As with any novel and paradigm-shifting technology, the initial boom of virtual and artificial reality (VR/AR) has seen a vast array of industries attempting to leverage its benefits, from entertainment to product design, marketing to construction.

Research from ABI shows that the global enterprise VR training market is expected to grow to $6.3 billion by 2022, up from $216 million in 2018
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While some applications of XR have proved themselves less promising than others, research from ABI shows that the global enterprise VR training market is expected to grow to $6.3 billion by 2022, up from $216 million in 2018; a vast leap by any standards. Certainly, as the interconnectedness and digitization of our world increase, the skills required by future workforces will be markedly different from those before, necessarily becoming broader, more technical and quicker to evolve.

The burgeoning growth of the immersive learning sector has already thrown up several key benefits
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The burgeoning growth of the immersive learning sector has already thrown up several key benefits: with remote training possible, physical distance between experts and businesses has been all but eradicated; real-life situations can be mirrored, allowing employees to reach greater skill levels in less time; operational costs (from transportation, equipment and labor hours) can be greatly lowered; and through tracking (of behavior, eye movement or gestures), the gathering of data promises vastly enriched analytical capabilities. With such potential on the horizon, it is essential that organizations manage the process of leveraging XR technologies effectively, or risk falling behind as others take the lead.

As the interconnectedness and digitization of our world increase, the skills required by future workforces will be markedly different from those before, necessarily becoming broader, more technical and quicker to evolve
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To address these opportunities and more, VR Intelligence are hosting an exclusive webinar, ‘How VR & AR are Changing Training, Education & Worker Guidance’, taking place Wednesday, July 31^, 2019, at 9:00am PT/12:00pm ET/5:00pm BST.

With XR, real-life situations can be mirrored, allowing employees to reach greater skill levels in less time
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Moderator Amy Peck, CEO & Founder, EndeavorVR will be joined by John Cogliandro (Senior Engineer, Special Projects, Raytheon), John O’Shea (Head of VR & AR Enterprise Applications, Applied Materials), Mark Lee (Board Member, Immersive Learning Research Network and Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Charles Sturt University) and Michael Bloor (Co-Founder & CRO, iQ3Connect, Inc). The webinar will explore how companies are using XR technologies to improve training across different organizations and what impacts they are seeing on training efficiency, ROI and improved employee experiences.

VR Intelligence are hosting an exclusive webinar: How VR & AR are Changing Training, Education & Worker Guidance
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Sign up for this webinar today to explore:

• In which industries are VR & AR having the biggest impact on training and worker guidance?
• Why the changing workforce now expects better technology-led training, and how VR is enabling this
• How are education providers increasingly using immersive technologies and experiences to improve & accelerate learning?
• What benefits can be had in terms of time and cost savings, and how are companies measuring this?
• What’s the place of AR – is it best placed for training, real-time worker guidance, or both?

Register for the webinar today

The webinar will explore how companies are using XR technologies to improve training across different organizations and what impacts they are seeing on training efficiency, ROI and improved employee experiences
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Those who cannot join live will be sent the recordings once the webinar has run.

This webinar is being run in association with VR Intelligence’s VRX Conference & Expo, which takes place December 12-13, 2019, at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport Hotel. Expecting more than 600 senior attendees from across gaming, entertainment, healthcare, retail, automotive industries and more, VRX is the world’s premier B2B immersive tech event for those wishing to use XR to boost ROI, propel their business forward and engage consumers through immersive, innovative experiences.

This webinar is being run in association with the VRX Conference & Expo, which takes place December 12-13, 2019 in San Francisco
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Tech Trends is an official media partner of VRX 2019

Tech Trends offers a broad range of Digital Consultancy services to guide companies, individuals and brands in effectively leveraging existing and emerging technologies in their business strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a VR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Exploring Immersive Technology in Training and Education appeared first on Tech Trends.

In many high-pressure situations such as emergency medicine, law enforcement, firefighting, air traffic control and the military the litmus test for success is behavioral performance.

