AR, VR, AND

ENHANCED
REALITIES
Seven Perspectives
on the Potential and
Risks for Learning

AR, VR, AND ENHANCED REALITIES

2016 by The eLearning Guild. All rights reserved.

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AR, VR, AND ENHANCED REALITIES

Table of Contents

Introduction 1
New Technologies: Do They Really Change Learning Strategies?, by Joe Ganci and Sherry Larson 2
Enhanced Realities: An Opportunity to Avoid the Mistakes of the Past, by David Kelly 6
Let the Use Case Drive What Gets AugmentedNot the Other Way Around, by Chad Udell 9
Augmented Reality: An Augmented Perspective, by Alexander Salas 11
Virtual Reality Will Be the Perfect Immersive Learning Environment, by Koreen Pagano 14
Will VR Succeed? Viewpoint from Within a Large Corporation, by John OHare 17
Will VR Succeed? Viewpoint from Running a VR Start-up, by Ishai Albert Jacob 20

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AR, VR, AND ENHANCED REALITIES

Introduction
Its finally here.
Ive been captivated by virtual reality from the moment I tried Ride the Comix, a ride at Orlandos DisneyQuest,
many years ago. It was a fairly crude implementation of VR, but one that nonetheless left me exceptionally
curious about the potential for the immersive nature of virtual worlds. Similarly, I recall the excitement I felt when
I first tried Wikitude, an early augmented reality app from almost a decade ago. The wonder of having contextual
information overlaid on top of a live view of the world seemed to open unlimited possibilities.
The challenge with both of these examples was that the mainstream technology available to run the applications
wasnt really up to the task of bringing these ideas to their full potential. We needed computers with faster
processing power, and sensors that could better track and measure movement, in order to build truly immersive realtime VR and AR experiences.
And now we have them.
While our smartphones are an integral part of our daily lives today, a decade ago the appearance of the iPhone was a
disruptive novelty. Thats similar to where we are with VR, AR, and mixed realities today.
Virtual, augmented, and mixed reality applications are poised to explode into the consumer market. That explosion
will bring with it the mainstreaming of this technology that transforms how we look at content, opening new
opportunities not only for how we entertain ourselves but also for how we connect, share, and learn.
For this eBook, weve reached out to members of The eLearning Guild community who are already exploring these
new technologies. What follows is a collection of seven different perspectives examining the possibilities and
implications these emerging technologies have for learning and performance.
Each contribution to this eBook is unique, reflecting the perspective of the author. Youll notice some shared
opinions, as well as areas where the authors do not agree. Youll be challenged with questions that we, as an industry,
need to consider as we look to harness the potential of VR, AR, and mixed realities for learning. Id like to close by
thanking the authors featured in this eBook for generously sharing their thoughts on this important topic. Its sharing
like this that makes the Guild community as strong as it is.
Thank you for being a part of it.
David Kelly
Senior Vice President and Executive Director
The eLearning Guild
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AR, VR, AND ENHANCED REALITIES

New Technologies:
Do They Really Change
Learning Strategies?
Joe Ganci

Joe Ganci is president of eLearningJoe, a custom learning company. Since 1983, he has been involved in every aspect
of multimedia and learning development. Joe is considered a guru for his expertise in eLearning development, and he
consults with clients worldwide. His eLearning tool reviews appear each month in Learning Solutions Magazine, and he
has been the recipient of several awards for his work in eLearning. His mission is to improve the quality of eLearning
with practical approaches that work. He loves to help others achieve their goals. Joe was awarded the Guild Master
Award in 2013 for his accomplishments and contributions to the eLearning community.

