TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT ANOTHER DIMENSION
James Mansbridge, British Safety Council’s Head of Digital Learning, explains how immersive technologies can provide a safe learning environment in
which mistakes are not only permissible but also enhance the overall learning experience both online and in the classroom.
Virtual reality technology (VR) has great potential for training providers. It is already used in military and medical fields and has been used to help treat mental illnesses, such as anxiety and PTSD. Yale University tested VR training for gallbladder dissection in contrast to conventional teaching for trainee surgeons. The study found that the VR group was 29% faster and were six times less likely to make an error in the procedure.
The British Safety Council is using VR to teach the evaluation of risk. In the traditional classroom, there is little similarity between the taught processes of assessing risk and what takes place in the real world. Online training is usually even more far-removed, focussing on hazard spotting in images where the hazards are obvious.
The students participating in the British Safety Council’s virtual reality exercise are presented with the challenge of assessing and evaluating risk – real-world risk that may depend on several factors including human behaviour. The experience begins with a short tutorial in which students are made familiar with the equipment and taught how to interact in the virtual world. They are then thrown in the deep end of a working restaurant kitchen. Oil sizzles and water bubbles. Service staff hurry around while chefs are busy chopping, cutting, and cooking. Evaluating risk in such an environment is a real challenge. Students must talk to characters, examine and interact with objects, and notice subtle clues of which there may be several contributing to a single risk.
Students are expected to spend between 15 and 20 minutes in the virtual world after which a debrief session will take place. It is in this session that the real learning takes place. By discussing their experiences, classroom students can challenge each other and discuss what they may or may not have seen in the virtual world. Digital learners will benefit from a video debrief session in which they will see real students discuss their experiences and hear a tutor talk them through all the risks.
The experience has been built specifically to take advantage of mobile technology. Classroom learners will be provided with Oculus’s newest headset, the Oculus Go. Digital learners will be able to use their smartphones in a British Safety Council branded Google Cardboard headset which will be provided free of charge.
Whereas VR replaces the world with a completely artificial one, augmented reality (AR) adds things to the real world, or changes things in the real world. AR
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is already used in high-end vehicle navigation systems. Rather than look at a separate screen, a driver can see navigation arrows pointing at the actual street to turn into. AR is also being used by companies to overlay step-by-step instructions to accompany complex tasks, for example by pointing at individual screws to tighten or bolts to undo.
The British Safety Council is using AR to add virtual objects such as heavy-duty industrial machinery to the real world. The consequences of operating industrial equipment incorrectly can range from embarrassment to severed limbs or death.
By using a piece of virtual equipment, students can explore and discover its operation without risk. They can make mistakes and learn what the consequences of failing to close a guard or tighten a chuck fully could be. They can also learn the correct procedures through trial and error.
In the classroom, each student will be provided with an iPad on which they will be able to see a life-sized pedestal drill mounted on the floor in front of them. They will be asked to complete tasks using the drill but will be given no further instruction. Students will have to draw upon their knowledge and experience to complete the task without error. However, if they make a mistake, that error won’t cost them a limb but will be a great learning tool.
www.britsafe. org
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