Augmented Reality Adds New and Exciting Elements to Corporate Training and Education
Augmented Reality (AR) is making training and education in the corporate world and in the school classroom more interactive and memorable for learners. With its ability to overlay information and instructions onto the real world, AR brings a new and exciting element to teaching that makes lessons stick in the mind of learners.
What is Augmented Reality?
When a person looks at something in the real world using the viewing screen, a digital image or annotation can be viewed alongside the real object. For example, you could view a digital rendering of a table sitting inside your actual kitchen or you could see written annotations “floating” beside a vehicle engine when you’re looking at it.
There are different kinds of AR.
Marker-based AR
Sometimes the markers are unseen, like when AR uses GPS coordinates to display information. The Pokemon Go game from a few years ago used GPS coordinates as markers.
Markerless AR
If the AR object is accessed via a web link without the need to download anything, this is known as Web-Based AR.
There are other types of AR like projection AR and stationary screen AR, which are not common for using augmented reality in the classroom.
Virtual Reality
How Augmented Reality helps in the classroom
AR not only makes learning more fun and memorable for children, it can actually help companies train and retain employees.
A PwC survey found that 35% of Millennials preferred employers who could help them improve their professional skills. By using AR for teaching employees, you will boost your employee retention rate.
Using AR, companies and schools alike can better estimate their training effectiveness instead of relying on tests and the perception of trainers. They can get quantifiable data on how well a trainee understands something by seeing exactly how they reached the conclusion they did.
Since a large portion of employees and students use their mobile devices on a daily basis, incorporating learning that uses mobile devices, like AR, uses a medium they are already accustomed to.
AR also provides more engaging learning content to supplement or perhaps even replace textbooks, slides and videos that may not hold student attention. When it comes to learning, doing is always better than watching or reading. AR allows students and trainees to perform tasks safely as they learn.
How Augmented Reality teaching can improve classroom efficiency
Real time assistance
Instead of just learning something ahead of time and then putting it into practice later, AR allows students to get real time information while they’re actually learning something.
People who are learning how to fix high-voltage equipment, for example, can learn safely by wearing an AR helmet and having the information fed to them as they’re performing a task, increasing safety and efficiency.
Any new information that an employee or student requires can be uploaded to the AR system, saving on the need to constantly retrain people. Once employees or students know how to use the AR, they can use it for training on virtually anything.
Currently, both NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are using Microsoft’s HoloLens AR system to help teach future astronauts how to perform repairs in the International Space Station. The VTT Technical Research Centre in Finland, which is heading up the project for the ESA, uses the HoloLens to show astronauts data as they perform maintenance on components of the station.
Remote assistance
Rather than flying the person in, someone else can wear the SWIS glasses and the expert can remotely assist them to remedy the problem. It’s even possible that a company could tap into the knowledge of a recently retired expert without having to get them to physically go anywhere.
Augmented Reality training and education use cases
New hire onboarding
Performance support
Enhancing traditional learning
Product knowledge training
How to use AR in training
AR Image Enhancement
At the primary school level, children can color a picture in a coloring book and then use a tablet to bring the picture to life and even see the 3D model of the picture get filled in with color as they are doing it. This makes coloring a 2D image more engaging for children who have grown up in a digital world.
AR Objects
And it can help students satisfy their need for visual learning as opposed to merely reading and looking at 2D images. Subjects like anatomy can be enhanced by having students scan markers in books and having the 3D images appear on their phone screens so they can look at it from all angles and see inside something like the human heart.
Being able to see something like the individual parts of an atom and take it apart would give students a whole new way of looking at something they normally wouldn’t be able to see. Going in the other direction, the vastness of the solar system and how the planets and sun interact with each other can be explored and visualized more easily via AR.
AR Scenario Training & Gamification
Many AR apps and tools emerging now have introduced gamification to make learning more fun for students. The Smithsonian Channel, for example, has the Apollo’s Moon Shot AR app, which includes several little AR games people can play to help them learn about the first mission to the moon.
Adding a gamification element to teaching and training makes learning more engaging. In fact, 68% of learners say having a gaming element to educational materials makes them learn better.
How to choose an AR training partner
For corporations that will likely require a bespoke AR solution, the success of their training endeavors will depend on choosing the right AR agency as a partner. The right AR agency will cooperate with you to choose the best type of AR for your purposes, the proper equipment and the right level of realism for what you’re teaching.
When you’re choosing an AR agency to work with, ask to see:
- Their portfolio
- Pricing informationPricing information
- Any awards they’ve won
- Past projects and references
- Ratings and reviews for their work
Pros and Cons of Augmented Reality Training
Advantages
- Provides a Safe Learning Environment – Students and employees can learn safely without risking equipment or other people or negatively affecting the environment around them in any way.
- Makes Learning Interactive and Engaging – While AR is growing swiftly, it is still new to most people and it will create a buzz among learners and make learning more fun.
- Innately mobile — AR requires mobile devices like phones, tablets or goggles to use, so it is built for mobility, meaning learners aren’t tied to a station. Your entire environment can become your classroom.
Disadvantages
- Costly to start – For schools, there are many free or low-cost options available already. However, for corporations, the cost of developing your own exclusive AR training program can be a bit steep. However, the longer you use it, the better your ROI, so it will eventually pay for itself. It may just take longer than other training options.
- May require Constant Development — Technology changes so quickly that what is cutting edge today is nearly obsolete next year. To stay current and be able to have students and employees use their own ever-changing hardware, your program will likely require you to refresh your program every few years. Your AR agency partner should be able to advise you on this.
- Lengthy development times — Again, this will depend largely on who you partner with, but you’ll need to develop your training course and then develop AR that fits into that training course and this can take quite a while. Using AR in your training and education isn’t a small step.
Once you take the leap into using AR for training and education, you will see how endless the possibilities are. Choose a good AR agency and they’ll help you to use your AR to its full potential.
Virtual measuring apps
Software that shows builders life-sized instructions
Software that overlays the BIM
With its ability to show people what is not actually there, augmented reality for architecture and construction is quickly becoming a must-have tool for design and construction firms that want to increase efficiency and keep their clients in the loop easier. It’s an obvious positioning advantage for companies that use it already and soon will be an indispensable tool in the industry.