Sherry Larson

Sherry Nolan Larson, the owner and president of Learning IDeologies, is a senior learning and development
professional with broad-based skills designing, developing, managing, and delivering eLearning, instructor-led learning,
and blended-learning solutions for large-scale projects in the healthcare, industrial automation and services, retail,
government, airlines, financial services, and telecommunications industries. Her specialties include team leadership,
instructional design, business and process analysis, project management, and customer relationship management. She
is a past president of PACT and was also on the board for Fifty Lanterns International. She holds an MEd degree.
A long time ago, in a cave somewhere, a caveman dad was trying to teach his little caveman son how to track down
and kill an animal. It was a question of survival, after all. No hunt, no food. His son was still too little to be taken
outside on a hunt, where the boy would be easy pickings for a fast predator, so the cave served as not only a home
but also a classroom.
Seeing his son confused, he tried showing the boy how to walk quietly, all the while inside the cave. He tried to show
him how he would throw a spear, though his hand was empty at the time. His son just cocked his head and looked
quizzically at his father. He lacked an understanding of the connection between the funny thing Daddy was doing
and what an actual hunt would be like, never having participated in one before.
Dad felt frustrated with himself. How could he get through to his son? Then he had an idea. He went outside and
found one of those funny rocks that would leave a mark wherever you rubbed it. He used it to draw on one of the
cave walls a hunting party stealthily approaching a large animal, spears in hand ready to launch at the right moment.
He hadnt taken drawing classes; it was a natural talent he seemed to possess, taking reality and translating it into
lines on the cave wall.

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Figure 1: Cave markings were once a new technology (Source: Clemens Schmillen photo, licensed under CC BY-SA
3.0; https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31399425)
The sons eyes got big and he had an epiphany. Suddenly, in his mind, the scene was set, and it was as close to the
reality as it was possible to be without stepping foot outside and joining an actual hunting party.
A new technology had been applied to the learning process: drawings. Today, it would be hard to imagine a textbook
that didnt include images. We are such visual creatures that a lack of appropriate images would be unthinkable when
trying to learn something new, especially when that thing exists in the physical world. Exceptions might include the
study of philosophy or logic, but even there youll find plenty of images brought to bear to help illustrate difficult
concepts.
So, thats it. Drawings began on cave walls, and there have been no other technological breakthroughs since. Oh,
oops, no! Despite the fact that so much of eLearning is simple text and images, theres more that we can use to
make our learning easier. In this century, of course, we also have audio and video to help our learners pick up the new
knowledge faster and better.
All this represents the simple fact that when a new technology is invented, especially when it becomes ubiquitous
and inexpensive, instructional designers will attempt to use it to see whether it will improve their instruction. In
almost every case, the new technology is met with resistance by some and with wholehearted acceptance by others,
until there comes a time when experts agree the new technology is useful in some areas and useless in others. For
instance, most of us would agree that including video could be very helpful in a surgery lesson, but a video of an
accountant balancing a spreadsheet would probably be a waste in a bookkeeping lesson.
Science has reached the point where it is bringing us new technologies faster and faster. In every case, many of
us are first adopters, while others prefer to wait and see whether a technology proves itself. As an example, when
Google Glass was released I saw a lot of folks sporting it, but now I cant say the last time I saw someone wearing it.
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AR, VR, AND ENHANCED REALITIES

Figure 2: The Gear VR headset by Samsung (Source: licensed under CC0 1.0; https://pixabay.com/en/woman-vrvirtual-reality-technology-1418844/)
The question for us, though, is not whether a new technology proves to be popular. It is whether or not it will help
the learner learn better! If Google Glass had proved itself essential to a certain form of learning, it would likely be in
widespread use in that learning form.
The big question for any organization, then, is: Which new technologies will prove essential to the learning the
organization needs for its employees, and which will go bust, having proved to be no more than a flash in the pan?
New technologies, like everything else in life, must serve a purpose if they are to be used. Hence, our cell phones,
which have now become in some cases more powerful than the laptops of 10 years ago, have proved themselves the
killers of many a technology that came before. Many people no longer carry a digital camera, let alone a camera that
uses film you have to develop. Our smartphone photos and videos are quite good now. We no longer need to wear
a watch to know what time it is, or to carry a separate music or video player, portable game system, or many other
devices.

