Technology is constantly evolving, touching every aspect of our modern world. Educators and organizations of all kinds adapt to keep up with these changes, seeking to square the circle of providing tried-and-true learning opportunities like hands-on training while embracing the potential that technology has to offer. Virtual reality (VR) skills training can be a powerful complement to a robust skilled trades program, helping shape learners’ experiences in ways that were once unimaginable. While there’s no substitute for hands-on training in a lab setting, VR offers a multifaceted approach to learning that empowers instructors and engages students, helping them build the confidence and competence in the skills they’ll need on their educational journeys.
Hands-on training in industries like advanced manufacturing, construction, and healthcare comes with risks for novices and organizations alike. While there’s value in learning about a circular saw, a handheld grinder, or dealing with bloodborne pathogens from lectures or reading, VR training introduces concepts and safety procedures via immersive experiences that can better prepare learners for hands-on training in a zero-risk setting.
VR delivers personalized training experiences
Understanding the day-to-day tasks and vital skills of a job when enrolled in a career and technical education (CTE) program always involves hands-off learning. However, many educators have moved beyond worksheets or pen-and-paper activities, embracing more interactive learning styles. VR skills training continues this trend towards higher interactivity by bringing fundamental elements of career training to learners in concise, efficient, engaging simulations. This foundation gives the student a clearer vision of what they’ll see and do when moving into live lab work. In the battle for student engagement, the allure of a VR headset can also be a way for educators to meet students where their technological interests are.
In CTE programs that involve advanced manufacturing, automotive, construction, or healthcare, adding VR can boost student engagement, interest, and learning. In many lab settings, the physical limitations of equipment are a factor: For instance, in an auto lab, there’s a limit on how many learners can work on a single vehicle at one time (or even stand around it observing). Compare this with VR, where each student has a virtual car to work on and an engaging digital coach to guide them. Additionally, resources may be scarce due to rising costs, but VR can provide an unlimited number of immersive experiences (that don’t require consumable supplies) for learners.
“Transfr gives students a chance to really test out new jobs and do something hands-on and learn a little bit more about the job, rather than just reading, writing, or hearing about it,” says Brian Davis, Director of Career Readiness at Union County Public Schools. “They’re actually getting to do and test it out. The Transfr experience can encourage kids to take their interest a step further. It creates excitement in learning.”
VR provides instructors with additional support
The measure of an education system’s effectiveness is the success of the students moving through it; however, VR skills training not only benefits students but educators as well. A common misconception about VR is that it replaces the human experience in the classroom. What it actually does is increase the amount of personalized learning students can get with the aid of a built-in digital coach, essentially adding another subject matter expert to the classroom. Educators have the opportunity to split a classroom in half, for a mixed learning experience where one half of the class prepares for hands-on learning through VR while the other half works with the educator or trainer before rotating learning experiences.
Educators can easily understand student progress via a dashboard that tracks skill mastery levels and highlights student strengths and challenges: If a student is having problems checking vital signs in a Virtual Healthcare Clinic simulation, but excels measuring and recording oral liquid intake or if another learner is thriving in using a caliper and understanding fractional math rules but is struggling on blueprint reading, the educator or trainer can adjust lesson planning to ensure each student has the opportunity to grow where they need to and move on when mastery is complete.
When it comes to career education, safety is the number one priority. As students begin to realize what life after graduation may look like, VR allows them to “fail safely” when trying new things or when considering career paths. Everyone starts out as a novice when learning a new skill and mistakes are bound to happen, but just as VR can help ease resource budgets, it also reduces safety liabilities by allowing students to operate in an immersive virtual environment that replicates what they will see or do in real life, with no risk of injury to themselves or others (or damaging equipment, etc.). A mistake using dangerous equipment in the real world may be catastrophic, but in VR, risk is minimal. Errors made while working with patients in a VR healthcare setting do not result in real-world consequences.
Personalized training that’s a combination of real world and virtual content creates a learning experience that sets students up for success. In many instances, students can’t visualize a career path or task expectation from classroom experiences alone, but in a VR environment, students are able to see, feel, and better understand where a lesson is trying to take them. For students with a variety of learning or attention challenges, the removal of outside stimuli such as peers, classroom decorations, or stray thoughts can help them enjoy a more focused training experience.
“Students get pretty excited after they understand just what Transfr can do,” says John Bratton, an instructor at Arkansas State University (ASU) Three Rivers. “Once they understand the depth of the simulations within each occupation, they’re excited to use classroom sets and really dive in.”
Simulated hands-on training, real results
VR learning and training offers experiences schools may be unable to provide due to lack of resources, location, or availability of instructors. VR can help instructors vary lesson plans with less work on their end, drive student engagement, and help boost CTE enrollment. With a multifaceted approach to learning in VR, students retain more knowledge than from lectures, bookwork, videos, and hands-on experiences alone. The combination of learning styles in one location means students are more engaged, retain more information, and are more likely to succeed in course work.
Education continues to evolve. VR isn’t looking to replace instructors but rather to give them another tool that students can relate to. This emerging technology can serve as a bridge between conventional book-based learning and practical, real-world hands-on experiences. When deftly integrated into a robust curriculum, VR can bolster the effectiveness of other teaching methods, even as it departs from conventional instructor-led training methods.
VR experiences increase the visibility of career pathways and learning opportunities so that by the time a learner leaves an educational institution, they’re more prepared for life after graduation. VR training may not seem equal to “real” hands-on training, but learners develop genuine muscle memory by performing tasks in VR, showing that VR learning may be the ultimate companion to real world hands-on training.
“Lasting growth means engaging students early, building accurate and tangible awareness, correcting perceptions and ensuring students have experiences that will guide them throughout their education,” says Joe Rollins, Workforce Development Director for Northwest Arkansas Council. “Transfr absolutely does that.”
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