How might VR training connect us? Disconnect us? Develop our skills? Photo by Gerd Altmann on Pixabay. CC0
The RRU MALAT Program journey has brought our cohort to course LRNT 526, Inquiry into Contemporary Issues in Learning Technologies. In this course, we will be using the practice of critical inquiry to explore a learning technology through the lens of a specific learning experience and a further, deeper dive into a subsection of the use of that technology. I have joined Jeff Clemens, Alastair Linds, and Anita Fahrenbruch to form Team Anonymous Dumbo Octopus as we embark on an examination of Virtual Reality (VR) and its use for developing communication skills. Our learning activity is the VR game Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, which is a part of the curriculum for MGMT 1103 at Bow Valley College. This VR game is intended to help technology students develop teamwork skills.
Our team blog post (Boyce, Clemens, Fahrenbruch, and Linds, 2019) highlighted some early discoveries in our readings and included reflections on:
- Why the use of VR is necessary to develop compassion and empathy for healthcare providers.
- Understanding 3 ways to interact with VR; passively, interactively and via immersion.
- A deeper dive into immersive VR including context, interface, locality, and content.
- How VR can be used with children that require learning support in order to develop their social skills.
After this initial foray into the topic of VR for communication skills development, this author continued to examine the use of VR educational technology within the context of healthcare. A measured
Can VR be used to develop empathy in healthcare providers? Photo by Pixabay user 3dman_eu. CC0
investigation of the affordances of VR, paired with research on how these affordances could be leveraged to optimize learning outcomes was found. Lok, Ferdig, Raij, Johnsen, Dickerson, Coutts, Stevens and Lind (2006) supported what we learned in LRNT 523, Foundations of Learning and Technologies; that all edtech innovations must be underpinned by sound foundational pedagogy. Lok et al. (2006) take the time to remind us of the need for authenticity in learning experiences as learners expect real-world problems. Lok et al. (2006) informed that a sense of learner control and social participation in their learning will also help to push learners to the Zone of Proximal Development, reducing boredom and frustration. In line with Papert’s constructionist thinking (Ackermann, 2001), Lok et al. (2006) also supported that learners using edtech such as VR require the opportunity to apply the learning and represent their knowledge, as well as their understanding of the problem, by creating artifacts of learning in the virtual world. Keeping these themes in mind may help to evaluate how robust a VR training environment is as well as question the need for the added expense given current training opportunities already present.
This author’s intention is to dive deeper beyond the use of VR for communication skills development and find research to support its use in developing healthcare practitioner empathy and compassion. Prasolova-Førland, Steinsbekk, Fominykh, and Lind (2017) argued that most VR simulations tend to focus on skills development and cognition, lacking the support for developing teamwork and communication. Prasolova-Førland et al. referenced the TeamSTEPPS framework from the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a supportive program to use with VR to optimize competencies of team performance. The TeamSTEPPS approach focuses on communication, leadership, mutual support, and situational monitoring (Prasolova-Førland, et al., 2017). Learners in Prasolova-Førland et al.’s study all felt that the VR training enhanced their understanding of the importance of clear and structured communication; however, only 37.5% of learners felt that the training allowed them to grasp the importance of clarifying the patients’ wishes in order to set common healthcare goals for treatment and follow-up. If VR is to be used to develop empathy for patient experience, learning scenarios will need to be structured for these outcomes, perhaps utilizing emotion and immersion to garner deeper understanding.
Further exploration of how VR may be used to train healthcare teams will be necessary to investigate the unique use of VR for understanding the patient experience. Shin (2018) offered that the complex narratives supported by VR allowed for more emotional reactions to the stories. Does this emotional connection deepen the experience and thus, the engagement with the learning? After reading this post, I ask for your reflections and ideas below in the comments section to guide my inquiry on this sub-topic. For additional prompting, I offer these questions:
Questions for reader engagement
- What assumptions does VR learning make about learners?
- What background or contextual concerns about the use of VR may be important to consider when developing learner empathy?
- How should inclusivity or accessibility be considered in VR training environments?