It is one thing to know “what” to do, and to have the ability to verbalize the appropriate steps to achieve some aim, but it is another to know “how” to do it, and to generate the appropriate behaviors in the correct sequence quickly and accurately. The ability to verbalize is important for communication, but the ability to behave appropriately is often the difference between life and death.

With experience-based learning, broad-based brain activation occurs in synchrony, and results in multiple, interconnected memory traces that are less susceptible to forgetting
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Not only does one want to master the appropriate behavioral repertoire, but one must be able to generate these behaviors under time or social pressure, when all the necessary senses are unavailable (e.g., when in a smoke-filled room), or when some of the optimal tools are unavailable (e.g., when some medicine or medical tools are absent). In other words, one wants to obtain behavioral situational awareness.

The ability to verbalize is important for communication, but the ability to behave appropriately is often the difference between life and death
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Traditional approaches to emergency medical, law enforcement, firefighting, air traffic control and military training start with textbook and classroom study, then later introduce real-world practice, often through simulation. From a learning science perspective—the marriage of psychology and brain science—this means that you begin by training a cognitive understanding of the problem before training a behavioral understanding. This sequential approach to training, where you become proficient with the cognitive (textbooks and classroom) then become proficient with behavioral (real world or simulation) is suboptimal.

Learning science suggests that a better approach is to engage cognitive learning systems in the brain, such as the prefrontal cortex and medial temporal lobes, simultaneously with behavioral learning system in the brain such as the basal ganglia. Taken a step further, the optimal approach is to engage these cognitive and behavioral systems in the brain within an experience. To quote Albert Einstein, “Learning is an experience. Everything else is just information.” By engaging cognitive and behavioral systems within an experience, one broadly recruits the prefrontal cortex/medial temporal lobes (cognitive), basal ganglia (behavioral), and sensory experiential regions such as the occipital, temporal and parietal lobes. Critically, this broad-based brain activation occurs in synchrony, and results in multiple, interconnected memory traces that are less susceptible to forgetting.

A sequential approach to training, where you first become proficient with the cognitive, then with behavioral, is suboptimal
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One reason for traditional, sequential approaches to training is that real-world and simulation training is expensive, time-consuming and not scalable. Thus, the reasoning is that an initial focus on cognitive training will “bootstrap” the learner and require less real-world and simulation training to achieve behavioral mastery. The problem with this reasoning is that behavioral learning systems are distinct from cognitive learning systems in the brain and they have very different processing characteristics. Cognitive learning systems in the brain are ineffective at “bootstrapping” behavioral learning systems in the brain, which explains why learners often feel like they are “starting from scratch” when they begin real-world or simulation-based behavioral training.

By training on a broad-range of situations under different levels of emotional stress, the learner can develop the situational awareness needed to read the current situation and to anticipate future
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This is where virtual reality (VR) offers an ideal solution. With VR you can train the cognitive and behavioral learning systems in the brain within a context-rich experience. This broadly engages cognitive, behavioral and experiential learning systems in the brain in synchrony resulting in faster and more stable learning. Relative to real-world or simulation training, VR training is cost-effective, time-effective, and scalable. This allows the learner to obtain essentially limitless training on a broad array of situations. This is necessary to obtain mastery and expertise.

A better approach is to engage cognitive learning systems in the brain, such as the prefrontal cortex and medial temporal lobes, simultaneously with behavioral learning system in the brain such as the basal ganglia
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The range of situations that can be trained is essentially infinite. One can train on routine situations such as patrolling a peaceful demonstration or takeoff and landing under ideal weather conditions and non-routine situations such as crowd control during an escalating riot or takeoff and landing during a fast-moving weather pattern. One can train safely on dangerous situations such as an emergency C-section or infiltrating an insurgent hideout. Finally, one can train in situations that would be too expensive to train extensively with simulation such as a large war exercise or a massive viral outbreak. All of these situations can be trained under time pressure or under no time pressure, in loud and chaotic environments versus those free of distraction, or with adequate or inadequate preparation and equipment.

