12/9/2020
Source: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.viar360.com%2Fvirtual-reality-corporate-training%2F&psig=AOvVaw1vRmSuVWA6R2xck1EKXxhp&ust=1611534125083000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCPCco82ms-4CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD
INTRODUCTION
For the last decade, virtual reality (VR) has started appearing in corporate training in a variety of industries. Based on the report made by Harvard business review (2020) Walmart used VR to train associates in customer service skills, and showed the workers how to set up stores’ pick up towers. Verizon helped call center employees to build de-escalation and empathy skills by leveraging VR. FedEx Ground also made a VR experience to teach package handlers how to load a truck with the maximum number of packages safely. This paper will explore how emerging VR technology is impacting corporate training, from the perspective of VR’s potentials, application, and challenges in education. The paper will also include interviews with Thomas Kauer, an instructional designer at Tesla, and Susan Spark, the learning technology manager at Schlumberger, discussing their experiences and opinions toward using VR for corporate training.
1. OVERVIEW OF VIRTUAL REALITY
The definition of VR. While there are various definitions of this technology, in the context of this paper, VR refers to ‘a 3D computer-generated environment, which integrates diverse technologies, updates in real-time, and allows human interaction through various input/output devices’ (Boud, Haniff, Baber, & Steiner, 1999). According to Liu et al. (2017), there are two most important and widely accepted main characteristics of VR technology: immersion and interaction. Immersion refers to the user’s sense of presence in a computer-generated 3D virtual environment. Immersion is elicited by sensory simulations ranging from visual and auditory to tactile and motion perceptions (Liu et al., 2017). This perceptual illusion of being in a virtual world is referred to as presence (Slater, 2017). Another important characteristic of VR is interaction. In the world of VR, users can interact with the virtual environments and the objects within them in a manner similar to how they do in the physical world, as the VR system detects the input of users and responds in real-time. The interaction can further occur between different users in VR to enable social elements such as avatars, which are virtual representations of users (Liu et al., 2017).
2. VR IN EDUCATION
Theoretical framework for VR in education. Liu et al. (2017) indicate that constructivism is a key theoretical basis for utilizing VR for education. According to constructivist theory, students construct new knowledge by challenging the preexisting experiences within the contexts, activities, and social interactions in the learning environment. Constructivist Theory considers students as the active body of information processing and meaning construction, and considers teachers as guides instead of instructors (Liu et al., 2017). Dede et al. (2017) state that immersive media (including VR) has the affordances of guided social constructivist theory of learning, which is often used to design learning experiences to teach complex knowledge and sophisticated skills. They elaborate the theory as follow:
In this approach, learning involves mastering authentic tasks in personally relevant, realistic situations. Meaning is imposed by the individual rather than existing in the world independently, so people construct new knowledge and understanding based on what they already know and believe, which is shaped by their developmental level, their prior experience, and their sociocultural background and context (Palincsar, 1998). Instruction can foster learning by providing rich, loosely structured experiences and guidance (such as apprenticeships, coaching, and mentoring) that encourage meaning-making without imposing a fixed set of knowledge and skills. This type of learning is usually social; students build personal interpretations of reality based on experiences and interactions with others. (Dede et al., 2017, p.3).
Situated learning is a powerful type of pedagogy that can be carried out by VR to foster psychological immersion, which refers to “the mental state of being completely absorbed or engaged with something” (Dede et al., 2017, p.3). Dede et al. (2017) indicate that situated learning occurs when people learn in similar contexts to where they will be applied later, while the context also fosters tacit skills through experience and modeling. As situated learning is critical for the transfer of knowledge and skills, VR can address the lack of transfer in many conventional instructions by simulating the contexts for performance in the real world and adopt them as the learning settings (Dede et al., 2017, p.3).