- How does VR’s emergent role as an educational technology balance with various learning theories (behaviorist, cognitivist, social constructivist, and connectivist learning theories)?
CB
References:
Ackermann, E. (2001). Piaget’s constructivism, Papert’s constructionism: What’s the difference. Future of learning group publication, 5(3), 438.
Boyce, C., Clemens, J., Farrenbruch, A., & Linds, A. (April 14, 2019) [blog post] Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) and the Development of Soft Skills. Retrieved from https://malat-webspace.royalroads.ca/rru0051/virtual-reality-vr-and-augmented-reality-ar-in-the-development-of-soft-skills-team-anonymous-dumbo-octopus-ask-about-the-name/
Prasolova-Førland, E., Steinsbekk, A., Fominykh, M., & Lindseth, F. (2017, June). Practicing interprofessional team communication and collaboration in a smart virtual university hospital. In International Conference on Smart Education and Smart E-Learning (pp. 191-224). Springer, Cham.
Shin, D. (2018). Empathy and embodied experience in virtual environment: To what extent can virtual reality stimulate empathy and embodied experience? Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.09.012
Lok, B., Ferdig, R.E., Raij, A., Johnsen, K., Dickerson, R., Coutts, J., Stevens, A., Linds, D.S. (2006). Applying virtual reality in medical communication education: current findings and potential teaching and learning benefits of immersive virtual patients. Virtual Reality, 10, 185-195. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-006-0037-3
April 20, 2019
It’s exciting to think about how VR can be used not just for skill development (even psychomotor) or cognitive learning, but constructivist as well. I think a challenge will be testing the assumption that VR automatically provides the ‘immersion factor’ – particularly with regard to social interaction. A good simulation could certainly engage the socially constructive aspect and move learners into their ZPD, and “Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes” is a fantastic example. I suspect that it may take some time for some learners to adapt to the ‘big black box’ that is strapped to their face, and how it might affect their perception of interplay with other participants. I suspect some people may be comfortable with it, whereas others might find it disconnects them from the familiar face to face (eye-to-eye?) contact they are used to. Sounds exciting, it will be interesting to see what you come up with!
April 24, 2019
Hi Ken and thank you for participating in this conversation. I too was interested in the ability of everyone to become immersed in the VR training. My early readings are suggesting that individual personality traits play a role in the ability of a learner to become immersed in the scenario. If this is the case, would instructors need to tailor scenarios for training to each individual learner? Would this create too much workload or be worth the effort? Would this impact cost to deliver the education via prep time required or scenario options?
Thank you for joining the conversation! CB
April 22, 2019
Hi Christy
There is a lot of talk in trades training regarding the use of VR. This would allow students to see and work with machinery that they may not have access to in labs or even their real-world experience. I see this being absolutely transformative in the future of trades training. One of the big questions that I have regarding VR is access. Aside from in school labs, not everyone will have access to a VR player. I understand that the prices are coming down and that there are even workarounds for smartphones. In my experience, I have found that not all students have smartphones so this is perhaps an issue that schools need to explore as they experiment more and more with this powerful technology.
April 24, 2019
HI Chad, Thank you for joining in the conversation. I can see some parallels in the use of AR or VR between studying human physiology and anatomy vs. electrical systems or plumbing systems. Getting familiar with the complexities and mastering an understanding of a closed system before you engage in altering it is ideal! I too am interested in access issues. I’m a bit too hesitant to walk into a store and buy a full VR headset or system, but luckily, my daughter had an AR cooking set that included some goggles – so I gave it a try with my Samsung smartphone! As with any technology, I find that children are less hesitant and inhibited, so I wonder if a playful spirit needs to be supported along with strong psychological safety? In terms of access only in the classroom environment, I wonder if this type of training could be treated as a flipped classroom model? Planning and reading before you come in to class and taking advantage of the ‘interaction’ while you are there (where the tools are)?
Thank you for stimulating the conversation!
CB
April 28, 2019
Hi Christy,
I think you are dead on when you say children and less hesitant and inhibited and that we possibly need an attitude of playfulness when we approach these new technologies. The benefit we have is we know where the line is as far as safety is concerned.