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AR, VR, AND ENHANCED REALITIES

Figure 3: The Myo armband by Thalmic Labs (Source: Antonio Zugaldia photo, licensed under CC BY 2.0; https://
www.flickr.com/photos/azugaldia/12660932383)
However, the smartphone is not happy just killing off regular technologies. It adds to itself new ideas as well, or at
least older ideas in a new way. Most higher-end smartphones now are capable of virtual reality (VR) technology, the
first step toward a full-fledged holodeck environment la Star Trek.
With our trusty laptops and desktops, as well as our phones, we continue to see tremendous growth in accessories
that allow us to move away from the desk and let our minds soar; and, yes, we can impart that same ability to our
learnersin the right space and at the right time.
Obviously, some of these technologies need to become more popular for the simple reason that it will lower their
prices tremendously. Even before then, though, we may find that a new device ends up being so crucial in terms of
lives saved, huge expenses reduced, or in some other tangible way that its able to pay for itself.
To adopt a new technology for learning, we need only ask whether it will greatly benefit the learner. The learner is
always at the center of what we do. If we focus on the learner, we cant go wrong.

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AR, VR, AND ENHANCED REALITIES

Enhanced Realities:
An Opportunity to Avoid
the Mistakes of the Past
David Kelly

David Kelly is the senior vice president and executive director of The eLearning Guild. David has been a learning and
performance consultant and training director for more than 15 years. He is a leading voice exploring how technology
can be used to enhance training, education, learning, and organizational performance. David is an active member of
the learning community and can frequently be found speaking at industry events. He has contributed to organizations
including ATD, eLearn Magazine, LINGOs, and more. David is also known for his curation efforts, especially related to
conferences and events for learning and performance professionals.
I distinctly remember the exact moment when I gave up on Second Life.
For those who may not know what Second Life is, its website describes it as a 3-D world where everyone you see is a
real person and every place you visit is built by people just like you. When it was first introduced in the early 2000s,
there was a huge buzz around it, including the opportunities it could open up for education and training.
I registered for an event that was an opportunity to experience the future of education in Second Life. I logged in at
the scheduled time, and my avatar appeared in the virtual space for the event. I walked my avatar into a building, and
into a room where the virtual participants were gathering. The room was filled with seats. The avatars were jumping
around the room (it was early tech then, not as polished as what we expect today) as people explored what it was like
to exist in this new virtual space.
At the time the event was about to start, the avatars started finding open seats. I took my avatar toward one and
awkwardly sat my virtual self down. I turned the camera toward the rooms front, where a virtual screen was present.
The presentation started, and my virtual avatar sat in a virtual seat watching a presentation on a virtual screen.
Thats when I logged out. In truth, I havent logged back in since.

New technologies, old methodologies

The reason I logged out was simple: The experience I was invited to took the typical experience that many trainers
and educators are familiar with (the classroom) and built it in a virtual world.
I would argue that the virtual world I was invited to incorporated the weakest part of the classroom experiencethe
lectureand removed any of the interactive opportunities available through classroom-based learning.
Worse, the experience did not explore any of the unique affordances and opportunities available through the Second
Life environment.
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This isnt a new story

This example isnt unique to Second Life. Unfortunately, this story is something weve seen a few times in the past
few decades.
When computer-based learning emerged, it often took the form of automated distribution of content
from face-to-face lectures, ignoring the opportunities for interaction present in a desktop computing
environment.
When online learning emerged, we often took advantage of the distribution efficiencies available via the
Internet, but we didnt fully explore the possibilities of what being connected opened up to us.
When smartphones emerged, we often focused on making content designed with the desktop in mind
appropriately accessible on a mobile screen, ignoring the unique capabilities of smartphones and the critical
differences of the mobile worker.
Theres a trend present here, one that we have the opportunity to break away from as virtual reality (VR),
augmented reality (AR), and other like technologies emerge as the next likely disruption in the educational
technology story.