Mel Slater (2017) summarizes five reasons why VR may contribute to education. (1) Transforming the abstract to the concrete. VR can facilitate understating of abstract concepts by transforming them into concrete perceptions and experiences. (2) Doing rather than only observing. Beyond learning by observation, people can gain hands-on experience in VR, especially for situations too problematic or dangerous to rehearse in the real world. (3) Doing the infeasible or practically impossible. With VR, people can do activities that are not feasible or outright impossible, whether physically, timely, financially. (4) Manipulating reality. VR allows people to experiment with the world in a way that is impossible in reality; and (5) Beyond reality. Not merely a simulation or replication of the physical world, VR is capable of realizing things that are far beyond our daily world. (Mel Slater, 2017)
Liu et al. (2017) divide the application of VR technology in education into four types based on their studies:
1) Observational learning. Learners can build a deeper understanding of the learning targets in VR. As the VR system allows users to navigate and explore freely in the virtual environment, they can obtain first-hand feelings of the objects within the 3D space from different spatial perspectives. Observational learning refers to the learning activities that occur under this kind of circumstances. Some people use VR to simulate experiences of the real world. In some other cases, VR was also used to create environments that do not exist in the physical world, without the restrictions of time, space, and or human’s physical senses.
2) Operational learning. VR carries out tactile learning by providing learners opportunities of operating objects by hand in a situated learning environment. The VR environment provides immediate feedback to learners’ performance that can help them correct misunderstandings during learning. Moreover, as VR allows learners to repeatedly practice what they’ve learned, it can facilitate the transfer of skills into the workplace. In addition, VR can create a safe and convenient environment for training, especially affordable for those otherwise costly and risky to implement environments. Learning in VR is effective in aiding users to understand complex concepts since it enables learners to operate or control the learning objects in the virtual world, observe their learning outcomes, and examine their hypotheses.
3) Social learning. Social learning happens when users interact and collaborate with each other synchronously in a multi-user virtual environment (MUVE). VR technology plays an important role in distance education, as it can create a sense of belonging to the learning groups, establish new connections between learners, and provide a platform for richer bandwidth of interpersonal information-exchange and interactions, including both verbal and non-verbal modalities.
4) Scientific research. Many people also use VR for scientific research, considering the advantages of low-cost and low-risk of conducting experiments, as well as the flexibility to control experimental conditions in a virtual environment. (Liu et al., 2017)
3. OVERVIEW OF CORPORATE TRAINING
Corporate training can make a difference in a company. In today’s constantly changing and rapidly evolving world, training is considered as one of the most important sources of competitive advantage (Bersin, 2013). Surveys show that the amount of training received by employees greatly affects their decision to stay with the company (Devarakonda, 2019). Bhanu Chopra (2015) enumerates a series of reasons demonstrating the critical role of training in a company. For example, not only can training help individuals tackle their weaknesses to improve their working performance, but also amplify their strengths and provide opportunities to learn new skill sets. Employees who took training that is relevant to their jobs tend to be more satisfied and self-driven at work. In the long-term, training increases the company’s productivity by keeping employees up to date on the most effective technology (Chopra, 2015).
Traditional methods of training. Traditionally, a popular method of corporate training is via classroom instruction (Devarakonda, 2019). However, this learning method is criticized for being passive, slow, difficult to scale, drawing people away from their positions, and leading to low knowledge retention due to the lack of hands-on practice (Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, 2020). In addition, it often entails additional expenditures on travel, facilities, and equipment, et al. (Devarakonda, 2019). Another major traditional method of training is via on-the-job-training or apprenticeships (Devarakonda, 2019). While this method allows employees to learn the skills, knowledge, and competencies in an environment where they will need to practice them (Heathfield, 2019), for many companies, it is risky and expensive to put unskilled trainees at the frontline of the work before they are fully prepared (Strivr labs, 2019). This reason is particularly important for those whose work involves demanding and dangerous environments such as aviation, manufacturing, and medical surgery.
