VR KILLED THE RADIO STAR

We're sure over the past year you’ve heard the abbreviation VR thrown about at just about any announcement of a new tech device. VR stands for Virtual Reality and it’s starting to creep into our lives whether you want it to or not. Now the question is, will virtual reality change how we gain soft skills? 

Whether this new type of tech stands the test of time (like Blu-Ray) or is destined to be forgotten in a few years (3D TVs anyone?) remains to be seen. Even so, the potential this new technology offers can’t be denied.

In the next few years we might see the incorporation of VR into learning, which has the potential to revolutionise the way we pick up soft skills – the transferable skills we take from job to job.

Current soft skills ‘training’ usually involves reading text, watching videos, viewing slideshows, answering questions – things everyone is guilty of skimming through to tick boxes, without taking much in.

This is where VR offers opportunity. You're completely immersed within a scenario and get feedback in real time, and so more likely to withhold the information.

This means that in a scenario designed to improve a person’s soft skills, they could be rewarded instantly with, for example, a green tick or told that what they’re doing isn’t quite right with a red cross. Ideal to help those neural wires in your brain remember what's right and what’s wrong in particular scenarios, be that in a job, interacting with people or just in general life.

Maybe you're placed in a scenario where an AI is showing poor soft skills. They might be rude, hard to communicate with or particularly frustrating. Being put in such a scenarios virtually would help you know learn how to react  in real life, meaning, in the long run, nobody should be behaving like the unhelpful person in your VR headset.

With technology and AI constantly improving, it may not be too long before we see this technology used in work training and within schools. Just look how quickly iPads made it into schools to help with learning.

So while VR is currently used mostly for gaming, movies and ‘experiences’, be ready for the time where it's used within more aspects of your life.

​Enjoy your virtual racing for now, because soon you’ll be doing virtual learning.