For the longest time, virtual reality was viewed as a visual enhancement technology — a souped-up video display of sorts. This changed in the 1970s, when the military, particularly the Air Force, discovered that VR could be used for training new recruits. This immediately opened up new avenues for the technology. Innovators realized that VR could be used to deliver heightened experiences that contributed to increased engagement for all sorts of trainees.
Over the last decade, VR has been widely adopted across industries to deliver superior immersion for learners and students. It’s quickly becoming a mainstream technology to boost training for everyone from athletes to military personnel, medical professionals, industrial workers, and more.
However, VR is much more versatile than that. It’s worth exploring the immense benefits of deploying VR for non-physical training, such as with software, and other experiences in a range of spaces. Here’s how VR can be leveraged for purposes outside of physical instruction.
Why VR Is Ideal for Training
VR is, at its heart, a way to recreate physical environments and objects in a virtual setting. When the simulation is realistic enough, i.e., it’s able to mimic the real-life situation with high accuracy, it can deliver the kind of experiences a user would expect to have when exposed to that environment in real life.
There are a host of benefits to using VR for training and instruction in different industries:
- Immersive Environment: Fully interactive VR simulations have the ability to completely immerse users into the learning process. This offers a much more engaging experience than conventional methods, such as textbook or even online video-led learning.
Consider a police officer’s training regimen. Instead of relying on a manual to grok regulations and protocols, a VR simulation can recreate those physical situations for the cadets, allowing them to learn by doing. This also helps them build up muscle memory which can be crucial for high-pressure situations when the officer has to react with agility and precision.
- Customization: VR is a very versatile tool. It can be fully customized to practically any use case, including everything from emergency responder situations to VR software training.
- Cost: it can prove much more cost-effective to train users via VR simulations than to place them in those actual physical settings. This is particularly true for applications such as military and industrial manufacturing.
- Performance Tracking: Another reason VR is such a popular instructional tool is that it allows you to precisely track trainee progress. Quality VR programs can provide you with granular performance metrics and help you identify exactly where there’s room for improvement.
Using VR for Non-Physical Training and Experiences
VR is a very versatile technology and has the capacity to enhance a multitude of experiences for users, outside of physical training.
1. Software Training
VR can be a very useful tool to train people to use complex software. This is particularly true for enterprise applications, such as accounting software and Adobe Illustrator, but also includes mission-critical systems, such as air traffic control software, utility systems, and insurance and liability quoting software.
If users make a misstep in using these systems, the ramifications can be huge. Using VR for software training can help mitigate those risks and allow your employees to learn in a safe environment.
2. Online Education
VR can prove invaluable for educators in helping their students learn better. They can create more meaningful lessons, allowing students a measure of practical application in a virtual setting that is usually impossible with conventional learning. VR technology can provide a 360-degree view of concepts and help deeply immerse the learners in the lesson, improving the rate and quality of knowledge transfer.
VR also tends to lead to a higher retention rate, given its experiential moorings. This ensures that your students are better able to apply the skills they’ve picked in a VR classroom.
3. Visualizing Intangible Constructs
One of the more innovative uses of VR is to visualize the intangibles that affect our lives. For example, VR can help envision soundwaves, such as omnidirectional, cardioid, and shotgun.
The applications of visible sound are immense. For example, it can be used to study the acoustics of musical instruments, allowing you to build perfectly optimized instruments. It can be used to assess vibrations generated by heavy machinery and identify spots that need improvement. Visible sound can also help analyze the effects of sound waves on the human body. VR can help visualize all of these and more.
4. Sports
While VR is widely used for training by all sorts of athletes, there is a lot the technology can do to improve the fan experience. VR headsets can help viewers at home experience the match as if they were right at the stadium. It can immerse them in the game and even allow for collective participation with their friends who are at home using their own VR headsets.
5. Entertainment
VR, in addition to augmented reality and mixed reality, is one of the most exciting additions to the entertainment industry. VR can help virtually transport people to locations, such as a nightclub, museum, or even a theme park, allowing users to experience those locations from a distance.
It’s quickly becoming a staple in the film industry, where fans and audiences are treated to exciting experiences that use VR. The Cannes Film Festival was one of the earliest adopters of VR in 2016 when it became the first to broadcast promos and VR shorts within a dedicated VR section.
Partner With Award-Winning VR Training Software Developers
King Crow Studios is an industry leader in the VR software development space. Our programs are used by organizations like Fortune 500 enterprises and the U.S. Air Force and Space Force to train their employees. Our platforms are deploy-ready systems that can be fully tailored to practically any industry use case, within weeks if necessary. Our clients have relied on our VR training software to slash training time by as much as 95%. Reach out to us to schedule a consultation or to book a demo for our training simulations.