The Baggage of What Is

The common thread that I see in each of those examples is the baggage people bring into their approaches with new
technologies. I describe this as the Baggage of What Is.
The Baggage of What Is holds us back from fully exploring the possibilities that are present in new technologies (and
extends to most forms of change in general). Its the lack of ability or desire, be it conscious or unconscious, to let go
of the current status quo to embrace something new.
In order to enjoy the opportunities presented to us by a new technology, we need to be truly open to the possibilities
that the technology allows. Its almost impossible to fully embrace these possibilities without letting go of the
Baggage of What Is.
The challenge with the Baggage of What Is is that its not as simple as making a choice to do something differently. In
fact, Id argue that you cant consciously choose to let go of the Baggage of What Is, because in reality, you probably
didnt consciously choose to pick it up in the first place.
The Baggage of What Is is mostly shaped by the mindset through which you approach your work. In my experience,
most people who are presented with a new technology (like AR or VR) explore it with some form of this question in
mind: How do I do what I do using this new technology?
And that question, more than anything, best represents the weight of the Baggage of What Is.

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AR, VR, AND ENHANCED REALITIES

Ask the right question

When you are presented with a new technology, what you are essentially presented with is a disruption. Many
people see disruption as something that has a negative impact, but I dont see it that way. Disruption is simply a
change in the status quo. Its not positive or negative; its just a change. What makes the perception of the disruption
positive or negative isnt usually the disruption itself; its how we respond to the disruption that ultimately shapes our
perceptions.
Our mindset helps shape how we respond to a disruption. A mindset formed around a question like How do I do
what I do using this new technology? sets the stage for a defensive reaction to change. The constraint of How do
I do what I do implies a need to maintain what I do. Anything the technology presents that is a deviation from
what I do (or What Is) conflicts with the constraint, often being perceived as a negative disruption.
To avoid the negative disruption, we can easily find ourselves shoehorning old methodologies into new technologies,
leaving all the new possibilities unexplored.
But what if we change the question?
If we approach new technologies with a question like How can this technology change what I do?or What
existing barriers could this technology help me overcome?the mindset is completely different. It changes the lens
through which we view the technology to one of exploration and discovery. It shifts caution to curiosity. It opens the
door to possibilities for education, training, and learning that previously were out of our reach.
Thats my hope as we enter this new period of disruption. We have an opportunity to avoid the mistakes of the past;
to look at AR, VR, and related technologies with fresh eyes that can explore all possibilities, without being held back
by the Baggage of What Is.
If we can approach our work with this mindset, the possibilities are truly endless. The right mindset can make all the
difference, not just for the future of AR, VR, and mixed realities, but for the future of our profession as a whole.

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AR, VR, AND ENHANCED REALITIES

Let the Use Case Drive

What Gets Augmented
Not the Other Way Around
Chad Udell

Chad Udell is the managing director of Float. Chad creates strategies and designs and develops mobile learning
web and app solutions for industry-leading Fortune 500 companies. He is recognized as an expert in design and
development, and speaks regularly at conferences on design, development, and mobile learning. Chad, who holds a BS
degree in graphic design from Bradley University, is the author of Learning Everywhere: How Mobile Content Strategies
Are Transforming Training and Mastering Mobile Learning: Tips and Techniques for Success. He received the Guild Master
Award in 2015.
Oh, technology, you beguiling devil, you! We see your demos during conference season at CES in Vegas and World
Mobile Congress in Barcelona. We watch from our couches while you are featured as tidbits and feel-good puff
pieces on the evening news with Lester Holt. Your latest tricks have us all enchanted, just like you knew they would.
Augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality. Its all so sexy. So inviting. So cool. I just need to find a way to bring
you into my learning strategy.
But wait...
No. You wont get me so easily! I wont look at your amazing videos of jellyfish floating in front of mesmerized people
and immediately jump to the conclusion that an augmented reality jellyfish is exactly what my learning initiatives
were missing. I wont try out Google Cardboard at my friends house and determine that a VR roller coaster easily
translates to an eLearning course that my audience will love. I certainly wont download Pokmon Go and make the
stretch that my onboarding program is missing cute, fuzzy monsters if it really wants to take off.
No. I will not buckle! I will steel myself for the inevitable emails from my managers and executives telling me about
the amazing virtual painting experience they tried at the nephews house, which convinced them we need a virtual
painting app to show our salespeople how our paint products work. I have to stay away from frivolous proofs of
concept inspired by seeing Minecraft played on Microsoft HoloLens. Ill have the strength to withstand VR videos of
Stonehenge in my Facebook feed and realize its the content that makes it special, not the technology itself.

