Immersive 360-degree training: Top tips for content creation

Have you ever wanted to experience someone else’s perspective firsthand? Or to have a safe environment to practice difficult conversations, allowing for mistakes without real-world consequences? Perhaps you aim to acclimate yourself to stressful situations in a controlled manner? Immersive learning technologies are specifically designed for these purposes.

Immersive learning technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Virtual Environments (VE) are invaluable for these purposes. They actively engage learners through experiential education, significantly enhancing critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and subject matter comprehension. These comprehensive and innovative solutions are tailored to address specific challenges and enhance training experiences across various industries, including customer service, healthcare, and defense. Many companies are currently exploring advanced solutions like 360° video to enhance engagement and improve training outcomes. However, effectively getting started and integrating these technologies into your training content poses challenges.

In this article, we will outline five essential tips to ensure your 360-degree content aligns with your organization’s objectives, achieves its educational goals and has a positive user experience.

Tip #1: Start with the feelings, then move on to the facts

Engagement is crucial in capturing users’ attention through emotional experiences. Immersing users in an intense situation makes them experience strong emotions, so content creators must clearly define those emotions. For example, if you’re building a piece about workplace bullying and want people to experience what that feels like, the user should feel sad and frustrated at the end of the video, just like they would in real life. This powerful emotional experience can motivate those who have never experienced bullying to change their behavior. Immersive experiences can deeply engage users and motivate behavior change by creating a compelling and adaptable environment.

You can also seek to evoke feelings of competence (navigating a tough conversation and getting to a good outcome) or joy (having a positive conversation where you help someone). There is no right or wrong answer, but this does need to guide your experience and the content you create.

Tip #2: Figure out what’s wrong

Immersive 360-degree training should solve at least one pressing problem. A great place to start is to examine your organization to see where training isn’t working in enhancing everyday work processes. Maybe employees aren’t properly trained on a new piece of equipment, causing delays and maintenance issues. Perhaps all your female employees are quitting and filing harassment suits. Perhaps you have to drag people to your current training, and they seem bored when doing it.

Identify a specific problem to solve and a way to measure if the VR training is working. This could be directly related to the issue (e.g., fewer equipment malfunctions) or measured through user surveys (e.g., employees feeling more comfortable reporting issues). For example, safety training can be significantly improved through immersive methods, leading to better safety outcomes and resource efficiency. Immersive training provides an efficient solution to organizational problems, streamlining operations and saving time and resources.

Tip #3: Learning skills versus behaviors in immersive 360-degree training

Now that you’ve identified the problem, determine its root cause and the skills or behaviors you want people to develop through your immersive 360-degree training. If bacterial infections among patients are rising, ask yourself: Are staff improperly trained on using a new type of catheter, or are they missing subtle signs of infection?

One of these issues is a skill (insertion), and the other is a behavior (being detail-oriented), requiring different training approaches. For skills, concentrate on the steps involved; for behaviors, create a story that encourages people to notice the details. Immersive training can enhance both skills and behaviors, making the learning process more effective and engaging.

Tip #4: The user is the camera

The 360 camera represents the point of view of the person who is experiencing the simulation, showcasing the innovative aspects of this technology. Think about how the other players in the experience interact with them, and remember that VR needs to have some level of interactivity to be effective. Also, think about placement – don’t put a camera anywhere a human wouldn’t go. For instance, don’t put the camera in the middle of a table unless you think a human would sit there (which is unlikely). Proper camera placement can create a more engaging user experience.

Tip #5: Keep it steady

Don’t move the camera and orient all the action around it. Excessive movement in a 360 video can make learners feel unwell during immersive training, resulting in a negative experience and reducing their willingness to watch the content. It is also advisable not to fix the camera to your head and move around. Keeping the camera steady can help engage learners more effectively.

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