How Using 360 Virtual Reality Makes Experiential Learning Fun And Engaging | eWyse

How Using 360 Virtual Reality Makes Experiential Learning Fun And Engaging eWyse
eLearningIndustry.com
Summary: What is experiential learning technology and what are the benefits of 360 experiences and VR when training employees? All you need to know!

What Is Experiential Learning Technology And Why Is Using VR 360 Experiences Important?

Certainly, the advancement in technology has brought an interactive element in corporate training. And, thankfully it now allows trainers to deliver more engaging and fun experiences. Lately, more and more industries use immersive technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) in both academic and corporate training settings. Are you interested in experiential learning technology and 360 Virtual Reality experiences? Then this article is for you.

According to eWyse, plenty of businesses subscribe to the 70/20/10 learning model. Consequently, employees learn about 70% of their jobs informally through experience, 20% through relationships, and finally 10% through formal training methods. Therefore, most organizations design learning experiences to accelerate skill and competency development. Obviously, they do so to allow their human resource pool to grow quickly—at the pace of business.

VR experiences are simulations of real or imaginary environments where the participants can perceive and interact with the environment. What's more, trainers can utilize VR simulations in different formats, including head-mounted displays (HMD). Also, immersive video, known as  360-degree VR, is a similar technology. So, VR involves virtual characters sourced through motion capture systems, while 360-degree VR uses real-world footage filmed with a 360-degree camera. Both 360-degree VR and VR present the stimulus through an HMD. The above allows participants to feel an increased level of "presence" as they immerse in the environment. Even though VR and 360-degree VR are similar technologies, there are some distinct differences between the two. In this article, we'll focus on the strengths of 360 experiences.

So, let's consider experiential learning in the workplace as learning by doing. Our main goal today is to explain how you can create engaging experiences that feel real. Now is the time to start leveraging experiential learning technology for business success. And, eWyse will show us how!

How Employing 360 Virtual Reality For Experiential Learning Benefits Your Business

Imagine being able to truly immerse your learners in real-life scenarios that allow them to practice their communication, decision-making, and emotional intelligence. For example, you can incorporate Virtual Reality to create engaging learning experiences and improve soft skills. Would you like to increase your organization's efficiencies? Virtual Reality takes existing principles and learning activities presented through ILT and leverages them by recreating realistic interactions. Most importantly, it does it in a stress-free, fully immersive environment.

360 Virtual Reality experiences bring wide accessibility for users. For example, learners can have access to the activities by a headset, desktop, or mobile device from anywhere at any time. Plus, learners can experience scenarios from new perspectives. Hence, the immersive nature of experiential learning technology can really put the learner in someone else's shoes. Besides, learners can repeat the same activities and test their skills until they master them. Hence, employees train faster and on the job. Training that takes hours to complete in the classroom can be completed four times faster with VR.

For example, learners can test their ability to navigate a difficult conversation and diffuse a tense situation. The activity could utilize branch learning, which means that every decision would have a different outcome. Think of it as a way of choosing your own adventure. Depending on the results, if your learners fail, then you can talk about the branched learning options they chose and how they could have handled the situation better. You can pair multiple learning methods to create a blended learning program. Using a mix of learning modalities like Virtual Reality with in-person activities is a good way to boost knowledge retention, which will only increase the likelihood of your learners applying what they have learned in real life.

Get To Know eWyse

eWyse is an award-winning company that started from face-to-face education and evolved into the first eLearning agency in their country and region. Their transition was very fluid for them, but their clients needed some more convincing.

The biggest concern when transitioning to online learning from offline training has to do with learner experience. Clients told them, "That's just not the same feeling." But eWyse's team was adamant and believed strongly in all benefits eLearning has over formal live learning. So, they used all their technical knowledge and skills to create examples that showed them what they were missing.

Soon enough, eWyse got its first clients and started producing eLearning solutions for them. What made their clients believe in these solutions is the experiential learning methods that they used in their courses. By doing so, they helped learners feel like they were in a real-life training environment but with much more opportunities. Hence, by using VR technology, they managed to revive historical events, buildings and create imaginary situations so that users can learn by doing! As a result, training designed by eWyse immerses learners, making them feel like they actually entered a new reality.

eWyse nurtures accountability, transparency, feedback, and remote-first culture. They are all responsible for their projects because they want to, not because they have to. eWyse is very transparent, internally as a team and externally with its clients. That also includes finance or salaries and other tricky parts of the business that one may consider as a big secret. Feedback is a key to their growth as it is given and received only in a way that can improve processes and eLearning courses for their clients.

As a remote-first company, they strongly believe in trust and good relationships, both with their clients and within the team.

Learn More About eWyse's Custom Training And Experiential Learning Solutions

As an agency that cares, they are aware that companies have a lot of onboarding training topics that might seem boring for the employees. However, by learning more about their client's industry, employees, and needs, they can create a custom experiential eLearning solution that will make any topic fun to learn about.

From their experience with their clients, they developed a few eBooks about incorporating eLearning in specific industries such as the hospitality or pharma industry.

Download their eLearning eBooks and learn how to create the best training curriculum for your company.

To emphasize the effectiveness of the remote workforce during the pandemic, they've published relevant content about it. So, go ahead and visit their website to learn more about How To Maximize Remote Workforce Development.

What's more, they've gained recognition for their experience in Virtual Reality. In fact, they got an award recently. More specifically, eWyse won third place out of the 50 top eLearning projects worldwide in the recent, prestigious Adobe eLearning Design Award for their 360 Virtual Reality course.

Make sure to take a look at their case studies:

  • RBI case study
    With several accessible and fun animated videos, eWyse helped perfectly convey the CSR messaging and high-level education on the topic of sustainability.
  • NETS CEE case study
    eWyse created a suite of compelling, engaging, and fun eLearning courses. Through storytelling, gamification, and multimedia, complex subjects were brought to life in a captivating way.
  • LEDVANCE case study
    This is a complete solution with internationality, including an LMS and 500 eLearning courses in 17 languages.

Conclusion

It is very important for businesses to create innovative eLearning solutions. Thus, even though eWyse has come across the same topics more than a few times, they never create the same learning solutions for them. Knowing your users and creating a custom experiential or VR technology solution specifically for them is vital.

However, training evaluation and ROI are equally important. Changing corporate cultures ain't easy. But, companies like eWyse can help you overcome eLearning challenges and get stakeholder buy-in. One thing is certain though: if you want to find the most effective learning methods, you need a learner analysis. For example, Virtual Reality experiences might be one of the top trends in Instructional Design over the next few years, but is it the right training method for your team?

If you're a manager who still has doubts about using eLearning for your company's learning development needs, don't forget to attend the upcoming webinar by eWyse on January 18, 2022. They're going to explain everything in detail. All you have to do is sign up!