How to design an immersive and blended learning experience that boosts engagement and retention

Immersive learning is a training methodology that allows learners to interact with real-world scenarios digitally (or virtually) in an engaging learning environment. It stimulates real-world interactions, projecting emotions and actions on the learner. Immersive learning creates an interactive environment in which learners have the power to customize their experience. It engages the senses, allowing employees to watch, listen, and interact within the learning experience — and research shows that it can increase knowledge retention by up to 75%.

Here are some best practices for creating an immersive and blended learning environment:

• Define your learning objectives & outcomes: Identify the skills and knowledge that you want your learners to acquire and the business goals that you want to achieve. And make sure they're learning right.

One of the best ways to approach this step is through Agile Learning Design!

• Choose the right VR platform and content: Select the VR platform and content that align with your learning objectives and your learners’ preferences and needs. This step can get a bit complicated if you don't have a dedicated team for it, but we've left you a small guide at the end of the article to help.
• Design the VR learning experience: Create a VR learning experience that is engaging, interactive, and relevant to your learners’ real-world challenges and opportunities. In this process you'll have to first approach the designing process through the lens of engaging story telling. After you've defined the learning outcome, you'll need to ask yourself: "What is/are the problems that are keeping my trainees from achieving the results they need?". Then you'll need to display the problem as a villain in your gamified immersive learning. The more you engage the trainees into a story where they are the heroes, the more they're engaged!
• Implement the VR learning program: Integrate the VR learning program into your existing learning and development ecosystem and provide the necessary support and resources to your learners. Make sure to take it slowly so as not to overwhelm your trainees. It's best to start with blended training then when everyone is used to it, you can start trying Immersive.

• Evaluate the effectiveness of the VR learning program: Measure the impact of your VR learning program on your learners’ performance, satisfaction, and retention, as well as your business goals. This step is crucial to your training. It helps you understand what parts of the training worked and what other parts didn't. Which sets you to even better decision making and training design on the long run. At Genesis Creations S.A.E , we use professional dashboards for training to help us measure real KPIs and metrics out of each training session.

By following these best practices, you can create an immersive and blended learning environment that boosts engagement, retention, and performance, and helps your learners and your business achieve their full potential.

Here are two ways to help you create an immersive learning experience:

• Use online resources: There are many online resources that can help you create an immersive learning experience, such as Unity Learn, Unreal engine , and 360 learning. These resources provide tutorials, templates, and tools that can help you design, develop, and deploy your VR learning program.

• Hire a VR learning consultant: If you don’t have the time, skills, or resources to create your VR learning program, you can hire a VR learning consultant who can help you design, develop, and deploy your VR learning program. A VR learning consultant can provide you with a customized solution that meets your specific needs and goals.

If you need any help creating an immersive learning experience, our company, Genesis Creations, can help you. We specialize in creating immersive and blended learning solutions that help organizations achieve their learning and development goals. Contact us on our LinkedIn page to learn more Genesis Creations S.A.E .