VR Training: A Crash Course

This article is written by Michele Oberly, Business Development & Learning Design Consultant at Edstutia and Foretell Reality.

Virtual Reality (VR) is an experiential learning tool that companies across several industries are using to train their employees. Compared to traditional online learning methods, the immersive, learn-by-doing nature of VR increases learner engagement, leading to better learning speed and information retention outcomes. A dramatic drop in the price of headsets is just one of the reasons why Fortune 500 companies, from UPS to Bank of America, are utilizing VR for hard and soft-skills training.

The Benefits of VR Training

VR allows people from physical locations across the world to get together in a simulated environment that feels real. Oftentimes an in-person training session is cost prohibitive when travel and hotel expenses are factored in. And sometimes, like during the COVID-19 pandemic, it isn’t possible to meet in person.?

Zoom and other online learning tools are vulnerable to learner distractions, as many learners are not fully engaged in a session when they have access to phones and other devices - and can easily turn off the camera to converse with colleagues or family. By contrast, while wearing a VR headset, the learner is fully immersed in the training environment.?

Dashboards can even measure engagement by how often a participant speaks and attention to the speaker via gaze direction. In an increasingly global and remote or hybrid work environment, tools that maximize engagement are imperative. In fact, companies are finding that hybrid or remote work environments can be preferable to sought-after top candidates and are using VR as a way to ensure talent is engaged while working from home.?

Organizations Using VR Training

While VR is relatively new for soft-skills training, it has long been used for hard skills training because it provides a safe environment wherein learners can make mistakes that would be damaging or costly in the real world. General Electric is one of the first to use a type of VR device back in the 1960s while training pilots using a flight simulator.?

In the 1980s NASA used a head-mounted device with haptic gloves to train their astronauts. The development of the technology began to grow rapidly in the 2010s when big companies like Apple, Amazon, and Google made major investments in VR technology. Now, all kinds of companies, from BP to Walmart, are embracing VR for both hard and soft-skills training.

Using VR to Enhance Onboarding

Virtual Reality enhances the value of investment in employee learning initiatives like onboarding, teambuilding, training, and coaching. Imagine onboarding regionally diverse employees in one space where they can introduce themselves and socialize.?

Perhaps the CEO or department director gives a welcome speech via streamed-in video or joins “in-person” via an avatar. This is an example of a synchronous event, but VR also provides an opportunity for asynchronous modules as well. For example, new employees can take a fully immersive 360-degree tour of the company headquarters.?

This type of onboarding activity can help regionally disparate employees acculturate to the company. Asynchronous VR activities can also lessen the burden on employees who would otherwise need to take time away from their own work to onboard new colleagues.??

Teambuilding in VR

Another way companies are using VR is for teambuilding. It cannot be overstated how fun it is to experience a VR environment. Any type of environment - from a rooftop bar overlooking a city skyscape to a bowling alley - can be simulated. Activities in VR are endless - from ping pong to card games: people are interacting and collaborating. You can’t do that in Zoom!?

Spatial audio allows for small groups to form without overhearing other groups. Only when a participant nears another group will they begin to hear the conversation. Additionally, choosing one’s avatar can be fun and may help to flatten the hierarchy. It can be intimidating to participate in a teambuilding exercise with one’s department head, but imagine if they enter the virtual space with hot pink hair and ridiculous glasses.?

Teambuilding is about forming bonds, and VR allows a fun and relaxed environment for teams to collaborate. When getting together is cost-prohibitive, VR is a great alternative.

VR Creates a Safe Space for Coaching

One of the most effective uses of VR is for coaching. VR is conducive to coaching in a similar way to hard-skills training: the simulated environment creates a safe space - in this case, a psychologically safe space - to make mistakes. A high-stakes negotiation can be practiced repeatedly in a virtual boardroom, for example, until the participant feels comfortable and is desensitized to the anxiety that often accompanies high-pressure situations.?

VR is excellent for management coaching via roleplay. Managers often have difficult conversations with employees, including negative performance reviews and conflict resolution sessions. Features such as record and playback allow participants to review their conversations and observe their tone of voice and non-verbal language, along with what was spoken.?

Edstutia’s VR-enhanced learning module, Mindful Leadership, incorporates coach-led role playing in a low-risk environment—allowing learners to safely practice delivering negative feedback and receive real-time guidance.

Experiencing an epiphany first-hand, such as a timid or perhaps overly aggressive tone, can be more powerful than hearing this observation second-hand from a coach. Of course, the coach and perhaps any other participants in the session can also make helpful recommendations for the next roleplay round.?

Additionally, Edstutia’s platform? includes a whisper feature that allows a coach to make helpful suggestions to the manager in real-time during the roleplay that the other participant doesn’t hear. This feature can build confidence in the manager because, by using the coach’s whispered suggestion , the manager can see that it’s possible with small adjustments to steer a conversation toward a preferred outcome. The whisper feature allows real-time seamless learning without having to pause the roleplay.?

VR-Enhanced DEI Training

Lastly, companies are using VR for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) sessions. Many companies invest heavily in DEI training but report that they do not necessarily see the results that were intended.?

A large part of DEI is about empathy. What better way is there to engender empathy than to put yourself in someone else’s virtual shoes? Maybe it is a scenario wherein a female employee walks into a room full of male executives. How does it feel to be interrupted or patronized? Experiencing the world through someone else’s eyes is powerful. It’s just the thing to move the needle on DEI training outcomes.?

If you’re curious about VR but perhaps your company hasn’t taken the plunge, Edstutia offers a wide variety of products and services for organizations looking to dip their toes into the VR water, such as our Instructor Certification in XR, Teambuilding in VR Six-Pack, Library of Simulations, Sandbox, and more. Visit our website to learn more about the immersive training experiences we offer and how your team can get started leveraging the benefits of VR for employee training and development.