'You just have to be curious to start with,' says expert
The use of both extended reality (XR) and artificial intelligence (AI) “could be the next frontier” when it comes to learning, according to Luci Leite, co-founder of Bloom XR.
“When you think about learning or the future of learning, it's not really one technology versus the other,” she told HRD Australia. “It's blending all these different ways and technology that we have today to give that learner the best go in terms of understanding what that person actually needs and putting that in front of them at the right time.”
XR encompasses augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality. And while XR has seen a lot of use in gaming, from companies such as Meta, Leite said it’s making its way into training.
“We see a big push from the big players up there to bring people into the computer and more immersed into that digital world,” she said. “There's a big push and we see that in training as well. As adoption grows on the consumer side, the corporate space can look at it and [say] ‘What are people using out there?’
“Just like your phone – everyone's got a phone now we've got to bring work apps into the phone. Similar to the headsets, we're going see that transition as well being used commercially as well as for the consumer.”
While hands-on experience is irreplaceable, the closest we can get to a real-life experience is via the headsets used for XR, says Leite. And she considers bringing AI into learning and development and training “really exciting”.
“Learning from doing is absolutely irreplaceable and engaging directly with an experiment and practicing and building that muscle memory, there's nothing quite like it,” she said. “And we know in lectures and textbook manuals, these things are really challenging.
“I think the closest we have as a medium today to build that muscle memory and have that hands-on experience is with the headsets that we have today. VR training has a retention rate of 75%, kind of outperforming lectures, which is about 5% and reading, which is 10%.”
Leite said XR is a unique medium and to really harness its potential, the first step for human resources and L&D professionals to do is learn about it.
“Not all learning content needs to be in XR,” she said. “But there are specific things [where] it can be much better to replicate life-like experiences and scenarios. It can bring a tremendous benefit if that's done in an immersive way. And it can definitely impact on the speed and proficiency in which those learners learn and adapt.”
And from there, HR teams can start trailing it.
“Start small, learn, get really good about the medium,” Leite added. “You just have to be curious to start with. I think there's a lot there, we just need to have that open mind to take that first step and start trailing.”