E-learning. Judith Strother (2002) indicates that e-learning is more economical than classroom instructions. Many companies opt to use e-learning for corporate training over classroom instruction not only for its cost-effectiveness, but also for other advantages such as convenience, standardized delivery, self-paced learning, and variety of available content (Strother, 2002). Furthermore, unlike the one-time instructor-led training, employees are able to revisit the online courses repetitively at any time (Devarakonda, 2019). Despite all of the advantages above, the outcomes of e-learning are far from desirable. Employees who take e-learning have higher attrition rates (dropout) and show less satisfaction than those in the traditional model of training, revealing the challenge to engage learners with online learning content (Devarakonda, 2019). The effectiveness of training is ultimately determined by whether the learners transfer and apply what they’ve learned to the workplace (Salas & Cannon-Bowers, 2001). The reality is that, regardless of the vast amount of investment, this training only leads to a limited transfer of learning (Cheng & Hampson, 2008). Specifically, a published survey demonstrates that almost half of the learners fail to transfer the knowledge immediately after training, and 70% of them falter in transferred abilities one year after the training (Burke & Hutchins, 2007). As the transfer of knowledge and skills is more likely to occurs in a learning setting that is the same or a similar context to that in which they will be later applied (Dede et al., 2017), to balance the cost-effectiveness and level of impact of the training, the traditional approaches of corporate training often lack the affordances of this kind of situated learning at scale.
4. HOW VR IS TRANSFORMATIVE FOR CORPORATE TRAINING
VR has been mainly applied to training material for high-stakes lines of work including soldiers, surgeons, and astronauts where people learn by doing and build off of past experiences (Baileson, 2020). In the past twenty years, VR has become more widely adopted thanks to the industrialization and commercialization of technology (Liu et al., 2017). Based on the research listed above, it is evident that VR is transformative to the world of corporate training. Specifically, there are two main areas in which VR will be most impactful: the efficiency and the scalability of training.
THE EFFICIENCY OF TRAINING
Engagement and knowledge retention. With the capability of inducing psychological immersion to the users, VR technology promises to increase the engagement level of corporate training. Higher engagement during learning indicates deeper and longer knowledge retention. While low knowledge retention is a stubborn problem for the traditional methods of training, VR has the potential to address the issue by giving the user a more personal relationship with the content.
Transfer of training. The traditional methods of training are often lacking transfer due to missing context. VR technology can simulate and put trainees in the settings in which they will later apply what they’ve learned. Moreover, in the virtual world, trainees can not only observe the contextual environment, but also do the learning task by hand. In VR, trainees are allowed to practice again and again until they fully master the task, without worry about the consequences of mistakes, such as the risk of danger or waste of resources. During the practice, the virtual training environment would improve the performance of the trainees by providing immediate and personal feedback that can correct their misunderstanding or problematic operation. This kind of situated hands-on learning, which is often lacking in the traditional training methods, makes the training in VR more effective and transferable.
Safe place for training. As mentioned earlier, it is risky, dangerous, and expensive for many companies to send unprepared employees to the front lines of work. However, with VR, this is no longer a problem. Through replicating the workplace in the virtual world, VR can create a realistic working space that is physically and mentally safe for employee training.
THE SCALABILITY OF TRAINING
Training at scale. An important advantage of VR corporate training is its capacity to be implemented at scale. Traditional methods of training are often resource intensive. They require space, instructors, facilities, equipment, and sometimes additional costs on transportation and hotels. They are also not repeatable, meaning trainees cannot practice enough to transfer the skills. On the contrary, training in VR needs few resources, and it is also easy to replicate and deliver without losing the effectiveness and impact of the training.
Remote training. VR technology is also suitable for remote training. Face-to-face instruction might not always be available, especially during the current pandemic situation. VR can immerse trainees in any desired learning environment at any time regardless of their physical locations. More importantly, VR is able to connect people in a more engaging way than other forms of telecommunication tools. For corporate training, VR can create a MUVE, enabling trainees to interact and collaborate with each other synchronously, as social learning is critical to improving the communication and collaboration skills of the trainees. By making connections with coworkers, it can also lead to community building within the company.
