Acceptance, motivation and experiential learning in virtual reality.
Immersive technology such as virtual reality has provided the healthcare sector with a lifeline during the COVID-19 pandemic by facilitating the continued delivery of medical training in what would otherwise be difficult conditions (De Ponti et al., 2020). One of the great findings of recent research is that virtual reality has been linked to increases in people’s motivation to learn (Sattar et al., 2019; Erkan, 2020; Chen, 2020). This is great news for early adopters of immersive technologies to deliver training because it is indicative of the acceptance of immersive technology amongst learners and the potential for immersive technology to enhance the learning experience. Furthermore, research has also found that learner’s memory of performing actions associated with tasks, could be significantly improved using virtual reality and that this was likely because virtual reality enables people to see, think and learn (Wong et al., 2018). Being able to visualise tasks repeatedly also affords learners the opportunity to reflect on their learning experiences enabling a deeper level of learning and understanding (Stavroulia, 2019).
Low frequency and High severity activities
This repetition is also important when considering low frequency and high severity activities which could result in serious harm if performed incorrectly in the real world. Research has shown that virtual reality can facilitate training in safe virtual environments, enabling learners to gain and retain the required knowledge and skills in realistic environments which learners may not otherwise get access to (Gout et al., 2020).
Conclusion
Much research has been undertaken and there is evidence of the utility of virtual reality to train those working in healthcare. There is still much work to do to fully realise the benefits and meet the challenges face by current software and hardware solutions. It is likely that over the next 5 years, we’ll see a convergence of hardware, software and infrastructure which will enhance the utility of virtual reality and the value it provides for healthcare workforces in the United Kingdom and internationally.