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AR, VR, AND ENHANCED REALITIES

Yes. I can be discerning! I will engage with my organization and recognize that some things in performance support
can be made easier and more effective by overlaying augmented reality information onto my learners field of view,
similarly to how Tom Clancys The Division did this on my Xbox One. I will realize that sometimes VR simulations
can be effective at mimicking or simulating otherwise difficult-to-replicate environments, like that amazing demo
on the HTC Vive, theBlu: Encounter. I will discuss the possibility that object detection could make my technicians
jobs easier when finding compatible parts, just like the instant translation capabilities in Google Translate helped me
understand the signs on streets in Rome.
OK... I think I finally understand. The need and the use case must drive the technology adoption, not the other
way around. Otherwise, we might as well just be buying LaserDisc players and rebuilding our corporate campuses in
Second Life while our Google Glasses charge on the shelf. Actually, I wanted to watch that VR video game trailer of
an X-Wings Death Star trench run on YouTube one more time Maybe that would make an interesting course for
my sales training curriculum.

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AR, VR, AND ENHANCED REALITIES

Augmented Reality:
An Augmented Perspective
Alexander Salas

Alexander Salas, an LMS supervisor for Centene Corporation, has been a technical trainer and instructional designer
for the last 10 years after serving as a combat medic for the US Navy. Alexander has been a lead organizer of the
Orlando Articulate User Group. He shares design tips and tricks at Articulates E-Learning Heroes Community.
Augmented reality (AR), along with its technological cousin, virtual reality (VR), will likely be the most talkedabout concept for learning in 2017. Why? The time is right, and the technology is simple and affordable today. These
technologies are not new and many years ago were always a glimpse of the future. AR, in particular, offers several
opportunities to enrich experiences in learning and development (L&D) by increasing engagement in innovative
ways. This is an overview of the opportunities and risks associated with adopting AR as part of a workplace learning
strategy.

Why augmented reality?

Every learning intervention to meet a business need must start with this question: Why? Training is not the solution
to everything, and especially not when all thats needed is performance support. AR offers great opportunities for
both realms.
For example: Imagine the most effective instructor-led training (ILT) course in the world. Despite how great it
can be, it is still limited by time and space. An ILT only happens when it happens; often, theres no opportunity for
learners to review or revisit what was discussed during the course. AR can help instructors create digital footprints
for learners to follow any time after the course is over. In the context of performance support, imagine interactive
tutorials that can be viewed using a smartphone while standing next to the equipment in question, or the work task
or process to be performed.

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AR, VR, AND ENHANCED REALITIES

Augmented opportunities

Its ironic that AR started at Boeing as a clever solution for plane technicians working on wiring diagrams. It was used
as a performance support tooland that happened almost 30 years ago. Today, virtually all professionals have some
kind of mobile device, and AR is highly accessible. Yet the marketing industry has led all others in the use of this
technology.
How can L&D maximize its reach and effectiveness with AR? Here are some opportunities L&D leaders can take:
Self-directed onboarding
Its your first day of work at the new company. As you approach the lobby, the receptionist provides you
with the usual stuff: temporary badge, meal pass, and a binder full of onboarding forms. However, this
time is different; she bypasses the binder and points to a poster on the wall to her right. She texts you a
link to download the company onboarding app, and then she says, Please download the app, open it, and
point your phone camera at the poster of our CEO to begin your tour. Welcome to the team! You follow
these instructions, and as you point the camera toward the image of the CEO on the poster, a video of her
welcoming you to the company begins to play on your phone. The video also explains that there are several
other posters throughout the company on which you can use the app to gain information about that area of
the business, and even email the department head with questions. This is not science fiction; this is AR, and
the future is now.
Augmented sales support
Tom sells propellers for marine outboard engines. As he visits prospects with miniature product samples,
his customers always ask, Can we see how it performs? Tom has used YouTube videos in the past, but the
videos occasionally dont play well when his tablet has a weak Internet connection. However, on his last
visit, Tom was able to use an AR app on his tablet that tracks the image of one of his samples and shows a
diagram of how it would fit on a specific engine. He then hands the tablet over to his prospect to change
parameters or even the model of the sample, to try different options. This use of AR can also be applied for
other equipment to illustrate its operation in context and on-site.