5. CHALLENGES OF VR APPLICATION IN TRAINING
Liu et al. (2017) point out that, while much evidence shows VR technology’s promise in teaching and learning, there are many challenges it needs to overcome when applied in education. The challenges include the technology, its application in teaching, and the learners’ experience. These challenges could be applied to VR for corporate training as well. Specifically, according to Liu et al. (2017), the challenges are:
FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF PRODUCT TECHNOLOGIES
• Controlling device cost and improving portability. To develop more portable and cheap devices and connect VR devices with modern communication terminals like smart phones, which can be applied in mobile learning.
• The improvement of environment simulations. To improve the product’s accuracy, reaction speed and presenting various feedback information including the sense of touch, force and smell, which can strengthen the sense of immersion.
• The improvement of interaction experience. To improve the experience between humans, devices and environments and develop the systemic social tools which make it easy to communicate in real-time, boosting cooperation among users. (p.123)
FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF TEACHING APPLICATION
• Certify system content and teaching strategy. To certify the teaching objects that fits the VR technology, design adequate system connects and explore the effective teaching strategies and principles in VR learning environment.
• The avoidance of cognitive overload. Cognitive overload should be fully considered when constructing a virtual learning environment. Both the scene design and the organization of learning materials will avoid causing overload on cognition.
• The supervision and evaluation of learning effects. To stress on the tracking, supervision and evaluation of the learning behaviors in a VR learning environment. Furthermore, more strict empirical researches should be conducted focusing on the teaching effects of this technology. (p.123)
FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF DIMENSION OF LEARNERS’ EXPERIENCE
• The reduction of difficulty in using technology. To provide relevant training for teachers and students about technology use and operation. Also, the expansibility of products should be improved, and the users are allowed to edit and regulate the content by themselves.
• Adapting to identity transformation and promoting identity. To help students adapt to the identity transfer in the VR environment better and to further motivate the learners’ interests in participating in learning activities through improving the identity of virtual avatars.
• The protection of the privacy and data of users. In the open VR platforms, the protection and security of personal information matters a lot. The industrial standards about product development and opening should be regulated. (p.124)
6. PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH THE TECHNOLOGY
INTERVIEW WITH THOMAS KAUER
Thomas Kauer is an instructional designer at Tesla whose job is mostly to design instructor-led training and online learning management systems based in Articulate. He is specialized in VR and has successfully convinced the company to let him lead a team to build a sample VR simulation for corporate training.
In the interview, Kauer illustrated the reasons why he decided to choose VR as the medium for his training. He asserted that XR, particularly VR, is incredibly useful during Covid-19 because it is able to train people unaffected by the pandemic restrictions. Kauer predicts that VR can be used to increase the safety and quality of his training, decrease onboarding time, and provide metrics that can be analyzed for just-in-time intervention by enabling practice and hands-on engagement using multiple modalities, experiential learning, constructionism, constructivism, and highly contextualized learning.
When he talked about the strengths and limits of VR for training, he mentioned that VR can be engaging and contextualized. It can provide an environmental context which will let users familiarize themselves with an environment or situation before they go there, which reduces the cognitive load later at work. However, he pointed out that it is dangerous if the training leads to a false impression of muscle memory. For example, if the trainees only learn the scope and sequence for installing a part but neglect the impact of using powerful tools, it might increase the risk of injury. Kauer suggested that having a human trainer who can monitor and prepare the trainees for the haptic components is critical to prevent this kind of misunderstanding. Furthermore, Kauer indicated that factors including a lack of clear return in investment data, a stakeholder sense that VR is the future instead of now, previous poor experience with motion sickness, and poor implementation of the technology could hinder the widespread adoption of the technology.
INTERVIEW WITH SUSAN SPARK
In April 2019, Susan Spark became the learning technology manager of Schlumberger, the largest provider of technology to the energy sector. She is responsible for the learning ecosystem that involves creating, delivering, and tracking traditional and non-traditional learning in the organization.