With VR you can train the cognitive and behavioral learning systems in the brain within a context-rich experience
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By training on a broad-range of situations under different levels of emotional stress, the learner can develop the situational awareness needed to “read” the current situation and to anticipate future, choosing the right course of action now and being prepared to change course in an instant if need be.

The range of situations that can be trained with immersive technologies is essentially infinite
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These high-pressure situations are ones that require preparedness before entering the workforce. One cannot afford to rely on on-the-job training in emergency medicine, law enforcement, firefighting, air traffic control, the military or any number of other jobs. They are too important for society and one wrong move can be the difference between life and death. When done right, VR offers the promise of effective training that will leave the learner job-ready from day one. The professional willing to undertake these high-stakes jobs deserves this level of preparedness and so does the public that they serve.

For companies looking to get into Immersive technologies such as VR/AR/MR/XR our Virtual Reality Consultancy services offer guidance and support on how best to incorporate these into your brand strategy.

Todd Maddox is Science, Sports and Training Correspondent at Tech Trends, and the CEO of Cognitive Design and Statistical Consulting. Follow him on Twitter @wtoddmaddox

The post The Brain Science of Simulation Training with Virtual Reality appeared first on Tech Trends.

A couple of months ago I went to the VR Sports and Entertainment Summit in San Francisco, where I had a chance to try out the virtual Hockey training kit from Sense Arena, so am really not surprised the company has made such a splash in the much bigger CES pond these past few days.

The brain is the most important ‘muscle’ in an athlete’s body
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Even for someone who had never played hockey before, I found the experience incredibly entertaining
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Even for someone who had never played hockey before, I found the experience incredibly entertaining, and could swear I improved my performance from appalling to merely dismal in the short space of time I was allowed to play. Best of all, having tried A LOT of different controllers and experiences over the years, I was thoroughly impressed with how realistic the physics felt between the physical stick and the virtual puck. My brain really had a hard time believing that both weren’t real, which, of course, is the point.

“This is more than just a game. It’s a tool for kids or even professional players,” explains Patrik Elias, a top ranked 20- year NHL player for the New Jersey Devils, who attended CES in support of Sense Arena. “Everyone is trying to find tools to get better because the competition is getting tougher and tougher. Tech is a big part of any professional sport now,” he added.

The technology has been developed with extensive input from hockey coaches and professional players
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The technology has been developed with extensive input from hockey coaches and professional players such as Bruin’s Right Winger – David Pastrnak and NHL ex pro-player Jan Ludvig, current Bruins Pro Scout.

“The technology and the reality of the environment are just amazing and so far, we’ve only seen half of what Sense Arena can be further developed into! I would definitely encourage you to try Sense Arena – you have to try it to believe it,” said Boston Bruins David Pastrnak.

The whole kit – which comes ready for commercial or in-home use - is portable, and the self-contained case is hardly more cumbersome than the real-life sports equipment would be
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This system is designed to let players improve their cognitive skills (much like surgeons already do with VR training tools) and overall “hockey sense” by simulating game situations, while focusing on reaction speed and decision making skills to test a player’s hockey intelligence.

“The brain is the most important ‘muscle’ in an athlete’s body. Every command to our bodies starts in the brain. Improving cognitive functions of players is going to be the new game changer. VR gives you the benefit to work on speed of reaction, decision making, reading of the game etc.,” explains Bob Tetiva, Sense Arena Founder and CEO.

This system is designed to let players improve their cognitive skills
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The whole kit – which comes ready for commercial or in-home use – is portable, and the self-contained case is hardly more cumbersome than the real-life sports equipment would be. It is, however, a considerable investment the Pro Pack will set you back $5,480 (which includes a HTC Vive Pro, two HTC lighthouses, four trackers, one wireless adapter, and VR-ready PC with a touch monitor. You also require a $199 monthly subscription. As a training tool for an entire team, however, it is easy to see how that investment could quickly pay off.

