There are a lot of new technologies coming that can have a profound effect on learning ant trainings. Virtual and Augmented Reality tech are at the front of them.

VR and AR are going to open a lot of doors and have a true potential to change the way we learn new things. And not only because of the obvious. Yes, you could create a VR classroom hand bring people from all over the world to it for a unified experience.

And you can use AR to add interactive new options, information and so on to physical tasks. In theory, AR glasses could help a software dev by displaying additional info without the need of extra screens. Or they could be used in IT trainings to provide extra detail to labs and courses.

A Virtual Reality set could be used to create a virtual server room and carry out realistic exercises. The possibilities are endless and it all depends on the will and need of companies.

Time to play

But there’s more to AR and VR than realistic simulations. A growing trend in learning, especially e-learning, is gamification. This means that the learning process is mixed with gaming elements. They can be as basic as earning achievements. But they can also be more intricate in turning the whole learning process into a game. AR and VR are ideal for game based learning.

This a tedious server configuration training can be turned into an engaging team-based game. Play it a few times with colleagues and who knows, you just might find working with the server much easier later on. People have learned entire languages just by watching cartoons and playing, so it’s definitely possible.

Of course, this approach might not be suitable for everyone. People have different preferences in the ways they can learn new stuff. Such interactive trainings are also dependent on the type of material. They might not be as useful for the main training, but they would be great for supplemental and refreshing trainings later on.

The point is, when these technologies are mature enough and start making their way towards trainings, be ready to explore the ways you can utilize their full potential for your organization. The mixture of the AR and VR along with “corporate reality” and e-learning has a lot of potential and hopefully it won’t be neglected.

Image credit: Gabriel Cristóver Pérez/Knight Center (CC)