Augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Reality. These terms have become so common in the digital era — especially when we say enterprise training. We get it. The urge to step up your training game in these challenging times, with remote work being the new normal. But AR in corporate training platforms might not be suitable for all organizations. So why waste money on expensive gadgets and massive physical training space? Well, here are a few reasons:
In workplace training, AR can be used to: improve the onboarding process for new employees, in heavy machinery and equipment training to reduce the risk of injury, and enhance product service training and quality assessment.
Read this comprehensive blog about AR in enterprise training if your training truly needs it. However, be aware that this article is not attempting to wow you with heavy technical and corporate training words; instead, it is trying to describe the realities to give you a better image of which scenario best meets your training needs.
A Close Look at the Realities Surrounding AR in Enterprise Training
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are two methodologies that aim to achieve the same goal: temporarily change your Reality into something it isn’t. Besides these, a third Mixed Reality has recently appeared. Let’s look at the distinctions between the three before we get into how to use them for corporate training.
Virtual Reality
VR creates an immersive experience where the outside world is completely hidden from view. It makes use of VR headsets such as the HTC Vivi, Oculus Rift, Google Cardboard, and Valve Index.
Virtual reality isn’t a new concept; it’s been around for almost a decade. Still, only in the last several years have we seen organizations begin to consider adopting the technology. With the present worldwide epidemic, we’ve seen traditional training methods fall by the wayside as businesses close their classrooms and turn to online and virtual approaches. Because social distancing measures have impacted enterprises all around the world, it is no longer practical to have a classroom full of trainees.
Augmented Reality
On the other hand, rather than blocking the viewer’s view, Augmented Reality superimposes digital or virtual objects onto our natural world environment through a transparent screen, such as holograms or heads-up displays (HUD). AR devices are thinner, more compact, and can even take the form of ordinary glasses. We can even use them on our mobile devices.
Mixed Reality
Finally, Mixed Reality is a hybrid of virtual and augmented reality that displays holographic pictures and uses gesture and eye-tracking to allow the user to interact with them on a deeper level.
Which is the best among the three?
Augmented Reality is the best of the three for various forms of enterprise training. It can be dangerous for a VR user to wander around in the real world while wearing head-mounted displays that completely cover their view. However, AR allows the user to observe the natural environment, lowering the likelihood of unexpected stumbles, falls, or collisions while learning. Furthermore, superimposed images and media assets on real-world items have a higher memory rate than handouts or PowerPoint slides.
Businesses that have embraced this immersive technology recognize that it isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel. Instead, it wants to recreate real-world incidents in a secure, regulated virtual environment so that they can be replayed. It may be used in a wide range of sectors and niches, but it works best with jobs that are process-oriented and can be virtually mapped out. It gives trainees a first-hand view of the task they’ll be doing and challenges them to complete a full-fledged simulation that resembles the actual world. The alternatives for training kinds range from wearing protective equipment and PPE to performing basic maintenance and repair.
Reasons You Need To Look For Aged Care Training Courses
In Which Segments of Enterprise Training Can You Use AR?
New Employee Onboarding Training
What better method to acclimate new employees to the company than through Augmented Reality? AR onboarding is fascinating and unique, but it also dramatically decreases workload by letting the learners explore and learn simultaneously.
The user can gaze around while wearing AR glasses. Images, texts, and interactive media appear on the HUD, indicating which door leads to the manager’s office and the cafeteria. Each piece that the learner sees is placed on real-world items so that they appear to be overlapping. More advanced AR technology is also available, allowing for improved interaction with on-screen components and increased responsiveness.
Heavy Machinery Training
The risks associated with heavy machinery and equipment training can be considerably reduced with AR. AR is an appropriate tool to utilize in these circumstances because of its ability to overlay information realistically over natural physical environments and things. It’s no surprise that AR-assisted training is used in industries including agriculture, automobiles, oil and gas, mining, and construction.
AR allows the trainee to look at heavy equipment while information about its various components, such as a user manual and troubleshooting choices, appears wherever it is needed. Your employees will now be well aware of which buttons they should not press during training.
Training in Quality Assessment and Product Services
Quality assessment is another significant training area where AR may be pretty beneficial. When evaluating the quality of a product, your employees should know what to look for. AR can be a more helpful training aid than guidebooks or manuals in this situation.
In a recent study, motherboard assembly trainees were able to enhance their exam scores and performance time by 25% and 30%, respectively, using an intelligent tutoring system and AR. This example demonstrates AR’s utility in the realm of quality assurance training for both small and large machinery.
Employee Safety Training
Augmented Reality in employee safety training can drastically minimize operating expenses and training risks by generating safe simulations of dangerous scenarios. Creating realistic training scenarios can be both risky and costly. Furthermore, considering the importance of employee safety in corporate training, AR in training aids learners in remembering information better than any safety instruction booklet or PowerPoint presentation.
AR glasses can even track possible safety hazards or imitate actual risky situations for learners to interact with, comprehend, and learn using advanced machine learning systems and computer vision.
The Advantages of Using AR in Enterprise Training
When it comes to eLearning for business training, AR has a lot of potentials. Here’s how to do it.
Immersive Online Training with AR Simulations
Unlike traditional eLearning simulations, which can be distracting, AR simulations completely immerse the user audio-visually, increasing training outcomes.
Realistic Gamification of eLearning Courses
While gamification of eLearning courses has been a game-changer, incorporating gamification elements into AR-based training can improve results. The improvement happens by allowing the learners to physically experience rewards (points and badges) and even climb the leaderboard.
Assessments with Visual Feedback
With AR-based testing and assessment, learners not only conduct real-life tasks in a simulated environment for testing but their actions are also recorded for them to replay and detect missing steps and mistakes.
Advanced Learning Analytics
Tools like Microsoft HoloLens support eye-tracking, allowing you to scroll up and down with your eyes alone. AR-based training can provide accurate learning analytics, such as eye movements, indicating a focus of interest or conflict in the instruction.
Rounding it Up
Well, after reading this blog, you must indeed have gathered enough information about using AR in enterprise training. You can now easily make a case for incorporating AR (and VR) into your corporate training. That said, we also understand that you cannot spend all of your training budgets on VR headsets; they have to be applicable to your company.
According to a recent study, the AR market will reach and surpass $100 billion by 2021, with more corporations following in the footsteps of industry giants such as Boeing, Bosch, Ford, IKEA, NASA, DHL, and AUDI. Furthermore, Augmented and Virtual Reality is rapidly evolving technologies that have made possible what was before unthinkable. Imagine what these technologies and the businesses adopting them might be able to accomplish in five years!
