Is virtual reality training the answer to successful personalized employee learning and development programmes?
With hybrid working, globally dispersed workforces and the need to develop multiple skills at pace, organizations are increasingly recognizing the importance of personalized learning and development (L&D) programs.
Tailoring learning and development programmes to meet the unique needs of each employee not only transforms the way your employees develop skills but also boosts employee engagement, satisfaction, and retention.
Virtual reality is a great way of creating training content tailored to employees’ job roles and utilises three of our senses that have a big impact on learning – sight, sound and touch. Eager to learn more?
In this blog, we’ll explore:
· What personalized learning is
· How you can implement an effective learning strategy that has an impact on your workforce and their day-to-day tasks
· How virtual reality can play a key part in personalized learning programmes
What is personalized learning?
Naturally, as humans, we all have different styles of learning, what works for one employee might not work for another. Personalized learning is an employee-centric learning and development approach that embraces the idea that learning should be customized to an employee’s job role, needs and interests.
This approach to learning and development makes perfect sense at a time when skills gaps continue to grow, and employees and organizations begin to place a higher value on learning and development. 68% of employees say training and development is the company’s most important policy to them, according to Clear Company.
It’s not only employees who feel the benefit from learning and development, companies who invest in employee development see a 58% increase in retention and a 24% increase in profit. It’s time to shift away from a blanket learning approach. So how can you begin to implement personalized learning programmes and where does virtual reality play a part?
5 Key Steps to Implementing Personalized L&D Programmes
1. Assess Individual Needs and Preferences
Your people are your most important asset, and the first step in personalizing learning and development is understanding the specific needs and preferences of your employees. You can identify their needs through:
- Surveys and Feedback: Regularly collect feedback from employees about their learning preferences, areas they want to improve and what they believe are the most important things that they and their teams should be learning.
- Performance Data: Analyze performance data to identify skill gaps and training needs.
- One-on-One Interviews: Surveys and feedback can give you surface-level answers but going one step further and having interviews with employees will ensure you get a deeper understanding of their learning styles and areas that need improvement.
2. Try Immersive Learning Technologies
Immersive learning technologies mean that businesses can utilize personalized, virtual, environments that engage the senses and deliver impactful training that encourages fun, connection and hands-on learning – this has a monumental effect on knowledge retention.
Immersive learning technologies can include 360-degree video, augmented, mixed and virtual reality – with VR providing the most immersive experience, along with the ability to mirror your work environment, machinery and tools.
Training using virtual reality opens opportunities for individuals to practice skills related to their job on their own and as part of a class and can therefore be tailored to specific job roles and teams across global businesses.
3. Create Custom VR Training Modules
The process of creating bespoke VR training content means you can identify key training scenarios that are important for your businesses and your employees’ learning and development and recreate them in virtual reality. Employees can practice those scenarios and build confidence through learning by doing, in a safe-repeatable manner.
Whilst the content might be different for different job roles, the method is the same, ensuring employees receive training that is tailored to their level of expertise with the benefit of people being able to learn at their own pace. VR training is also effective in this regard, as trainers can join trainees and assist them in real time as if they were in the same room.
4. Leverage Data Analytics
Data analytics play a crucial role in personalizing learning and development. Without access to trainee learning data, you won’t be able to help them improve and build the necessary skills they need to thrive at work and in their job role.
Here at Luminous, as well as providing customers with bespoke VR training content, we also provide customers with their own learning PORTAL. PORTAL is a VR learning management system that houses all content and data related to your virtual reality training modules and individual trainee performance. PORTAL can integrate with your existing learning management system, giving you in-depth access to trainee data and analytics so you can:
- Track Progress: By monitoring each employee’s progress and identifying areas where they excel or need improvement, you get value out of your training content that has a real-world impact.
- Predict Outcomes: By having access to and being able to combine all your learning and development data, you can predict future training needs and trends based on current performance data, allowing for proactive adjustments to your L&D programs.
- Experiment with Gamification: As organizations begin to move away from traditional learning methods to more innovative and exciting ways of learning, gamification has emerged as a key driver of boosting motivation, engagement and knowledge retention.
Gamification brings an element of friendly competition into the learning process, offering rewards and incentives for top learners. At Luminous, trainees can accumulate points, complete levels and get rewarded with achievements and certificates and get notifications when they unlock certain achievements.
5. Foster a Continuous Learning Culture
With learning and development being a key driver of employee engagement and retention, as well as increasing revenue it is important to encourage a culture of learning so employees can continuously improve on an individual level. Here’s some tips on how you can promote a continuous learning culture:
Implement microlearning strategies
A big concern for some when implementing learning strategies is time. Some employees might not have the time to spend hours mastering a particular skill or subject, and employers might be concerned about time lost on business-as-usual activity. Implementing microlearning strategies is the solution here, by offering employees modules that they can complete in short bursts it makes it easier for them to fit learning into their schedules.
At Luminous, we create VR training modules so that they’re no longer than 15 minutes. Why 15 minutes? This is the optimum amount of time a user should spend in a single VR session. We offer assessment modes which mean that users must perform a particular process from start to finish from memory, without any errors. 15 minutes is a significant portion of time to remember a range of steps and therefore we have found that this is the optimum amount of time for engagement and knowledge retention for users. But this still gives users the choice and freedom to practice wherever, and whenever they need in short bursts.
Offer On-Demand Learning
Giving employees access to on-demand learning and development resources means they learn at their own pace and convenience. Virtual reality is a great method of on-demand learning as all you need to do is switch on a headset or access the app through desktop to be able to jump in and practice learning.
Place Value on Employee Feedback
Coming full circle, we mentioned your people are the most important asset in your company and therefore continuously gathering employee feedback on your learning and development programs ensures that training remains relevant and effective. Regularly update and refine your training content based on feedback and keep up to date with emerging industry trends, innovation in learning and development is key for shaping the future of learning.
Personalizing learning and development is no longer a luxury, but a necessity in today’s world of work. By leveraging immersive learning technologies like VR training and utilizing data analytics, you can create highly effective, personalized learning and development programs that meet the unique needs of each employee.
Invest in personalized learning today and unlock the full potential of your workforce. Want to see VR training in action? Get in touch with us for a free live demo.