5 things to nail before you invest in Immersive Tech

Learning technologies can be exciting and overwhelming in equal measure. It’s easy to get swept up in the latest trends.

We get it, new things are exciting and the world is full of possibilities. To make the most out of this technology for you, your learners and your business consider these 5 points before you invest in immersive technologies.

The key question is why should anyone care about this training? Why will it make a learner’s job, life, day, connections, and emotions better?

The Why is so important for creating an emotional connection to learning (how is it going to impact me) and inspiring people to take part in the learning so it should be your Number 1 starting point.

There will most likely be traits and trends across your organisation and it is important to try to find out what these are.

This is where user profiles become a handy tool. Ask yourself questions like

Who is going to use this training?
What have they done before on the subject?
What worked and what didn’t?
What pressures do they have on their daily lives?
When will this information be most used by the learner?

Creating detailed learner profiles will help you understand how and what will work best for your audience.

An essential part of your investment in immersive is figuring out how it works.

Before you buy a headset, think about how content will be rolled out to your audience.

Can it connect to your LMS?
How are you going to distribute headsets to your audience – are you going to send everyone a headset to use at home or just a select few?
Will my audience even know how to use the hardware? Will you do any training?
How will data export work with your current systems?
If you want to sell the content – how does the distribution and licensing work?

At Totem we always start with the end goal in mind. What is the difference you are looking for? Is it a novelty pull to open the door to further learning content, is it a behaviour change, or is it a message you want to communicate?

The impact you’re looking for will heavily influence the design and you don’t want the design to be constrained by the hardware.

We can measure so much about how users interact with apps, games, and other systems but the infrastructure that L&D has access to often has limitations that limit the potential.

There are many other systems out there that could work in parallel to the traditional LMS such as analytics dashboards or even basic data extraction from the headset.

Knowing what and how you plan to measure, and then how to access that measurement data should be front and centre of your digital learning strategy.

Concluding Thoughts

Immersive technologies are powerful tools that can help you walk through the walls that stand between you and where you want to get to.

By addressing these points you will be able to form a detailed business case and understanding of how immersive technology can be used to benefit you, your learners, and your business.

If you’d like to run your ideas past us or you have any questions, Team Totem would be delighted to work through your solution with you.

Come talk to us at stand G200 or book a 15-minute consultation, we would love to talk with you. ([email protected]).

Helen, CEO of Totem Learning is an award-winning designer and author with a background and passion in behavioural sciences and psychology. With 20 years experience in applying behavioural and cognitive theories to highly-interactive games, VR, and AR solutions Helen has helped many organisations realise their ambitions of deploying effective and engaging training experiences driving behavioural change and business impact.