This article originally appeared on VRScout

Strengthening Your Muscle Memory With VR Hockey Training via @alicebonasio https://t.co/aSXfAdJb5g pic.twitter.com/aJQwpzGpnA

— VRScout (@VRScout) January 14, 2019

For companies looking to get into Immersive technologies our VR Consultancy service offers comprehensive support in strategic deployment of Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Training Your Brain Muscles with VR appeared first on Tech Trends.

How immersive technologies like Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality bring real-world benefits to us all.

Companies big and small are using Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality solutions to solve pain points, save money, connect people and make workflows more collaborative
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I love VR and I love gaming, but I have now got to the point where the mention of the two things in the same sentence – specially when people seem to imply they’re the same thing – makes me roll my eyes and sigh.

Part of it is due to the fact I’m yet to get really hooked into a VR game. Most of them just make me feel queasy, so I’m limited to short experiences that showcase the potential of the medium, for sure, but in no way prompt me to sell my console and screen setup just yet.

I’m yet to get hooked into a VR game. Most of them make me feel queasy
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What I have seen, however, are plenty of solid examples of how immersive technology is being applied in industry sectors as diverse as education, retail, filmmaking, or medicine, with significant and measureable ROI.

There’s a wealth of evidence out there about how adding immersive tech to a company’s existing workflow can instantly boost efficiency and collaboration. One of my favourite examples of that is how global construction giant Trimble uses Mixed Reality to help its architects and other professionals on the ground to visualize plans and spot problems at concept stage, when they are infinitely easier and cheaper to address than after building work takes place.

There’s a wealth of evidence on how adding immersive tech to a company’s workflow can instantly boost efficiency and collaboration
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I have seen plenty of solid examples of how immersive technology is being applied in industry sectors as diverse as education, retail, filmmaking, or medicine, with significant and measureable ROI
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Another more recent example of that I came across was PIXO VR partnering with HP to provide virtual reality training to enterprise, and interestingly the company was keen to highlight the fact that they provided “AAA-game quality VR training experiences and behavior-changing narratives.”

Headsets like The HoloLens or Daqri will never sell as many units as the Xbox 360, but that doesn’t mean they’re not game-changing technology adding real value to businesses
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These are important cases to highlight not only because they are interesting (at least to enthusiasts of the technology such as myself) but also because if we attempt to measure the success or otherwise of VR/AR/MR by the yardstick of gaming, we’re likely to get it wrong. Headsets like The HoloLens or Daqri will never sell as many units as the Xbox 360, but that doesn’t mean they’re not game-changing technology adding real value to businesses.

So, while I do enjoy gaming as much as the next gal, what’s most exciting to me is seeing how companies big and small are using Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality solutions to solve pain points, save money, connect people, make workflows more collaborative, and generally make our real world a better – and more efficient – place.

This post originally appeared on The Next Web

How VR is more than a game https://t.co/bji6fXdDEc

— TNW Contributors (@TNWcontributors) August 27, 2018

For companies looking to leverage Immersive technologies such as VR/AR/MR/XR Tech Trends offers a comprehensive range of Virtual Reality Consultancy Services.

Alice Bonasio is a VR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Moving Beyond VR Games appeared first on Tech Trends.

From utilities companies to first responders, more industries are adopting rich VR training experiences

There is a growing plethora of Industry 4.0 use cases for Immersive Technologies, and companies like Microsoft have partnered with various developers to launch collaborative and remote assistance applications.

Tech like Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality leverage cognitive embodiment to reinforce learning, which works particularly well in scenarios such as medical training which involve the performance of both mental and physical tasks.

There's a plethora of Industry 4.0 use cases for Immersive Technologies
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Tech like Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality leverage cognitive embodiment to reinforce learning
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So it’s really not surprising that so many companies, from Homeland Security to KFC, are now jumping on the bandwagon and embracing various forms of virtual training experiences. Where Detroit-based start-up PIXO VR says they have an edge, however, is in providing what they term as “behavior-changing narratives” in AAA-game quality, and all ready to use in a complete end-to-end, supported package.

