable. Trying out the latest VR interactions is important to know when your training should go virtual.
7DX has been deploying VR / AR solutions and tools since 2016. Our team is 100% Australian based and excited to show you what’s possible with today’s resources, technology and project methodologies. Contact us today to demo the latest in Virtual Reality and how it can Power Your Performance.