Where VR meets education: blended learning environments
With the emergence of the Metaverse in popular culture, extended reality (XR) is transforming the future, and the education industry is no exception. Immersive environments provide real-world educational experiences that are otherwise inaccessible to learners. Here at UNC Blue Sky, we are leveraging virtual reality (VR) environments for organizational learning and development (L&D) through IDEA VR. Our curriculum uses evidence-based, experiential learning for diversity, equity, and inclusion in corporate settings. Users are immersed in a series of lessons aimed at addressing common workplace conflicts to encourage inclusive practices. It is crucial for instructional designers to consider the unique conditions of VR in creating an effective blended learning environment like IDEA.
Contextualization and User Research
Each lesson simulates a specific workplace conflict that impacts a traditionally marginalized group. For example, Episode 1 encourages inclusive work practices for interacting with pregnant employees. To simulate realistic and practical scenarios, our team works with organizational content experts to provide valuable contextual information. This practice serves to set our scenes — who is there, how they behave, what they are saying, etc. — but also to empathize with learners who will navigate the lessons. This requires empathy mapping to consider the user’s lived experiences and how this will impact their learning environment. What are the concerns, needs, and values of learners? What obstacles do they face? How will these considerations impact their learning experience? These insights enable IDEA to provide tailored and responsive lessons to meet learning objectives.
Productive Failure
Throughout the lessons, users are presented with different choices to respond to the situation at hand. Will they ignore the exclusive behaviors of their colleagues? Will they speak privately with their colleague to remedy the situation? Once the learner selects their choice, the simulation resumes the remainder of the scene according to the chosen action. There is a right answer that most emulates inclusive work practices, but the learner’s agency to choose their action is valuable even if they choose a “wrong answer.” IDEA’s pedagogy is rooted in productive failure, meaning the learner has the freedom to explore a problem without having learned the content they are examining. If they “fail,” or choose an incorrect action, they will receive an explanation as to why another answer was more appropriate in alignment with inclusive practices.
Failure in the context of workplace interactions is not necessarily deliberate, but the pressure of failing publicly can prevent impactful learning. Productive failure in VR eliminates blame. Learners can make mistakes in the privacy of the simulation without harming anyone in the process.
Interface
Effective learning environments are navigationally simple and user-friendly. IDEA VR provides an intuitive user experience with a simple interface and guided directives. We have also developed a User Protocol Guide which describes common technical issues, the handling of devices, and an overview of the experience from start to finish. These scaffolds are meant to enhance the user’s comfort for optimized learning.
Ethical Considerations
Anticipating challenges within the blended learning environment is crucial for mitigation. Here are a few strategies IDEA VR uses to preserve the experience quality:
Microlessons
Each lesson has an average run-time of ten minutes, and ideally, the entire set of lessons is completed over time rather than in one sitting. This is a strategy to decrease the likelihood of user cybersickness. Extended use of Head Mounted Displays (HMD) can cause eye strain, headaches, motion sickness, and visual discomfort. These side effects run the risk of negatively impacting cognitive load, or how much information the user can absorb from the lesson. Microlessons enable the learner to take breaks while using the HMD. Learners have space to reflect on their answers and share their insights with the group in bite-sized learning experiences. The simulated environment is stable and regulated to require minimal movement of the user to reduce symptoms of cybersickness.
Personal Agency
IDEA learners have the agency to choose their answers anonymously. This approach allows the user to actively take part in decision-making as they navigate the lesson. Rather than telling the learner what the correct answer is outright, prioritizing the learner’s agency encourages exploration and personal investment in the learning experience. As of now, we do not collect data that reveals how users respond. This data could be useful to organizations that want to identify pain points or areas of needed additional training, but it is important to consider how this might impact the learner’s experience. If the learner is aware that their answers are recorded, this has the potential to apply pressure that obstructs productive failure and disclosure. This is especially a concern for sensitive and personal topics where learners fear judgment.
An effective blended learning environment must take all of these elements into consideration in order to augment and enhance L&D processes rather than hinder them. These points and more are carefully considered as IDEA develops in the future.
If you would like to learn more about IDEA VR, you can visit our website here.