From Homeland Security to KFC, there's a rush to embrace VR training
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Many companies still approach Immersive Technology with a mixture of bewilderment, caution and trepidation
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This is important because many companies still approach these technologies with a mixture of bewilderment, caution and trepidation. What is needed, according to PIXO VR’s CEO Sean Hurwitz, is a viable path for integrating those solutions within organizations and their training programs. Which is where he hopes their recently announced partnership with HP will lead.

With VR Training we can deliver real impact for people and businesses
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HP is one of the companies that have been steadily increasing its focus on VR hardware products in the past few years. In addition to producing a Windows Mixed Reality Headset, it markets a tetherless VR Backpack and has now developed a new HP Z series of PCs designed specifically for VR with the computing power to allow for high frame rates, comfort and freedom of motion required for the complex and graphics-rich scenarios offered by PIXO VR.

“With VR, we’re talking about an immersive experience, so superior UX is essential. That’s key; VR isn’t just ‘something else it can do’ our software allies at PIXO VR have designed their VR experiences to run at industry-best frame rates with industry-best visuals, and great software can only achieve its full potential on great hardware, and vice versa. Both ends are absolutely critical,” says Spike Huang, VP of Virtual Reality and Gaming at HP.

“For decades, people have dreamt about VR’s endless potential, but the way forward to actualizing it has been uncertain. With something that promises to change society, it’s natural we ask big questions. But the first questions that must be asked and answered are practical ones: where does it start? How can it deliver immediate value, such that the momentum to adopt the technology becomes irresistible?”

Huang says that for a number of challenging verticals such as First Responder training, the gains in terms of cost, risk, efficiency and performance can all be significantly improved with the adoption of VR Training.

“The opportunity is vast and still largely untapped, but the imperative is to focus on need. With VR Training, we can deliver real impact for real people and businesses—not tomorrow, but right now. With VR Training for enterprise, we see a perfect launch pad to get there, to arrive at universal adoption. The first rule of invention, and by extension, innovation, is: find a need and fill it. With VR Training there are so many needs we can address for global business.”

Games and other entertainment-focused experiences tend to grab the limelight with VR a lot, but these are the sort of practical applications that will really carry the technology through to the next stages, as the ROI they bring will encourage continued investment in both hardware and software so that eventually we might not actually be able to distinguish between experiences where you’re learning, and those where you’re having fun. Come to think of it, there’s no real reason why the two should be mutually exclusive either. Might just be me, but some of the most fun I’ve had in the past couple of years was with some of these enterprise applications. At the end of the day, separating work and play is increasingly becoming an outdated concept, and that’s a good thing in my book.

This article was originally published on VRScout

HP Partnership Expands Advanced VR Training via @alicebonasio https://t.co/RCoXZlfEIa pic.twitter.com/ipaZnPNqff

— VRScout (@VRScout) August 28, 2018

For companies looking to get into Immersive technologies such as VR/AR/MR/XR our Virtual Reality Consultancy services offer guidance and support on how best to incorporate these into your brand strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedInand follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Learning Real-World Skills in Virtual Reality appeared first on Tech Trends.

The Internet democratized knowledge, but immersive technologies like AR and VR will democratize access to experience – and revolutionize learning.

Prestigious medical institutions such as Imperial College London are using HoloLens devices in operating theatres to spot key blood vessels, bones, and muscles helping to make procedures quicker and safer.

Surgeons have traditionally used a handheld ultrasound scanner to find vessels under the skin by detecting the movement of blood. However, this is very time-consuming and still requires some guesswork
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Patients who have suffered an accident may have open wounds that require reconstructive surgery. Skin and blood vessels are taken from a healthy part of the body and used to cover the wound, enabling it to close and heal properly. A vital step in the process is connecting the blood vessels of the “new” tissue with those at the site of the wound, so oxygenated blood can reach the area.

