Virtual Reality - the next, most significant L&D innovation

If you have been reading and watching news about Oculus VR, the company acquired by Facebook, its massive application to a range of sectors beyond games or movies is earning rapid recognition by many business sectors, not least by L&D. This was and is, Mark Zuckerberg’s intention - to make Oculus a platform for many other experiences, including studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world just by putting on goggles in your home. Zuckerberg thinks that “one day, we believe this kind of immersive, augmented reality will become a part of daily life for billions of people.” As a learning provider, I especially like his reference to the ‘classroom of students’ as it shows he sees the potential for VR’s uptake in the learning environment, whether it’s a school classroom or professional workplace training.

In a report by Markets and Markets the global augmented reality market in 2014 was valued at USD 1.72 Billion USD and is expected to reach a staggering USD 56.8 Billion by 2020. This prediction is down to the fact that as a consequence of AR’s increased attention and uptake by the retail, e-commerce, architecture, and medical sectors to name but a few, so this will only serve as a significant confidence drive for the wider L&D space to look at its use and effectiveness for how professional learning can be even more effectively delivered. It’s gamification on a whole new level. 

Next generation technologies which feature virtual and augmented reality will give learners even more complex and authentic interactions not only with regard to physical and cognitive authenticity, but the ability to embed learning and training experiences into the real world, not vice versa. They mark a shift in how learning is being delivered; it is being made more fun, more interactive, more relevant and more powerful.