Just like every other aspect of the world is becoming more and more interconnected, so is the workplace setting.

Thanks to immersive technologies, like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), both of which are becoming more readily available and affordable, the number of organizations that will be able to make use of the vast benefits that they provide will start to increase. This is definitely good news, especially considering the fact that today’s workforce is begging for more advanced training and skills development. In fact, employees are literally walking off jobs with companies that aren’t meeting these needs.

Companies have taken notice of the needs of their workers and the ways in which immersive technology – specifically AR and VR – can meet their needs and improve their overall success. 

If you’re one of the companies that are considering adopting this type of technology into your workplace as a way to teach vital skills, you’re probably wondering how you can get the most value from the technology. You’re also likely wondering how you can make the most of this, both from a cost standpoint and for the overall benefit of your employees and your company as a whole.

More Cost-Effective than Ever Before

Augmented reality, virtual reality, and other types of technologies that offer 360-degree imagery and videos are becoming increasingly more affordable; however, it wasn’t always. In fact, in the not-too-distant past, in order to use these tools, extensive infrastructure, keen insight, and dedicated support personnel that were highly astute in the ways of using these technologies were necessary. As a result, to say that the cost of using AR, VR, and other similar tools was exorbitant is an understatement.

Due to the advances in technology, augmented and virtual reality has become a lot more attainable from a cost perspective. It’s become much more affordable to produce, purchase, publish, and use in today’s highly interconnected society.

Production is More Affordable

Not only has technology become more monetarily affordable; it’s also become a lot more affordable in regard to the time that it takes to develop and use AR and VR.

A highly skilled designer, coupled with an extremely knowledgeable expert in the material that is being developed, can design this type of immersive technology in as little as a day! That time period comprises capturing the subject matter with an advanced camera, the price of which has also become more affordable.

Consumption is Cost-Effective, Too

The eyewear that’s used to view augmented and virtual reality, as well as 360-degree videos, is quite inexpensive to produce. In fact, it only costs about $10 to develop the specialized goggles that users can then connect to their smart devices. At that price, the cost of consuming the content presented by this type of immersive technology is quite affordable. Plus, it’s a great way to get employees excited about learning new skills, and really engages them in the learning process.

Publishing is Also Affordable

The tools that are used to publish virtual reality and augmented reality are more affordable than ever before, too. These tools make it possible to export the content that has been produced to virtually any type of learning management platform. As such, virtual reality and augmented reality activities have the ability to be tracked and managed with other online tools that are used for teaching employees new skills.

A partnership between AR/VR and xAPI

It’s certainly exciting that augmented reality and virtual reality learning is being used in a multitude of industries. Hospitals, technology companies, government entities, public sectors, and private corporations, such as restaurants, are using this type of technology. However, it’s exciting to think that there are even more innovative tools to come in the future as virtual reality, augmented reality, and xAPI work together.

Experience API often referred to simply as “xAPI” is a learning standard that’s designed to record, expand, and eventually replace older standards. xAPI makes it possible to track the detail of AR and VR technologies from a learning standpoint.

Additionally, it’s easy for developers to utilize virtual reality and augmented reality and incorporate it into their content. With the collaboration of xAPI, the ability to track the content, as well as assessments and other types of data.

How to Make the Most of Immersive Technology for Skills Training

Now that you know how cost-effective augmented and virtual reality are, you’re probably wondering how to go about making the most of these technologies for skills training. While you can certainly simply present the technology to your workforce, if you want to see the best results possible and ensure that they are truly engaged, you’re going to want to make efforts to make the most of it.

How can you do that? Here are some tips to keep in mind:

• Ask for input. When you’re developing your content, ask your employees for their input. What do they want to learn? What are they hoping to achieve? Keep that information in mind and try to blend it with the information that you need to teach.
  
  
• Get them excited. Your employees are bound to be more excited when they see that you’re offering a more interactive way for them to learn new skills, outside of the humdrum lectures, videos, handouts, and presentations. But you can get them even more excited by hosting meetings or dropping information in their inboxes or the break room that highlights the use of the technology and what it’s going to be teaching them.
  
  
• Be a part of the program. Your employees will be even more motivated when they see that you’re a part of the training program, too! Put on a headset yourself and learn alongside your staff. Have open dialogues at the end of each training program. Share your input, and welcome theirs.

AR and VR offer tremendous opportunities for learning in the workplace. By making the most of this technology, you can really garner impressive results.