Surgeons have traditionally used a handheld ultrasound scanner to find vessels under the skin by detecting the movement of blood. However, this is very time-consuming and still requires some guesswork as to where the vessels are and their path through body tissue, explained Dr Dimitri Amiras – a Consultant Musculoskeletal Radiologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust – as he walked me through the demo.

Prestigious medical institutions such as Imperial College London are using HoloLens devices in operating theatres to spot key blood vessels, bones, and muscles helping to make procedures quicker and safer
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The technology allows surgeons to take CT scans that have previously been completed and overlay 3D digital models of them onto a patient’s limb during reconstructive surgery
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The technology allows surgeons to take CT scans that have previously been completed and overlay 3D digital models of them onto a patient’s limb during reconstructive surgery. It has been used to help surgeons successfully move blood vessels from one part of the body to another in order to help open wounds heal more quickly.

At the Global Education and Skills Forum (GESF) in Dubai I got a chance to try it out first-hand, and it was pretty amazing, specially knowing that the Holograms I was looking at were based on real CT scans. Patients so far have included a 41-year-old man who injured his leg in a car crash, an 85-year-old woman who fractured her fibula and a person who developed an infection that required surgery.

“Mixed reality offers a new way to find these blood vessels accurately and quickly by overlaying scan images onto the patient during the operation. This technology allows us to experience the data that we have collected from patients before their operation in the most realistic and natural way. You look at the leg and essentially see inside of it; you see the bones and the course of the blood vessels,” he said.

Dr Philip Pratt, a Research Fellow in the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial, said using the HoloLens is allowing surgeons to understand a patient’s unique anatomy very quickly and accurately and to collaborate more efficiently in teams as multiple surgeons wearing the headsets can also see what their colleagues are specifically looking at.

As well as a powerful visualization and collaboration tool for working surgeons, immersive technologies can also help solve a growing problem: the global shortage of such professionals, specially in the developing world
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As well as a powerful visualization and collaboration tool for working surgeons, immersive technologies can also help solve a growing problem: the global shortage of such professionals, specially in the developing world. Training facilitated by immersive technologies can be instrumental in addressing the chronic shortage of trained professionals in areas such as teaching, healthcare and the digital economy.

Bassem F Hashash, from Augmented Reality training and collaboration platform Proximie, says an estimated five billion people worldwide do not have access to surgery This is due partly to the chronic lack of specialists available to perform such procedures, and the difficulty and expense involved in training new surgeons.

An estimated five billion people worldwide do not have access to surgery
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At the Global Education and Skills Forum #GESF in Dubai I got a chance to try it out first-hand, and it was pretty amazing, specially knowing that the Holograms I was looking at were based on real CT scans
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Training at scale is a real challenge, specially in areas such as healthcare, as you can only fit a small number of students in an Operating Room, and observation and practice is how one learns the crucial skillset necessary in such professions. Yet with immersive technology is possible for experts and students to virtually transport themselves into settings which allow them to flexibly collaborate and train. They can, in other words, become a democratizing force in education, by enabling students to virtually access experiences that would otherwise be out of their reach.

Using the HoloLens allows surgeons to understand a patient’s unique anatomy quickly and accurately and to collaborate more efficiently in teams
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According to Richard Vincent of Fundamental VR who was also showcasing his haptic Virtual Reality application at GESF (which let me have a great time literally messing around someone’s insides) it isn’t a matter of virtual training being “better,” but of enabling the benefits of experiential learning to become more widely accessible, allowing training to move beyond the limited model of “See one, do one, teach one” and opening up the possibilities for students to practice and perfect their skills in a safe and accurate environment.

