If you were to type out “virtual training” or “e-learning” on your search bar this very moment, immense information pops up, which may initially seem overwhelming or even daunting.
Virtual is a word that we’d hear more often, more so since the majority of us are under house arrest due to a virus. It’s becoming more and more of a norm, however, doesn’t this make you wonder where it began and where it’s headed now?
Brief History
It is fascinating how far back the history of virtual training dates; we are talking back to the 1800s. In the year 1892, the University of Chicago established distance learning on a college-level and had used the US Postal Service for course correspondence, later progressed to doing live shows on the radio in 1921 and televised broadcasts in 1963.
The ’60s brought about a massive surge in distance learning with linked computer terminals where students gained access to course materials and recorded lectures which later advanced into PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching) and created numerous concepts of social networking that we perceive today. For a further read, lightbulbmoment.info has a captivating illustration of the history of the virtual classroom.
Virtual Training and Industries
The reality is that countless businesses and industries felt the impact of COVID-19. Some businesses were so devastated that they were almost immediately wiped out overnight (including companies that have been around longer than one can remember), however, some learned to adapt and move with the wave rather than drown; employees start working from home, with it came a rapid increase of online jobs creating a 2nd or even 3rd stream of income for people.
Virtual Training brought with it a possibility to improve employee performance and result in high productivity, an interesting article on trainingmag.com puts beautifully the impact virtual reality training has on industries. It mentions the potentiality of Virtual reality training can provide organizations by constructing storylines in which workers can learn from by doing with zero consequence allowing them to learn from the mistakes they made.
3 Industries that can benefit from Virtual Training
1.Healthcare
Healthcare practitioners require hands-on experience but it’s quite impossible to be knowledgeable on everything. This is where virtual training comes in handy, medical professionals can be taught the vast medical procedures with minimum risk involved and learn how to better take care of patients.
- Cost reduction.
- Decreased training time.
- Easy to update and expand.
- Rapid employee orientation.
For a more visual experience, here is a link to a youtube video that gives you a glimpse of what VR training can do and will do for medical education, and for more detailed insight, you’ll find a TEDx talk given by Dr. Justin Barad on advanced surgical training with virtual reality to be informative and humorous.
2.Manufacturing
In manufacturing, a mistake can be very costly or have dire consequences. Instances like an employee may not entirely be familiar with certain machinery and potentially leading to injury, not a very good look. Virtual Training then steps in by creating the opportunity to master operating equipment and follow instructions and monitor progress, preventing future accidents and possible fatalities.
Benefits include:
- Extends across the Skill Set Gap
- Lessens time to competency
- Increased employee participation and retention
- Lowered financial impact
CNBC has a noteworthy piece on why Microsoft uses Virtual Reality Headsets to train workers and for a deeper comprehension of the benefits of Virtual Training in the manufacturing industry, click here.
3.Law enforcement
Needless to say, being a law enforcer means that your life’s on the line every time you are on duty and this raises the question of just how adequately is one trained to handle any task that may arise? VR training empowers the professional to gain real-life situations without pressing danger as well as minimizing the harm that may be caused to civilians nearby.
Benefits include:
- Elevates community education
- Refines police training
- Simulations are closer to being realistic rather than staged
In New York, police officers are being trained for active shootings and real-life scenarios providing the necessary skills and knowledge to better handle various conditions. Interestingly, law enforcers are not only being trained to deal with just life-threatening situations but also how to effectively deal with civilians who suffer from autism and de-escalate situations that could quickly go wrong.
Vast industries have begun introducing or are gaining the sense of Virtual Training for their respective fields and if you’ve been bitten by the curiosity bug, click here to know what those industries are.
Virtual Training and Simulation Market size
The Virtual Training and Simulation Market size is vastly expanding, according to alliedmarketresearch.com the market size was valued at $204.41 billion in 2019, and is projected to reach $601.85 billion by 2027 as more and more industries become affluent with virtual training. The rise in awareness regarding virtual training and simulation positively drives the virtual training and simulation market growth.
Conclusion
The future of Virtual training is undeniably extraordinary, it’s caused both amazing and uncomfortable changes in lives that however prove necessary for growth, and as it evolves, so do we. COVID-19 may have brought about panic and dismay but it also brought the opportunity to discover new ways to adapt as humans, to uncover new thinking patterns, and re-invent our ways. It also brought forward technological adaptations that were projected to be far into the future due to slow pop culture change. Virtual training is one such thing that has been accelerated into the present and won’t be going away any time soon.
written by: Xola Mthembu, Brand Marketing Analyst Intern at IIDM™ (https://thedigitalmarketinginstitute.org/)