95 per cent of L&D practitioners in a new survey see virtual reality as the way to enhance their practice

Nine out of 10 organisations plan to use virtual reality for L&D, shows new research findings

The UK’s largest study into the use of virtual reality (VR) in learning, published today by learning and talent management provider Kallidus, shows VR has captured the imagination of L&D professionals and could prove to be the next big transformational learning technology.

The study reveals that 91 per cent of L&D professionals plan to use VR for learning in their organisation, with over a third planning to roll out VR over the next three years.    

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Kallidus surveyed over 200 learning L&D professionals to find out what they really think about using VR for learning. Ninety-five per cent of respondents said they see VR as being useful for enhancing L&D.

Only a small minority (8 per cent) feel VR is ‘just hype’; 81 per cent think it has ‘real potential’ for learning, and a further 11 per cent are prepared to go one step further, calling VR out as the ‘next big thing’.  

The survey reveals that over half (53 per cent) of respondents have VR at the top of their list as the next new mode of learning they most want to implement, ahead of virtual classrooms, mobile learning, games-based learning and social learning in terms of priority. Just 2% of respondents said their organisation is already using VR for training.

Philip Pyle, sales and marketing director at Kallidus added: “The survey highlights that the learning profession doesn’t seem to be daunted by VR.

“Instead it sees it as a great opportunity to offer learners something truly engaging and innovative at a time when many internal corporate functions are struggling to catch up with consumer-grade technologies that increasingly feature in people’s everyday lives.”  

The top three subject areas that L&D professionals would most like to see VR being used for within their organisations are: technical skills development, health and safety training and on-boarding/orientation.

Encouragingly, L&D professionals are thinking beyond hard skills development and can also see the potential VR offers for developing interpersonal, customer service, sales and leadership skills.

Respondents perceive the biggest benefits of using VR to be: helping to create a more engaging learning experience, making high-risk or impractical training achievable and helping the organisation to be more innovative (81 per cent).

Respondents agreed that perceived cost, lack of knowledge on how to use VR and lack of cultural appetite could potentially hold the learning profession back from adopting VR. However, as VR equipment and content creation costs continue to fall, momentum to explore VR’s role in training is likely to continue to grow.

 

Debbie Carter

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