Training at scale is a real challenge, specially in areas such as healthcare, as you can only fit a small number of students in an Operating Room, and observation and practice is how one learns the crucial skillset
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People all over the world will be able to easily access realistic experiences and simulations, learning and practicing new skills in entirely new ways
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In developing his own HoloLens application, Vincent has seen evidence that working with Mixed Reality tends to trigger different parts of the brain through immersion, so that content is assimilated more quickly and “sticks” with learners for longer, hence its potential to add to, enhance and accelerate learning. And Moore’s law, he adds means that his company’s current training simulation system costs one tenth of what it did a few years prior, and he expects that exponential driving down of cost to continue to increase sharply over the next five to ten years.

“As the technology progresses it will become more affordable and more integrated into our everyday lives. Just as most people here are carrying some sort of smartphone, the next step will be some sort of augmented reality device,” says Dr Amiras

“This is the new interface between computers and humans. What happens with technology is that when it works well, it disappears,” agrees Vincent. “Immersive Technology in the future won’t be about a bulky headset. What we have today is the equivalent of the Motorola phone of 1987. It will be glasses and contacts. This might feel scary now but in 10 years time it will feel as natural as carrying a smartphone in your pocket does now.”

All this means that people all over the world will be able to easily access realistic experiences and simulations, learning and practicing new skills in entirely new ways. Much in the same way as the widespread adoption of the Internet facilitated broader access to knowledge, Immersive technologies can enable broader and more egalitarian access to experience itself, and that’s pretty exciting.

This article was originally published on VRScout

Mixed Reality and Medicine: Virtual Practice Makes Perfect via @alicebonasio https://t.co/3wnwW02uLq pic.twitter.com/9hkWbH2dsI

— VRScout (@VRScout) April 16, 2018

For companies looking to get into Immersive technologies such as VR/AR/MR/XR our Virtual Reality Consultancy services offer guidance and support on how best to incorporate these into your brand strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter

The post How Virtual Practice Makes Perfect appeared first on Tech Trends.

2017 was the year of the Silence Breakers. Will 2018 be the year immersive technologies help tackle harassment culture?

Soft skills are “people skills”. They also go by many other names such as 21st Century skills, and socio-emotional skills. Yet regardless of how they are labelled, these skills essentially involve understanding oneself and relating to others by showing empathy, embracing diversity and abandoning unconscious biases. They can be trained, but current approaches are ineffective.

Soft skills are also known as people skills
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An individual with strong soft skills can be an effective collaborator, leader, and good citizen. They not only know what behaviors are appropriate, and how to identify them, but also how to generate those behaviors, and do so in a highly effective manner.

Soft skills require developing self-awareness and relating to others by showing empathy and embracing diversity
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While the “Silence Breakers” and #metoo movement make glaringly clear that effective soft skills training is seriously lacking in the workplace (and in society in general) a completely independent movement toward more artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace has led many in the C-suite to suggest that soft skills are going to become increasingly important.

2018 will likely see a spike in commercial offerings in soft skills training
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This leads me to predict that next year will see a spike in commercial offerings in soft skills training, focusing more on the science of learning during product development. This trend has already begun, and immersive technologies such as VR are at the forefront of that.

Science provides answers to difficult questions and drives innovation and success in the commercial sector. As applied to soft skills training in general – and sexual harassment awareness training in particular – psychological science suggests that two aspects are key to effective soft skills training.

The Silence Breakers and #metoo movement make glaringly clear that effective soft skills training is seriously lacking
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First, change occurs when the learner’s behavior is followed in real-time, literally within 100s of milliseconds, by feedback that rewards correct behaviors and punishes incorrect behaviors. Thus, it follows that training scenarios must be interactive.

Second, soft skills behavior change can be facilitated through first-person immersion in which you “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes”. There is nothing quite like allowing a middle-aged, heterosexual, Caucasian male to live the life, even for a few minutes, of a young female or member of the LGBTQIA community being harassed or disrespected, to help them understand the negativity associated with this experience.

