What is learning? It’s a very pertinent question today as we embark into Industry 4.0. Our new industrial revolution will move humanity forward by providing us with new tools to rethink healthcare, work, play, worship, and learning. Our current learning models have provided humankind with a leap forward in the quality of our lives. The question we get to ask now is our current model of learning is adequate for creating quality students and employees.
This article will address this important question as you will learn that new learning models are on the near horizon. The toPointC team is an enormous fan of teachers. Additionally, we stand with HR leaders as they navigate recovering from the Covid lockdown, the emergence of remote working, a shrinking labor market, and a tsunami of innovation at our doorstep.
At the beginning of this article, let’s explore the definition of learning to form a starting point for where we are and what’s possible in the future.
In moving forward, new learning models (VR Worlds) have arrived. These new immersive models are becoming validated as the next generation of learning. But it’s quickly becoming realized that VR has yet to arrive on our shores. Facebook recently has seen setbacks in the launch of their new Meta Horizon. Meta’s flagship metaverse (Horizon) must meet internal expectations and catch up with active monthly users. The news reported number is only 200,000 active users (Source).
We undoubtedly know that Meta has enough resources to fix its issues in the future. But for now, there is an issue with its realism and usability. This sense of realism is the point of this article. To that end, it’s important to note the differences between creating learning environments that generate consonance or dissonance.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines consonance as “a situation in which people are peaceful and agree with each other, or when things seem right and suitable together (Source).” They add clarification, “The Western concept of the beach is not in consonance with our cultural traditions (Source).” For our purposes, consonance is when someone enters a VR Training program that fits with their way of seeing the world.
Dissonance is the opposite of Consonance. In mental health, psychologists refer to cognitive dissonance as the “unease a person feels when they have two or more contradictory or incompatible beliefs (Source).” This uneasiness is relevant for many VR worlds of 2022. These immersive environments are getting better, but they still need to improve their ability to seem real.
We’ve all heard our five senses: feel, touch, hear, smell, and taste. When we were younger, we remember the tone of our parent’s voices when we did something ‘really’ wrong. Additionally, we could feel deep compassion when we looked into our favorite teachers’ eyes and could see that they deeply cared for me and my learning.
As we move forward, we’re going to look at Meta’s problems could be due to its dissonance in realism. In doing so, we will explore why immersive VR Learning and Training might not be quite there. In the meantime, toPointC is your VR Training choice because we don’t create a fantasy VR World. We bring learners into an environment where they can see and hear in the real world. Our training technology will provide consonance with learners and deliver improved outcomes.
From what we’ve covered, it’s difficult for VR Worlds to replicate that sense of ‘feeling’ completely connected with someone. VR doesn’t provide that eyeball-to-eyeball moment yet. For us, we hope VR never gets to that level of detail. That’s why we believe that learning improves when there’s consonance between the real world and the VR Training World. In short, human connection and seeing each other are essential.
Let’s look at four ways we learn by what we see.
Can we replicate a deep sense of love with another person in a VR World?
The technology is not there yet. As a result, it’s crucial to create a VR training program that brings the learner into an immersive environment where they can see the ‘eyes’ of the other person in the training video.
Polyvagal theory suggests that humans must feel safe from physical and emotional threats. When human learner feels unsafe, they will fall into a pattern of fight, flight, or freeze (Source).
Can you empathize with someone who has entered a VR World as a butterfly? At first, it may be fun to interact with a coworker as a butterfly. But can you feel empathy for others in a learning environment when it’s not in the real world? Due to this, toPointC is committed to showcasing that our training model is superior in teaching employees how to have empathy for other coworkers.
Facial expressions are a priority as we quickly evaluate threats, friends from foes, and past unhealed trauma. Plus, facial expressions can support learning as we can see our teacher with elevated irritation, encouragement, or even celebration. VR Worlds cannot replicate these vitally essential expressions.
In VR Worlds, our avatars look into an animated eyeball of another avatar. This connection can be fun and even engaging. But we miss out on the nonverbal communication of looking into another’s eyes. We can see another’s soul by looking into their eyes (so they say). This connection is certainly not the case in VR Worlds, as it’s impossible to make it. On the contrary, toPointC allows learners to see the eyes of another with a high-quality 360 video experience.
A second critical distinction between toPointC (real-world training) and VR Worlds is that we learn with our ears. Our sense of hearing is paramount in learning as “children pick up words they hear in their environment (Source).” On the contrary, when children lose hearing, their “basic language will often be delayed (Source).” Therefore, hearing in children and adults is essential in employee learning.
Hearinglink.org asserts that “hearing connects us to people enabling us to communicate in a way that none of our other senses can achieve (Source).” Hellen Keller said that “blindness cuts us off from things, cut deafness cuts off from people (Source).”
Let’s look at three points to make this case.
The tone is critical in learning because we can hear compassion, strength, and courage. On the flip side, we can clearly understand a message of hate, envy, and narcissism. In terms of learning, VR Worlds are improving their ability to provide consonance in their audio. This recent improvement provides a ‘spatial’ sound that gives a sense of realism. For instance, you can only hear a person’s voice as they are near your digital twin (avatar). But it’s still challenging when another person in their avatar walks about you. It provides a bit of dissonance and a sense that it’s not completely real.
The hearing provides us with a feeling of being safe. In years past, we all recognize the sound of a tiger growling and striding straight toward us. This experience would have driven us to want to run, fight, or pretend we were dead (like a mouse in a cat’s mouse). The same theory can be applied to learning. We must feel safe to let our minds learn, create, and imagine.
Hearinglink.org suggests, “We are often more likely to hear a potential threat to our safety before it becomes visible (Source).”
Safety is essential when the learner doesn’t believe there somewhere else and feels unsafe in their physical surroundings during the VR Training session. In other words, I may feel unsafe as I have this VR headset on.
As a result, VR learning needs to be done in a manner that provides safety and security to the learner. This safe, quiet, distraction-free environment is necessary to provide a secure experience. In a nutshell, audile distractions can provide dissonance and a feeling of imminent danger to the learner.
In this regard, we believe that VR Worlds can provide a hearing in training environments. But not in the same way that we think that a tiger is running after us. So, it’s not quite there yet.
Our world needs a lot of empathy training. In this regard, can VR Worlds provide a true sense of empathy when there is not 100% consonance? We think the answer is yes! But the technology to be genuinely realistic has yet to be quite there. Therefore, toPointC is your perfect empathy training platform before we all jump into our VR Worlds in years to come.