In the modern scenario, every business is growing across a digital landscape. It is evident that organizations are using mobile platforms and online learning management systems to transform their learning experiences. In response to the evolving needs of new-age learners, enterprises are looking to leverage digital technologies to drive workplace productivity, learner engagement and competitive edge. One area that carves a niche in workplace training is Augmented Reality (AR). It improves the overall learning experience by immersing users in a hypothetical environment, enabling them to experience reality from different perspectives. This immersive experience is effective for contextualizing knowledge in a simulated space – increasing understanding as well as retention.
Augmented Reality- Seeing is Believing
Augmented reality is the technology used to augment real-world environment by adding computer-generated information. The main aim of AR is to simplify user experience by providing virtual information to the actual environment. It helps to enhance the sense of reality by putting virtual things in the real time.
The scope of AR is exponentially rising and will have a lot more going for it. AR addresses the challenge of combining physical experiences with online content. Along the way, it takes workplace collaboration to the next level, and industries are beginning to realize this potential. A collaborative environment helps learners to interact with each other, even from different geographical locations. Few examples of workplace collaboration through AR are when multiple players participate at a time to learn a specific skill orsurgery simulation where doctors and nurses undergo training in the virtual environment.
Role of AR Across Varied DomainsThe success of digital learning is all set to advance in the coming time and AR is the technology that will act as a catalyst for this. The future of e-learning technologies looks promising with the incorporation of AR in the following sectors:
- Corporate
AR offers endless opportunities for training at the workplace, from simple laboring techniques to high level executive leadership management. The augmented reality solution promises to impart immersive training experiences, mitigating the risk of taking them to a hazardous site. - Healthcare
There is a huge scope of AR in the healthcare sector, helping doctors perform operations more accurately. For instance, AccuVein is a handheld device used to project an image of the skin of the veins and valves to enable doctors to find a vein for injection with ease. - Food safety
Restaurants and other food service outlets integrate virtual reality with workplace training to bring effective food service to the classroom. Using AR headsets, learners engage in a busy environment where they can manage varied kinds of foods and address issues of allergens and contaminants without any hassle. - Construction
There is a wide scope of using AR at construction sites. Engineers as well as workers undergo training in real life scenarios, taking safety measures without causing problems on an actual construction site.
There is a myriad of reasons why virtual and augmented reality will prove to be a grand slam in the year 2018. The below statistics depict that technology’s largest sector ‘Video Gaming’ will show a major increase in usage of AR from the year 2020 to 2025. Apart from Healthcare, Engineering, Real Estate and Education domains, the implementation of AR via online learning platforms will emerge for Video Entertainment and Live Events (figure shown below):
Because of its versatility, most of the organizations are embracing AR to deliver a personalized learning experience for all. With the utmost commitment to use world-class technologies in the realm of e-learning, the overall experience can be taken to a whole new level. AR is something that if you can imagine and interact with it, then you can incorporate it for a better workplace learning experience.