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The risks of augmented reality

As with most technologies, the biggest risk of implementing AR is poor planning. L&D professionals must recognize
that AR is just a technologya mediumand not a learning methodology. Leaders must be careful to not use AR as
a remedy for poor instructional design or lack of a training strategy. Here are some risks to avoid:
Not the right fitAR is not a fit for every organization. AR would bring the most benefit to organizations
where mobile devices are common. Any other organization would risk high implementation costs and poor
user adaptation.
Too much too soonAR solutions available in the market can range from full digital mapping of physical
spaces to simply embedding materials with AR interactions. The latter is a better starting point if this is your
first time using AR.
Unfocused utilizationIts critical to prevent AR from becoming the new shiny toy that everyone in your
org wants to use. This has happened with eLearning and learning management systems (LMSs). AR will take
some of your existing resources to develop compatible content; therefore, use it where it can have the most
impact and where the stakes are high in return.

Conclusion

Augmented reality is not a new concept. It has been around for almost 30 years since starting out as a performance
support tool at Boeing. Today, the technology is affordable and highly accessible, making it an attractive option for
enhanced training content. AR offers opportunities in support of training initiatives and performance improvement.
The risks of botched implementations are very similar to those faced with any learning technology. Finally, AR now
offers an innovative approach to enhance L&D training strategies and enrich performance support interventions in
the future.

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AR, VR, AND ENHANCED REALITIES

Virtual Reality Will

Be the Perfect Immersive
Learning Environment
Koreen Pagano

Koreen Pagano is the founder of isanno. Koreen helps people learn more effectively. She advocates new ways of using
technology for organizational learning, emphasizing performance improvement and behavior change. She has strong
ties to education, having received her MS degree in curriculum and instruction from Penn State University. She
helped start Freire Charter School in 1999, and founded Tandem Learning in 2008 to demonstrate the untapped
potential of immersive learning design. An internationally recognized speaker and organizational consultant, Koreen
teaches graduate courses at Harrisburg University, writes the blog Learning in Tandem, and authored the upcoming
book Immersive Learning.
Earlier this year, I attended a conference with SilVR Thread, a 360-video virtual reality company that is focused
on providing VR as a learning environment. Although I had recommended that they attend the conference, I was
nervous. I had been down this road before with virtual worlds, alternate reality games, augmented reality Emerging
technologies have not fared well in the learning industry. Many training departments are just now delving into
mobile. Why would I expect VR to be received any differently?
Except, it was.
In conversation after conversation, it wasnt me or the SilVR Thread team providing the use cases or examples
of how virtual reality could be leveraged to solve tough training problems; it was the learning and development
directors, managers, designers, and developers. As soon as they experienced a demo (and many of them did the
thrilling but not training-related skiing demo), the ideas for application in their organization started flowing:
I could use this for new-hire training for employees who are located at our headquarters.
This would be great for product demonstrations.
VR would be a great solution for managers to better assess traffic flow and staffing in our retail stores.
Id love to use this to give tours of our manufacturing facilities to all of our employees.
The true indicator of a new technologys potential isnt the case that the technology provider can make about its
value, but the value that companies see in it themselves.