VR has served as the central part of her learning strategy. Spark maintained that it is critical to know the learning objectives, do the analysis and understand human behaviors behind the training for any VR training to be successful. According to her, “anything that goes into the traditional instructional design needs to go into the VR world as well.” Spark’s team has a good relationship with the School of Modeling Simulation and Training at the University of Central Florida, who has helped them to understand the best strategies to combine VR with learning science, and has developed VR training content for Spark’s team.
It is common for Schlumberger to prepare their employees to work in environments that are rare and high-risk, such as having a hurricane on an offshore drilling platform. The environments Schlumberger deals with are often remote, inconvenient, expensive, or sometimes even impossible to access for training. Considering the advantages of VR, Spark believes that it would be a good solution to Schlumberger’s problem. She mentioned that due to the Covid-19, they are currently looking to leverage the accessible and scalable components of the VR training, after Schlumberger shut down the four learning centers in which VR courses are usually held. The approach of Spark’s team is similar to competency-based instructional design--Their goal is to have a simulation that the rest of the industry would buy-in to.
To make the VR training more scalable, Spark proposes the concept of maintaining an “asset library,” enabling training designers to reuse existing assets for different purposes. They decided to keep their VR development in-house, as the company already had a large number of available 3D assets. By working with the experts inside the company, they not only save a huge amount of money on revisions, but also own the source code.
A barrier Spark encountered was network access and security; External platforms that host VR resources can be a potential risk to a private network. The sustainability of the VR hardware and code may also be a difficult task due to the fast-paced advancement of the technology. Spark expressed her concerns about the nature of the data, such as biometrics, that can be collected by VR hardware companies now or in the near future that go beyond the data privacy guidelines currently in place. She believes that data privacy, the ethical use of the data, and the ethical use of the technology are things that can ultimately impact the ability of VR technology to scale. Another potential barrier that could hinder the scalability is that VR hardware might not fit everyone. A good example is the Teslasuit--a suit that provides haptic feedback to the body when the users are in VR. However, people who have unique body types, have electrical devices implanted inside the body, or have health issues are not able to use the gear.
7. OVERALL ASSESSMENT OF THE TECHNOLOGY
Kauer and Spark’s experiences with VR in training are mostly aligned with the analysis of the technology above. As pioneers who are using VR in corporate training, they are both excited and careful in the design process. I believe that in the future, VR technology will be gradually perfected, standardized, and normalized in people’s daily life. At the same time, the promising outcome of VR training will make more companies aware of VR’s advantages in training.
The nature of immersion makes VR technology transformative to the world of corporate training. It can improve the efficiency of training by providing engaging and contextualized learning environments in which trainees can learn by doing, practice tasks repeatedly, and receive immediate feedback from the environment to improve their performance. These factors are essential to induce trainees’ transfer of knowledge and skills to the workplace, which is often lacking in traditional training methods. VR training also allows companies to prevent danger, risks, inconvenience, and expensive costs if they send the unprepared employees to the frontlines of work to gain hands-on experiences.
VR is capable of implementing the training at scale because it requires fewer resources than traditional training methods. Furthermore, VR training tends to be easy to replicate and delivered massively without losing the impact of the training. VR technology is suitable for remote training, especially when face-to-face instruction is inconvenient or inaccessible. When users interact in VR, they can improve their communication and collaboration skills and make connections with coworkers to build a sense of community.
However, there are still many challenges that need to be addressed in the application of VR to training at scale. To widely adopt VR in training, it is necessary to develop VR hardware that is cheaper, more portable, and has advanced capabilities to support better environment simulation and interaction experience. During the design of the VR training, it is important to certify the teaching objects, system contents, and teaching strategies to fit the VR technology. It is also important to avoid cognitive overload and provide opportunities for supervision and evaluation of learning outcomes. From the perspective of the learners, the technology needs to be easy to use, adapt to identity transformation and promote identity, and to regulate the industry standards about product development to protect the privacy and data of users.
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