What are the implications of the metaverse and virtual reality for training?

The problem of upskilling

Companies have a conundrum: employees frequently need to enhance current skills, pick up new ones, or finish compliance training. However, the new reality of remote and hybrid employment has increased the difficulty of traditional, in-person upskilling. While they can’t cover all of the gaps, online and app-based courses can help. Therefore, how can employers address this issue?

Read More: VR soft skills training

The benefit of virtual reality

Virtual reality (VR) is well recognized for its ability to impart hard skills and provide lifelike simulations, including those for aircraft maintenance and pilots. Virtual reality, one of the many methods to access the metaverse, is becoming more and more popular as the metaverse expands. It was discovered that 51% of businesses either have VR integrated into at least one specific area of business or are currently in the process of doing so. “A more effective way to develop and train our people” is cited by 34% of respondents as one of the main advantages of the metaverse that they either presently experience or anticipate.

However, a lot of workers also need to pick up soft skills like resilience, leadership, and change management. It is frequently feasible to educate kids also through virtual reality and metaverse experiences, which is also very beneficial.

How effective is virtual reality as a tool for soft skill training?

With our research on virtual reality (VR) specifically created for soft skill training, we set out to address this challenge. The same inclusive leadership training was given to a sample of staff members from a group of new managers in 12 US locations. The training was delivered in three different ways: in-person, online, and via virtual reality (VR).

The outcome? According to the report, VR may assist company executives in upskilling their staff more quickly, especially in an era where in-person training may become less feasible and training expenditures may be reduced.

Five key conclusions about VR’s usefulness in soft skill development

1. VR training may expedite employee training by up to four times.

Employers must ensure that their employees make the most of their 1% workweek allotment to training and development, as this is a very small percentage for US workers. VR can be useful here.

With VR, it’s possible to learn something in as little as 30 minutes that would have taken two hours in the classroom. Even after taking into consideration the additional time required for new users to familiarize themselves with the VR headset, be fitted for it, and get training, V-learners still finish training three times quicker than classroom learners. Furthermore, the amount does not include the extra time needed for travel to and from the classroom. It only includes the time actually spent in the classroom.

2. VR students are more certain when putting what they’ve learned into practice.

Success while acquiring soft skills is greatly influenced by confidence. When faced with challenging situations, like having to provide unfavorable feedback to an employee, most individuals wish they could get practice managing it in a secure setting. They can using VR.

VR-based training boosts confidence and improves the capacity to apply the knowledge in the workplace since it allows for practice in an immersive, stress-free environment. In actuality, learners who received VR training showed an increase in confidence to apply what they had learned by up to 275%. This is a 40% improvement over classroom and a 35% improvement over e-learn instruction.

3. Workers have a stronger emotional connection to VR content

When emotions are engaged, people connect, comprehend, and remember things more fully. (We discovered this via the VR research and other BXT encounters, when we gathered various points of view and collaborated to determine what mattered most.) Through simulation-based learning in virtual reality, people can have a profound sense of fulfillment.

Compared to classroom learners, V-learners experienced an emotional connection to the subject that was 3.75 times higher, and 2.3 times higher than that of e-learners. The majority of students who responded to the poll stated that they experienced a “wake-up call” during the virtual reality course on diversity and inclusion, realizing that they were not as inclusive as they had previously believed.

4. VR students pay more attention

The students of today are frequently hurried, preoccupied, and overwhelmed. A lot of students will not watch a video through to the end, and one of the main sources of disruption and distraction in the classroom is cellphones.

Virtual reality learning greatly reduces user distraction. With a VR headset, the user’s vision and attention are controlled by simulations and immersive experiences. There aren’t any distractions or opportunities to multitask. Our research showed that employees using VR training were up to four times more attentive during training than their counterparts using e-learning and 1.5 times more concentrated than their peers in a classroom. Immersed in a virtual reality environment, learners are more likely to retain the material and perform better.

5. At scale, VR learning may be more affordable.

VR used to be prohibitively expensive, difficult to use, and limited to small groups. These days, a corporate headset ecosystem can be purchased for less than $1,000 one time. These devices may be used again for training purposes and are controlled similarly to other company mobile devices. While manufacturers are building software packages to allow non-VR developers to efficiently produce their own content, studios of all sizes are producing engaging content. Some major companies in learning management systems are facilitating the seamless integration of virtual reality material into their platforms.

When VR is used properly, its benefits are evident. According to our research, VR training is thought to be more cost-effective at scale than classroom or online instruction when it is provided to a sufficient number of learners. The initial cost of VR material can be up to 48% more than that of comparable classroom or online courses, therefore having a sufficient number of students is necessary to make this strategy financially viable. VR training reached cost parity with traditional classroom instruction at 375 learners. At 3,000 students, virtual reality training outperformed classroom instruction by 52%. VR training reached cost parity with e-learn at 1,950 learners. Your return on investment in terms of employee time saved during training, course facilitation, and other out-of-pocket costs will probably be higher the more people you teach.