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AR, VR, AND ENHANCED REALITIES

Figure 1: A user tries out SilVR Threads virtual reality tech (Source: Koreen Pagano)
In that way, virtual reality is poised for success in corporate learning. Developing immersive learning has been a
challenge for organizations, but the need for immersive learning experiences to allow employees to practice, apply
knowledge in context, solve problems, explore areas they wouldnt normally have access to, and truly feel what its
like to be in an environment? That need is real, and the barrier to providing immersive learning experiences drops
with VR.
Virtual reality as a technology is still in its early days, and while more examples of its potential are emerging, the
technology itself is still evolving and its capabilities expanding. Early VR focused on 3-D animated environments,
giving a video-game-like feel to the experience. Now that 360-degree, stereoscopic 3-D, first-person point of view
VR like SilVR Thread is available, the realism of the experience can provide learning in context. While interaction in
video-based VR is still emerging, the potential is there for fully interactive VR video experiences, allowing learners to
participate in simulated scenarios where their decisions and interactions have consequences, just like real life.
Whenever a new technology emerges, it is the responsibility of the technology provider to understand the problems
the technology solves for its customers and to evolve the technology to better meet their needs. When that doesnt
happen, or when the problem that the technology solves isnt obvious, the coolness of the technology cannot make
it successful. Weve seen this happen again and again (think Google Glass or virtual worlds). But when a problem
exists and a technology emerges to solve it, that technology is poised for success.

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AR, VR, AND ENHANCED REALITIES

Figure 2: SilVR Thread team members at a recent conference (Source: Koreen Pagano)
Virtual reality is the technology weve been looking for to address the challenge of providing immersive learning
experiences. Already, it possesses many of the key components to create that sense of immersion:
Its multisensoryput on a virtual reality headset and you enter a fully immersive visual and auditory
experience
Its storyline basedinteractions in virtual reality can be guided by a storyline to prompt actions and
decisions
You can see yourself in the environmentmost animated VR allows you to see yourself in the environment,
and some video-based VR, like SilVR Thread, allows you to see yourself even in video, in first-person point
of view
You can interact with the environmentinteraction is already easy to incorporate into animated VR and is
emerging in video-based VR
You can impact events and outcomesfor designers who incorporate branching scenarios into their
storylines, VR can allow for varied events and results based on actions and decisions in the environment
While virtual reality can provide all of these immersive components, the real limitation to VR for learning is that
many learning professionals lack experience in designing immersive learning. As our design skills catch up with
technology, embrace the challenge of letting your imagination wonder, What if? What if your employees could
have experiences to improve their performance, change their perception, or develop new skills? Virtual reality is
the technology that can provide these types of learning experiences, and it is up to us to take advantage of the
opportunities that virtual reality provides.

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Will VR Succeed?
Viewpoint from Within
a Large Corporation
John OHare

John OHare, the head of pure research for Nokia EDU, has more than 20 years of experience in learning and
development; now he heads up a research team looking at making learning more effective, efficient, and engaging.
Johns work supports Nokias vision of expanding the human possibilities of the connected world, and his current
projects include virtual, augmented, and mixed realities and artificial intelligence and machine-learning neural
networks.
In a world thats constantly seeking authenticity, I feel a bit bad starting off with the corporate weasel words that
these are my personal views and opinions, and theyre not necessarily shared by my employer, especially as I am
discussing what is probably one of the most authentic breakthroughs for learning: virtual reality, or VR.
Is virtual reality just hype? Is it just a new fad? Nope.
Will it last? Absolutely.
That is why, as learning and development (L&D) professionals, we need to take it seriouslyand I have about a
thousand words to bring you around to my viewpoint.
In a commercial educational world, we need reach and reproducibility of content to allow as many people as possible
to have the chance of learning. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle could only really scale by the size of the crowd;
reproduction and distribution relied heavily on verbally passing on secondhand stories. Around 2,000 years later,
Gutenberg invented the printing pressgiving accurate reproduction and speedy distributionand that shaped
European civilization, promoted literacy, and spurred on the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution. Five
hundred years later, the web brought the next big breakthrough with digital content. Digital copies are effectively
free, unlike copying a book, which still has up-front costs for ink and paper and distribution. Copying digital content
doesnt have to involve any costs: It can effectively just be cut and pasted for zero marginal cost. Its sharable,
dramatically increasing the potential for the content to be put in front of people. But thats all it does. I hate to
sound negative about the web, but all it does is put content in front of usersits two-dimensional.

