Have you ever been told to “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes?” It can be so hard to break out of our own perspective and see how a newcomer might view the same experiences or workplace culture. Historically, we’ve only been able to escape our point of view in books or movies, and rarely does that change in perspective stick.
With the emergence of virtual reality (VR), soon you’ll be able to see the world from many new perspectives. VR simulates environments both realistic and fantastical. Everyone faces their own unique set of challenges, and it can be difficult to understand just how our actions are perceived by everyone in the room. If you’re the youngest employee, your ideas may be looked down upon; if you’re the oldest employee, people might be afraid to give you real feedback; either way, both of these people may feel left out.
The use of VR allows you to see the world from a whole new perspective. Thanks to this technology becoming more affordable and easier to use, its applications are rapidly expanding. Unlike other emerging technology, there is much more to virtual reality than entertaining games — the technology provides a chance to learn in a totally new way.
VR training and development have shown participants are 4x more focused and 3.75x more emotionally connected to content than classroom learners. Additionally, training through virtual reality modules is shown to be 4x faster than traditional classroom instruction, reducing time learning and increasing confidence in applying skills by 275% (PWC study, 2021).
Virtual reality simulations drop participants into new worlds, seemingly taking over their senses. You’re no longer in a classroom, but rather in an emergency room diagnosing a patient or learning how to fly a plane without ever leaving the ground. While this type of training has previously been used by medical students and pilots, it has recently made its way into corporate training too.
Participants can gain knowledge and learn both hard and soft skills to better perform their job duties in the real world. For example, navigating conversations in an office environment can be tricky, and having the language to talk about these is essential to changing behavior. Learning how to handle stressful situations in an environment where participants are allowed to fail gives them a chance to ask questions and critically think about the consequences of each action they may take. In VR simulations, you don’t read a response but have a sense of presence, picking up on one’s tone of voice and body language to read the room.
The aim of any educational experience is to provide knowledge that students and participants can then transfer to real-world problems. It’s not enough to just provide good information, good instructional design must engage its audience to take action.
In our newest set of VR simulations, our goal is to provide participants a way to practice identifying issues as they arise, and the confidence to address these issues respectfully to promote a more equitable workplace. As the education producer at Reese Innovation Lab, I work alongside subject matter experts and apply current research regarding online learning to create impactful corporate training.
Over the next few months, we are partnering with Morgan Stanley and Kenan-Flagler Business School to create an interactive curriculum to improve the understanding and application of diversity, equity, and inclusion principles. In many office environments, these topics come up when something has already gone wrong. What if we could empower individuals to intervene at the point of conflict, instead of going through HR mediation weeks later? How much more inclusive would those meetings be?
Virtual reality technology literally puts you in another person’s shoes. This change of perspective leads to a better understanding of one another and a more empathetic workplace. If we want our workforce to understand one another, then we need a tool to give them the entire experience, not just a lecture.
