You can’t really explain Virtual Reality, to understand it’s impact on training in the next 10 years, you really have to experience it. My first experience with VR was at an international 3D conference. They had a demonstration area set up where you could don a wired headset that immediately allowed you to become a pilot of giant robot, popularized at the time by the movie Pacific Rim. The production values were incredibly high. You felt like you were in the movie. Especially when a monster ate your co-pilot.
What does that have to do with training?
This was 4 years ago, the technology has come along way since then. Its far more accessible, affordable and in many ways much better suited for training. To understand its coming impact on training you first have to understand the three flavors of virtual reality.
The Three Flavors of Virtual Reality
When people say virtual reality, they are really talking about three different types of technology. They are:
360 Video/Photos
This is the most accessible and affordable. Basically, you take a very high quality photo/video and wrap it around a sphere. Imagine you are standing in the middle of this sphere and looking around. That is exactly how 360 videos/photos work.
Augmented Reality
Pokeman had a comeback last year, the games producer published a version where you would search streets and ally ways to find various virtual creatures, using your smart phone to see them. This is Augmented Reality. Placing virtual objects into the real world. It can be creatures on a street or parts on an engine.
Virtual Reality (VR)
This is the namesake of the technology and it means exactly what it says. Creating a virtual world in 3D then navigating that world through specialty visors or using your smartphone. It can be any world you want: a warehouse filled with safety violations, a ER overflowing with patients or the interior of building with see-through walls to show electrical layouts.
In coming articles, I will take a deeper dive into each of these technologies and its impact on the training landscape.
great read
thanks for the share
we’ll have to see how this pans out
thanks for throwing light on types of virtual reality. in-fact, many time i was wondering what is the difference between virtual reality and 360-degree video. !!! you clearly explained in a simple and short note. thanks.
Thanks Lieve,
I agree somewhat. I think we’re early in the game and 360 Photos/video is the least resource intense to implement, so it will in all likelihood be the first to be implemented. I’m really interested in Augmented Reality for training. I think that is the one that will be the game changer for training in the short term, at least until full-on VR becomes much easier and cheaper to produce.
Cheers, Steve
Totally agree, Steve. I am dreaming of a real VR environment for training but that is more wishful thinking. AR is a big step and probably easier to implement. Although I would appreciate to be able to have 360 Photos/Video I think it will only enhance the efficiency of eLearning courses with a very good (pedagogically) concept. In other cases it is just another way of presenting boring content which may surprise the learner at the start, but will not be adding so much to the learning experience. That is my critical note based on my life long experience as teachter/trainer. Lessons in university college were not more efficient because Powerpoint appeared, it made several colleagues only lazier 🙂 Excellent trainers did benefit from its appearance.
Thanks, Steve for explaining the terminology, which is as usual often distorted for many reasons. For training where the interaction of the trainee with the environment is crucial, the real VR would be a tremendous improvement! I am less impressed by 360 video/photo to raise the efficiency of training, except for increasing perhaps the engagement of the learner until they are bored again with that new feature?
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