As anyone who has ever tried to change their own behavior knows, it is much easier to know what to do, than learning how to do it
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The problem with most current soft skills training is that it involves reading a text, viewing slide shows and watching videos of appropriate and inappropriate interpersonal interactions. These approaches teach us the “what” – the definition of harassment, empathy, diversity and unconscious bias, as well as how to classify behaviors. What they do not teach, however, is “how” to exhibit the appropriate behaviors. As anyone who has ever tried to change their own behavior knows, it is much easier to know “what” to do, than learning behaviorally “how” to do it. Why is this the case? The science and brain basis of learning provides the answer.

Change occurs when learner behavior is followed by real-time feedback
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The human brain has evolved two distinct learning systems. One is the cognitive skills system in the brain which learns the “what” through passive observation, studying and mental repetition. The other is the behavioral skills learning system in the brain which learns the “how”.

In terms of soft skills, the latter involves such behaviors as showing empathy, embracing diversity (eye contact, attentiveness), being respectful. Although the detailed neurochemistry is beyond the scope of this article, suffice it to say that such behavioral skills are learned gradually and incrementally via dopamine-mediated, error-correction learning in the basal ganglia of the brain.

Interactive VR platforms are ideal for such soft skills behavior training because the learner is fully immersed in the situation
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When a behavior is rewarded (via a smiling face or a head nod for example) the neural connections that led to that are strengthened so is more likely to happen again. When a behavior is generated that is punished (via an angry face or a shaking head) the neural connections that led to that outcome are weakened and hence less likely to happen again. Learning in the behavioral skills system in the brain is active, which involves learning by doing, and physical repetitions.

One approach that brain science suggests should be highly effective for enhancing empathy and understanding another person’s perspective is to immerse the learner in another person’s life – to “walk a mile in their shoes”. It targets emotional processing centres in the brain and helps the learner understand at a visceral level what it is like to be in a position of weakness, and to be the direct target of harassment, prejudice or bias.

The human brain evolved two learning systems, cognitive and behavioral
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First-person immersive VR would, therefore, be relevant and effective for training employees in all commercial sectors, in particular, customer service representatives or medical personnel who routinely interact with others who are in some form of distress.

Although passive, observational, first-person immersive VR experiences offer a great tool for enhancing empathy and understanding, and likely can prime the learner for behavior change, actual change requires interactivity. Training platforms must, therefore, incorporate realistic interpersonal interaction and real-time communication into the mix.

The learner can be placed in situations in which they must interact with an individual who is poor in soft skills, or placed in situations in which their behavior is responded to in a negative manner. In other words, then can learn how to affect change in another, or affect change in themselves.

Interactive VR platforms are ideal for such soft skills behavior training because the learner is fully immersed in the situation. They have the feeling of presence. In addition, if the platform is constructed appropriately, the learner can be placed in a broad range of situations and scenarios that include small or large numbers of bystanders, a broad or narrow array of ethnicities and genders, etc.

The key is to target the behavioral skills learning system with realistic interpersonal interactions and real-time communication
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Yet regardless of the platform, whether VR or computer-based, the key is to target the behavioral skills learning system with realistic interpersonal interactions and real-time communication, and change will follow.

It is one thing to know what you should do when you interact with others, it is another to know how to behave when  doing so. The science indicates that the use of VR in soft skills training has great potential for effecting positive behavioral change. Deploying immersive technologies more widely in the training industry could, therefore, help reduce incidences of harassment, increase empathy, help people understand and embrace diversity, and increase awareness of unconscious biases. The result will be a more harmonious, effective and satisfied workforce, happier customers and clients, and a kinder society. Who wouldn’t see value in that?

Deploying immersive technologies in the training industry could reduce incidences of harassment, increase empathy, help people understand and embrace diversity, and increase awareness of unconscious biases
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For companies looking to get into VR/AR/MR our Virtual Reality Consultancy services offer guidance on how these technologies can enhance and support your brand strategy.

Todd Maddox is Science, Sports and Training Correspondent at Tech Trends, and the CEO of Cognitive Design and Statistical Consulting. Follow him on Twitter @wtoddmaddox

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