Implementation is all about preparation. To properly implement VR training in your organization, it's important to prepare the following:
- Devices - decide, manage and maintain.
- Trainees - inform, engage and discuss.
- Teamwork - promote, include and manage users.
📱 Devices
There are multiple questions to be answered when preparing devices for VR training, such as:
- Which devices will you use?
- Will you supply trainees with devices or will they use their own?
- Do you have the right software?
- How will you manage and maintain the devices?
Our research so far shows that around 60% of all training attempts are in VR headsets, 30% on smartphones and only 10% on tablets and desktop. 🤯
Deciding which devices to use depends on a couple of factors, including desired impact, the number of trainees and your budget.
🤔 How to opt for the right devices
The realistic experience VR headsets offer result in a bigger impact than with other devices. However, it might be difficult to supply one to each trainee, so it's important to know the number of trainees to be trained and your VR training budget. 💰
For larger training groups, you will most likely need to use other devices as well: smartphones, tablets or desktop. In this case, trainees won’t fully experience virtual reality, but these devices are more affordable and available at any time anywhere.
Some of our clients supply each employee with foldable VR headsets (cardboards), which are affordable and also raise awareness of the environment and sustainability. ♻️
🖥 Combine devices
It is always possible to use multiple devices of different kinds and mix the way our tool is used. For example:
- Do the training in a kick-off class session by sharing devices.
- Give trainees the possibility to train in their own way: At home on their mobile phone, in the office on a tablet or VR headsets, etc. Discuss each experience later in class.
- After a few weeks from playing a scenario, test trainees’ knowledge and send them a new scenario on their phones, where they can apply the knowledge from the previous scenario in new situations.
🛠 Device management
Having a stable and fast internet connection is also very important. 🌐 Our platform offers offline playability, but we strongly advise that devices are either connected at all times, or at least once a month. This ensures all training data is being synchronized with Warp Studio and your device has the latest app updates. Scenarios might not play properly or at all on a device that is not updated. Also, don’t forget to charge your devices! 🔋
To make sure your devices are always properly taken care of, we advise to use an MDM (mobile device manager). 💡
🛀🏽 Device hygiene
Lastly, hygiene of your devices is important, which is something many overlook. VR headsets use a soft cushioning which is ok when using a headset individually but when used as a shared device among multiple people, it is not realistic to constantly wash the cushioning between sessions. Luckily, a hygiene VR spray and hygiene VR covers exist! For more on the topic, check this page.
👥 Trainees
Next you define the trainee workflow and journey:
- Where will the training take place?
- Will it be held during or after working hours?
- Will you blend VR training with other types of training and how?
- At which point do trainees expect questions and how do we handle them?
👩🏻🔬 Mix learning methods
You can achieve different methods for VR training by mixing offline and online experiences.
🏫 You can either implement the whole training experience directly in a training classroom or do the VR training remotely and then have an online meeting to discuss experiences.
👩🏻💻 You can have one group of trainees learn via e-learning and another via VR training. This can later fuel discussions about trainees’ experience, choices made, learning preferences, etc.
To deepen the discussions, have a reflection session. Ask your trainees:
- What did you find out about yourself today?
- What did you find you do already well and what will you do differently?
- What will you stop, continue and start?
💡 Look at the current training strategy in your company and think about how they can be blended with and aided by VR to put theory into practice. Check this example for blends of different methods.
🔬 Include an evaluation period with some of your colleagues, because this can give you a feeling of how the training might go once shared with all the trainees and will help you understand the whole experience better. Check our example questions to ask your colleagues for better evaluation!
🤝 Teamwork
How do you spread the word in your company about VR training? 📢
🧚🏼♀️ Make sure to first have a team of colleagues that support this project. User management might be helpful, by assigning roles to each team member that will have specific tasks to make this project a success. For example, point out champions within the team that will be part of the scenario creation and roll-out, and inspire others in the company to play VR training.
A few additional ideas to spread the word on the marketing side are kick-off sessions with everyone, videos, emails, or an intranet.
If you need additional assistance in figuring out the best way to implement VR training, we can help you with our implementation workshop!