As of yet, there are few schools, certificate programs, or even
seminars available to provide step-by-step instructions for
conducting educational sessions in 3D virtual immersive
environments. Absent those formal, standardized guidelines here are
"lessons learned" from visionaries, rogue trainers, and brave
instructional designers who have pioneered the creation and use of
3D learning environments (3DLEs) for teaching and learning.
These tips will help anyone developing 3DLEs by providing basic
guidelines for success. The tips are broken into five categories:
- business analysis
- audience
- design
- technology
- implementation.
Business analysis
Lesson 1: Solve a real business need with the
implementation of the virtual immersive environment. Identify
problems that can be solved using a virtual immersive environment
and target those needs, such as closing sales, troubleshooting
equipment, negotiating deals, and leading employees. Starting with
a business need is a huge step toward ultimate success. Don't get
seduced by just the technological aspects no matter how "cool" you
think they are.
Audience
Lesson 2: Don't assume that the younger generation
is automatically facile with virtual world environments. Allow
plenty of time for them and older learners to become familiar with
the platform and make sure they are sufficiently capable of
navigating the environment before introducing any programmatic
activities.
Lesson 3: Allow learners time alone with their
avatar. In a 3D virtual immersive environment, the avatar
represents the learner. If the learner is to become invested in the
learning experience, she needs time to customize the avatar to get
acquainted with its movements and clothing options and to ensure
that it looks the way the learner wants it to look. Often the idea
of automating an avatar is overlooked because it seems frivolous,
however, a huge advantage of 3D learning is the identification the
learner has with the avatar. Don't skip this important step.
Design
Lesson 4: Don't assume that what works in
the classroom or in traditional events translates to the virtual
environment. Learning in virtual worlds is more experiential,
action-oriented, and social. Focus must be placed on function and
interactivity in designing 3DLEs. Also be sure to allow plenty of
time for unstructured interaction. Encourage informal social
interaction. Create purposeful space and time for informal and
serendipitous interactivity in your design
Lesson 5: Don't approach design with a set of
preconceived notions. The development of impactful 3D learning
experience is not simply a matter of porting existing 2D content
over to a 3D world. Be open to new and different ways to leverage
3D worlds to achieve the desired learning objectives. Imagine
shrinking the learner to the size of a molecule to emphasize how a
pharmaceutical product interacts with red blood cells.
For example, consider creating an entire factory to teach inventory
management or a cityscape to teach traffic control and management
or a customer's boardroom to conduct a sales call. Don't simply
translate 2D PowerPoint content into 3D PowerPoint content. Create
a new learning experience.
Lesson 6: Carefully mix informal and formal
learning spaces to encourage collaboration and to help ease
learners into working with new technologies but be aware of
learner's preferences and the culture of the organization. For
example, if you are working with a group that doesn't mind having a
little bit of fun and frivolity, go on virtual hot air balloon
trips or have a meeting under a circus tent complete with some
elephants. If the group is a more serious, then use a more
traditional environment like a board room or classroom.
However, it is the blending of informal and formal that makes a
virtual immersive environment particularly effective. So, even if
the group seems totally averse to having fun, mix in one or two
non-conventional venues such as a caf in the forest or a room in
the clouds.
Lesson 7: As with all learning design, the
technology should not drive the design, the learning objectives
should. Focus first on the learning objectives and secondarily on
what the technology can do. Imagine that you had no boundaries or
constraints on creating an ideal learning experience and then
design from that ideal event. While it may not be possible to do
everything you imagined in your first or second round with a
virtual immersive environment, the process of imagining the perfect
learning event will get you much closer to the ideal.
Technology
Lesson 8: Don't underestimate the technical
challenges associated with getting 3D virtual immersive environment
software to run on participants' computers and enabling
participants to get network access to run the software. Hardware
and firewall issues should be dealt with as early as possible in
the deployment process. A good way to do this is to run a small
pilot program to test the access to the environment. These
proof-of-concept "dry runs" are invaluable in identifying technical
problems early. Don't wait until all the instruction is design to
find out you can't play audio on learner's machines or that they
don't support the graphics.
Lesson 9: Approach the introduction of 3D virtual
immersive environments as business critical technology. Employees
are busy. They have methods of work that they employ because they
are well understood, require less thought (than change), and are
quite often efficient. Introducing a disruptive technology like
virtual immersive environments as "Hey, try this!" is quite likely
going to yield a different result than "this new technology is easy
to use and will reduce your workload by 25 percent so you can spend
more time with your family."
The point is that you must manage people's perceptions of your
virtual immersive environment initiative. If you do not tell them
what to think, they will form their own conclusions, and that is
not a good risk mitigation strategy and it won't always portrait
the virtual immersive environment in the best light.
Implementation
Lesson 10: Whatever virtual world platform you
choose, it is critical to provide participants with some type of
"warm-up session" to help them become comfortable with the
technology. Time must be allocated in advance of the program to
provide basic instruction on platform navigation and mentoring must
be made available. It is important to separate the learning
associated with coming up to speed on the platform from the
learning that will be delivered within the program. If participants
have to learn both at the same time, it usually results in
frustration.
Lesson 11: Logistics should be managed very
tightly with a tendency towards over communication and parsing the
steps required to bring the participants along a learning curve in
appropriately sized parcels of activity. Hardware setup,
network-access testing, platform training, and avatar customization
and navigation are all key building blocks that need to be
accomplished before the participants engage in the 3D learning
experience itself.
These "lessons learned" provide a solid foundation for thinking
about implementing virtual immersive environments into your
organization. Remember, it is not the technology that will make the
learning work; it is the focus on designing the instruction to meet
the needs of the learner and the organization.
Karl M. Kapp is a professor of instructional
technology in Bloomsburg University's instructional technology
department and is the assistant director of the Institute for
Interactive Technologies. He is a frequent speaker, consultant,
scholar, and expert on the convergence of learning, technology, and
business operations. He has published hundreds of articles,
whitepapers, and industry reports on the topics of organizational
learning, instructional technologies, and virtual worlds. He has
written several books, including Winning e-Learning
Proposals and Gadgets, Games, and Gizmos for Learning
and is regularly interviewed by magazine, television, and radio
outlets. Visit him at www.karlkapp.blogspot.com
Tony O'Driscoll is a professor of the practice at
Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, where he also serves as
executive director of Fuqua's Center for IT and Media; a research
center dedicated to understanding the strategic, structural, and
business model issues emerging from these vibrant and volatile
industry sectors. His research has been published in leading
academic journals such as Management Information Sciences
Quarterly, the Journal of Management Information
Systems, and the Journal of Product Innovation
Management. He has also written for respected professional
journals such as Harvard Business Review, Strategy and
Business, Supply Chain Management Review, T+D magazine, and
Chief Learning Officer magazine.
This article is an adapted excerpt from Learning in 3D: Adding
a New Dimension to Enterprise Learning and
Collaboration.