Feeling restless about finding the best corporate training solution? The impact of immersive learning might tempt you to pick the most exciting modality and run with it. Before you jumpstart your first XR training program, it’s smart to make an informed decision based on the strongest use case as you select the right training modality.
Top Strategies for Selecting the Right Modality
Pairing the right use case with the right modality is the most accurate predictor for learning outcomes. In order to do that, it’s essential to understand the strengths and limitations of each different modality. Learning different skills requires learning through different modalities for optimal comprehension and retention.
For example, complex process training often benefits more from immersive, hands-on simulations offered through VR training, while understanding theoretical concepts and product information could be effectively taught through interactive eLearning. Tailoring your training modality to the specific learning objectives ensures optimal learning outcomes, and for organizations looking to incorporate cutting-edge solutions, opting for a blended learning program can maximize results.
1. Assess Your Current Training Program
If you know you’re ready for a learning revamp, it’s time to take a close look at your existing training program. Start by taking an honest look at the strengths and weaknesses of your workforce. By identifying the skill gaps in your organization, you’ll be able to better address what’s missing or could be improved in your current training program.
Let’s say employees are struggling with compliance and fail to follow the proper steps of a standard procedure. If your goal is to reduce injury rates and optimize safety training – you’ll need to pinpoint where employees experience injury the most (that’s typically where the learning gaps exist). As you assess your current training program, ask yourself if employees are lacking knowledge or practice. While Instructor-led training may convey the importance of lock-out tag-out procedures, a decades-old droning video won’t give learners the opportunity to practice high-risk procedures safely. By incorporating immersive learning, your organization can pinpoint where employees skip a step and address errors with effective learning reinforcement.
2. Create Clear Learning Objectives
Creating clear learning objectives is an essential step in building an effective training program. You can map out your training program by structuring content around core learning objectives that employees can later demonstrate in their roles. By assessing learner needs and consulting with SMEs, your learning objectives should address specific skill gaps and empower your workforce.
Once you’ve conceptualized your training content, you’ll be better equipped to determine which modality it’s best suited for. For example, text-heavy content is not compatible with XR programs that are best applied for interactive learning scenarios– however, an AR or VR program can become a valuable asset for machinery training.
3. Identify Your Intended Audience
As you strive to implement learner-centric training programs, knowing your audience is key. Catering to learner preferences is a great way to reinvigorate your company culture, motivate employees, and retain talent.
How do your employees learn best? As millennials and digital natives dominate the workforce in 2024, experiential learning is in high demand. Thinking about the best way to engage learners will help you connect them with the right modality. Did employees rush through outdated eLearning modules and miss out on critical information? Simplify complex learning content with a series of bite-sized microlearning modules packed with information. Does your training require hands-on skills? Immersive training programs allow employees to make mistakes in a safe environment to build their proficiency and confidence.
Lastly, a diverse workforce needs more than one learning pathway. Incorporating a blend of eLearning and XR training appeals to different learning styles. Depending on the size and location of your workforce, selecting scalable modalities will help your organization slash costs and reap long-term benefits.
4. Determine Training Metrics
Want to showcase the advancements achieved through your training initiatives? Selecting the right modality can help illuminate the key performance indicators (KPIs) that ensure the progression of your learners.
Embracing a data-driven approach to training empowers organizations to glean invaluable insight into the development and proficiency levels of learners. Completion rates, proficiency levels, knowledge retention, and skill mastery can all be measured in eLearning, ILT, and VILT sessions. By tying learning objectives to measurable performance metrics, an Extended Reality System can effectively streamline your training processes and help optimize learning outcomes.
The benefit XR training has over traditional modalities is the ability to collect data beyond time to completion or simple pass and fail rates. XR training offers unique data that can be tracked and analyzed in real time. User interactions, body ergonomics, and error rates allow organizations to gain deeper insights into learner behavior and performance within the simulated training environment. Remember – training metrics constitute a fundamental component of your overarching business strategy!
Finding the Right Use Case for Corporate Learning Solutions
Whether your broader objectives are focused on streamlining your onboarding process or implementing a new strategy to achieve company-wide safety standards, introducing modern learning solutions to your organization is an accomplishment worth celebrating. Yet, real organizational change can’t happen without finding the right use case. Finding the right use case can be accomplished by identifying specific pain points in your organization. Let’s explore how to identify the best use case for your organization.
Identifying A Use Case for XR Training
When choosing the training topic for your XR program, a good practice is to keep the SMART acronym in mind (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound).
In a warehouse, identifying inefficiencies like picking errors, unfamiliarity with scanning devices, and delayed onboarding is the first step toward closing training gaps for good. So, how can XR address these pain points? VR gives learners hands-on experience guided by intuitive learning. For example, VR training allows learners to practice with digital scanning devices to prevent taking actual devices away from employees on the work floor. Instead of relying on inexperienced employees to train new hires, VR streamlines onboarding, ensuring each employee gets the same quality training straight from the start. Immersive learning modernizes training with effective learning reinforcement that is tactile, realistic, and emotionally impactful.
Identifying A Use Case for Custom eLearning
eLearning is a dependable solution that allows learners to be in control of their training experience from remote locations. With interactive knowledge checks, eLearning effectively tests learners’ recall of essential information. Whether it’s product knowledge or compliance training, companies are looking closely at where they can implement eLearning in a blended learning program. For an organization looking to teach employees the ins and outs of the sales process, pairing eLearning with XR programs allows employees to learn and practice.
Let’s use the retail industry as an example. Say a large-scale grocery retailer has relied solely on instructor-led training to acclimate employees to their sales process. For a large company with small teams, their system of training left too many inconsistencies among employees, and the organization was hungry for change. By introducing a blended learning program that paired eLearning and VR, everyone quickly got on the same page. Employees learned a nine-step sales process in eLearning and were later tested on their knowledge in an immersive VR program. Based on their performance in the virtual reality training, employees were able to receive specific 1:1 training from in-person trainers to enhance their baseline of knowledge and concentrate on the areas where they struggled.
With this strong learning reinforcement, the retail giant was able to unify their sales representatives and empower their workforce to meet their business goals of expanding their products on shelves across the country.
Optimize Learning and Achieve Stronger ROI
Ready to empower your workforce with the right training? Finding the right use case for cutting-edge training solutions takes careful evaluation but poses an opportunity to deliver meaningful change to your organization.
By evaluating which areas will help your organization save money and time, you can tackle inefficiencies by pairing your use case with the right modality. While you’re in the process of planning and choosing, keep a keen eye for where your learning goals overlap with what can be recorded in an XRS – it may help push your decision to select the right modality. Optimize your training with strategic and effective learning solutions today!
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