Who will benefit from the Metaverse’s impact on corporate eLearning?
The Metaverse’s widespread adoption is just around the corner, and it’s about to revolutionise how individuals experience digital learning through eLearning for corporate training. Not all businesses are indeed eager to jump aboard the metaverse train.
However, the advantages of this technology can’t be overlooked in most cases, especially in customer and employee engagement, just like no one can deny blockchain’s benefits to digital learning. The Metaverse and blockchain can coexist just fine, and both have the power to create better learning experiences, whether at work or in university.
While you’ll see how Metaverse can benefit corporate eLearning, it’s notable to acknowledge how the technology that gave wings to cryptocurrency can come to its aid. Among the most significant learning issues is cost. Students who can’t access libraries or afford books have few means of learning; therefore, fewer job opportunities. But in a tokenized education, they could earn tokens by doing work-for-hire tasks for educational partners or teachers.
If you find the Metaverse appealing, you likely know a thing or two about cryptocurrency, so it’s important to note that registering on an exchange and setting up a crypto wallet isn’t the whole process. You’ll have to check the Bitcoin price USD before investing in it, as prices fluctuate highly, and you want to buy it at a reasonable price.
Keep reading to see how the Metaverse impacts corporate eLearning and how companies and employees can benefit from it.
Metaverse explained
The notion of virtual worlds shared and experienced by internet users is nothing new. However, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, played an essential part in the current spike in interest in this technology. After announcing Meta – the new social technology corporation that controls giant platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg talked about bringing the Metaverse to the global audience, which is the company’s new trajectory.
The Metaverse is envisioned as a network of interconnected 3D Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) spaces and can be accessed with AR-compatible mobile devices, VR goggles, and similar readily available hardware.
How the Metaverse can change corporate eLearning
Employee eLearning in a hybrid workplace depends a lot on video conferencing. While partially effective, video conferencing is nowhere near as helpful as in-person training, especially when it comes to creating a more tightly-knit workplace culture. That is set to change thanks to metaverse eLearning; the question is more of a “when”.
According to statistics, VR-powered training has a retention rate of up to 75%, which is significantly higher than the 20% retention rate for audio-visual learning.
Here’s how the Metaverse makes it possible.
By improving real-world skills in hybrid and virtual environments
The Metaverse provides immersive, embodied skilling opportunities, using high-pressure situations and real-world scenarios where mistakes don’t come with repercussions. When well developed, Metaverse combines spatial design and data science with VR to improve eLearning engagement, confidence, and application. Here are two benefits of training in the Metaverse:
Deliberate practice. The Metaverse offers feedback loops and intense training, allowing learners to hone their skills by practising multiple variations of a concept. The game “Walmart’s Spark City” is different every time it’s played; when clients appear 10 feet and if safety hazards like spills have been previously addressed, players have to ask if they can help.
Experiential learning. The pharmaceutical giant Novartis uses high-fidelity, multiplayer VR stimulation to train life-saving lab skills. eLearners enter a virtual lab and practice labelling bags, removing bag caps, and welding tubes, with unlimited do-overs alongside instructors.
By improving accessibility for people with disabilities
The Metaverse can improve social and educational access for individuals with disabilities. An immersive environment, for instance, allows those with autism, special needs, and social interaction issues to improve their professional and interpersonal skills, like loading goods in trucks or shelving products at a store. They may practise skills and engage with others in a safe environment using VR applications without feeling anxious or overwhelmed.
VR can also help those with anxiety or mobility issues improve their quality of life. The Starlight charity, for example, allows paediatric patients to “escape” the walls of their hospital room and “enter” another world by using VR goggles. They can visit faraway places and experience playing soccer, which can clearly help open the door to more employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
By employing gamification elements to boost engagement
Even though many business leaders initially only saw a gaming platform in the Metaverse, it didn’t take long to realise this technology’s potential regarding HR, CRM, and marketing. Besides, businesses use gamification to ramp up the employee experience.
Think of Sally Beauty. The company used scenario-based games in eLearning sessions for the beauty advisors, helping associates interact better regarding hair colour purchases through realistic scenarios. When learners picked the wrong colour, they’d receive instant feedback.
In the longer term, gamification can ramp up the employee experience through elements like customisable avatars, awards, and scoreboards.
By coaching through shared virtual workspaces
Collaboration is among the vital elements of a business, and it’s made possible during one-on-one coaching sessions thanks to shared virtual workspaces. Some metaverse platforms can present photorealistic user projections to help develop professional connections within companies.
Microsoft’s “Mesh for Teams”, for instance, has “holoportation” technology, which through augmented reality, renders another employee’s image in the user’s view, taking online coaching to the next level.
By stimulating workplaces and real-life boardrooms
The Metaverse can create virtual boardrooms that give employees the feeling of face-to-face interaction. Trainers can ensure there are no distractions in this type of environment, which isn’t the case with video meetings with remote employees. Additionally, they can have instant access to materials and teaching tools for the learning experience since virtual spaces are highly customisable. This includes interactive elements within the digital environment, whiteboards, notes, and file sharing.
People feel that the Metaverse will sooner or later become a necessity to make life easier. AR and VR, 3D visuals, and the gaming feature can benefit the whole education system, making it easier for employees to perfect required job skills and for companies to achieve their goals.
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Who will benefit from the Metaverse’s impact on corporate eLearning?