The Future of Training: A Beginner’s Guide to Virtual Reality
Written by Stephen Juliano
The concept and practice of training has existed for a very long time. The boundaries of effective training have been slowly pushed forward, and sometimes backward, by existing and emerging technology. The advantages and disadvantages of in-person vs. distance (eLearning) have been argued ad nauseum, and instructional designers have constantly tried to blur those lines using off-the-shelf and custom development software. Virtual Reality or VR, while not a new technology, has been starting to gain some ground as of late due to technological advances that make it more affordable and more accessible.
When my CEO approached me two years ago about looking into VR for training, the lifelong videogame nerd in me was immediately excited for the opportunity. It took me all but 15 minutes to realize when he left my office that a) I’ve never experienced VR before, and b) I need to change that immediately. When I left work, I drove to GameStop and bought a Playstation VR since I had a Playstation 4 at home. About an hour later I was fully immersed walking through a museum watching objects float all around me in pure amazement…and that was just the menu screen for the demo that came with the system.
My intent with this article is to give you some food for thought as you venture into VR for the first time and share with you some of the things that I have learned along the way that would be beneficial when thinking about its use in training. These recommendations are based solely on my personal experiences and opinions as someone who has been working in the field of training for the past 11 years and been video gaming for much longer.
INVESTMENT- TIME. MONEY. TIME.
One thing to expect right out of the gate is that you will need to invest not just money, but time. Currently there are what I would deem three solid options worth looking into hardware wise: HTC Vive, Oculus, and PlayStation VR. While most people will typically do research online and pick one (which you should definitely do), I highly recommend that you find a way to actually use all three options before you invest in a headset because the user experience can vary depending on the system. The largest difference between these three pieces of hardware choices are their controllers. I think its valuable to experience all three to understand what works about them and what does not. If you are looking into VR for training development, HTC or Oculus are going to be your best bet because as opposed to the Playstation VR, they are not dependent on Sony’s proprietary console/marketplace and work with most VR compatible PCs. Playstation VR is something I would only consider if you already have access to a Playstation console.
Recommended Time: Before you buy, try to spend at least two hours with each and make sure you play multiple games/experiences to understand the differences in the systems. Once you do a buy a headset, spend as much time as you can afford further understanding your hardware.
Recommended Budget: Be prepared to drop anywhere from $1,000 - $5,000 on hardware. Those high costs really kick in when you need to invest in a VR rated PC for your VR headset. Luckily today the standalone headsets are much more accessible (and often less than $1,000). Just keep in mind that eventually you will want to invest in a good PC if you plan on creating VR experiences for your headset.
Budget Tip: You would be amazed at the amount of free demos that are available for games and services in VR. Take full advantage of this while testing and learning how to use your headset.
SEPERATE PRACTICALITY FROM GIMICKERY
If you notice I haven’t talked a ton about training yet. That’s because at this stage, if you are new to VR, Training should only be something in the back of your mind right now. Remember; the end goal is Training. Now is the time to be exploring and making connections to how things you experience could relate back to a product later.
One huge advantage of VR is that it enables a user to have experiences in other environments where you typically would be able to have those experiences. As an extreme example, I can pilot a shuttle in space from my couch at home. A more grounded example is that I can say learn how to drive a car from my couch at home without setting foot in an actual car. It’s important to keep this in mind when you start planning a design.
It’s hard to avoid the “cool factor” of VR. It’s easy to be impressed immediately upon entering a virtual space while wearing the headset, however it is more important to focus on the experience.
No matter how impressive a 3D space is, if you aren’t able to explore a space easily, or there is no way to figure out how to interact with that space, it immediately breaks your immersion. Imagine if you’re taking an eLearning course—ok, I know I said it wasn’t time to talk training yet, but hear me out for a second—imagine you’re taking an eLearning course where the next and back buttons were hidden behind an image of a briefcase that you had to click on to access your menu for navigating the course. While an arguably cool concept, this would be extremely frustrating for a user and make them not want to take the course. This same concept applies to VR. There were a bunch of demos that were “impressive” but lost me when I couldn’t understand the mechanics of how they were supposed to be experienced.
Another thing to keep in mind is the reality of the limitations that the hardware has when thinking about usability. Our whole office was excited about getting a VR set at initial onset of the idea. Except for one of my coworkers who had experience with VR before. She explained that its impossible for her to experience VR because she gets motion sick immediately. In fact, this is a common side effect of VR that mostly comes from the hardware’s limitations in resolution and eye tracking. While this shouldn’t be a deterrent, its worth keeping in mind that VR just simply will not work for everyone.
VR headsets can be “heavy” or “uncomfortable” when used for extended periods of time. In fact, most games or experiences recommend only using a VR headset for a maximum of 20-minute intervals.
Another aspect of VR that needs to be taken into consideration is that its use for some may be embarrassing in a social setting. Interacting with the air around you from an outside perspective can be silly looking at times. This can be avoided by holding smaller group sessions limiting user groups to two or three people.
Remember— when designing to prioritize usability and purpose.
VIDEO GAMES ARE CRITICAL
As a professional in the training industry, and someone who has been actively playing video games for roughly 30 years, it has been interesting to see how infrequently eLearning leverages game theory.
I’m bringing this up because if you’re about to venture in the world of VR, I fully believe that you need to have an understanding of why and how video games are so successful with engagement and problem-solving retention. The aspect that I feel should be leveraged more with training is the ability to capitalize on uncertainty. A core mechanic in most video games is to let a user face a challenge, often fail, and see how they learn from that failure to overcome that challenge. A reason that this works so well in a lot of the great video games is because there is some sort of narrative driving the experience. A user’s decisions will affect the outcome; meaning the user will be invested in what happens and WANT to succeed but also not be afraid to explore failure to test their theories on what is correct.
I think this is important to think about and capture when designing training, especially for VR. VR is all about experiencing something outside of your typical environment in a safe and engaging way. My recommendation is to play some games if you have never done so. Think about how the developers have incorporated mechanics that effect your motivations and behaviors. Also figure out what has been done to frustrate you and why. Playing video games may not make you the best Instructional Designer out there but I am positive that it would make an impact on how you design or how you think about designing future eLearning.
MAKE A PLAN
There is a lot to explore before you invest so make a plan. Take your time and do your research, both online and hands-on. Decide what kind of training could be created that best suits the VR experience. There are a ton of useful resources and a handful of training companies that are currently providing VR training in the real world to great success. My advice to anyone thinking about getting into VR for the purposes of training is to jump on that train now. As the technology becomes more affordable and improves for people like my coworker to eliminate motion sickness, VR will start being more widely used. It is not too late to get on that train, but I do feel like that window will close in the next couple of years. I could drone on about this for a long time, but I would love to hear from people who are interested in the development of VR training.