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That is why virtual reality is so revolutionary: It doesnt just put content in front of you, but all around you. You are in
the middle; youre immersed. Indeed, its almost an injustice to say that the content is all around you, as if you were
a passive bystander. The content moves you. It can transport you anywheredeep space, underwater, atop Mount
Everestand that changes the game. You are engaged, youre focused, and youre experiencing. You feel empathy
as you are involved, and you relate to the content in a totally different way than all other media. Text and video
can be gripping and engaging, depending on the quality, but by looking around you immediately distance yourself
from it and go back to your normal life. IMAX cinema is cool, but with true immersive content you cant help but
be engrossedVR lowers the barriers to content-related empathy, engagement, and experience. It is reproducible
digital empathy, and weve never been able to do that before. It is a step change; it is a revolution.
So from a pedagogical point of view, virtual reality has a solid basis, but is it just the latest fad? Now, I dont think
so. If you look at the proposed specifications and discussions of 5G wireless broadband networks, VR is heavily
influencing them. Human perception is generally around 100 milliseconds (ms), so todays mobile networks are built
around that, but one of the fastest reflexes in the human body is the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR)its how our
eyes stabilize images and maintain focus during movement. Keep reading this (please!), but at the same time, gently
move your head from side to sideits the VOR that allows you to do that. It takes less than 10ms to detect your
movement and react. This is one of the primary causes of nausea while wearing VR headsets. Especially with the
cheaper VR headsets combined with budget mobile phones, the rendered images cant be updated on the screen fast
enough to match head movement, causing disorientation, unease, and queasiness.
Next-generation mobile broadband networks are looking at radically different architectures to deliver latency times
of less than 10ms to allow for streaming VR content. Likewise, to truly believe you are in the virtual location, you
need a field of view of between 120 and 150 degrees; and to stream those graphics, you need around 0.5 Gbps
(gigabits per second) of bandwidth. Operators are demanding ultra-low latency and massive bandwidths to be
supported by their proposed 5G networks, and with that kind of investment, I believe VR is here to stay.
So the game is ours to lose: VR is in its infancy, and we cant afford to tarnish or kill it before it has a real chance to
revolutionize lives. We need discipline and design. We need to be sensible, using VR only when its appropriate and
adds real value. We need to avoid VR overkill or superfluous use.
If we imagine four levels of VR contentstatic photosphere, video photosphere, interactive photosphere, and
simulated interactive environmentthen the barrier to entry is very low: You can make a photosphere with any
smartphone. (A photosphere is a 360-degree panoramic picture. Imagine being inside and at the center of a ball
and looking around; the walls of the ball are the image that makes up the photosphere.) And thats a double-edged
sword. Its great that anyone can get involved, but at the same time, it is a potential threat that poorly thought out
and poorly produced content could swamp the market, putting people off VR altogether. And thats my real worry
about the future of VRbad content could tarnish the popular image of the technology.
VR technology will evolve. Quality VR headsets, with built-in gyroscopes and accelerometers that work with any
smartphone, will be developed and get cheaper. The motion sickness will disappear. Headsets will be developed that
even fold flat, allowing them to be carried easily to and from our places of work. The technology will evolve, but we
need to make sure people are still receptive to that technology.
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I encourage you to create content and get involved in VR, but please, for the sake of the technology, think about
what you want to achieve first, and design the content appropriately. There are golden rules you need to follow
when creating a photosphere, and especially when using a 360-degree camera to create one. The primary rule is to
always have the camera at eye level when taking 360-degree pictures or videos. Dont ever be lazy and just rest the
camera on a tabletop, because then the eye level is less than three feet off the ground. Ive seen new-hire orientation
packages with office familiarization sections done as a VR photosphere, and thats greatits a good, sound use
case for VR and appropriate for all workplacesbut if the camera is just placed on a tabletop, when you view the
content, it is as if you are on your hands and knees. Now, Ive spent a lot of time groveling at work and begging for
forgiveness, but lets not induct new hires this way. Keep the quality high in your VR content.
I started off this article talking about authenticity, and if youre skeptical, you might say its easy for me to talk about
keeping the quality of VR content high when Im backed and supported by a massive, multinational corporation. So,
to keep this authentic, Ive asked a friend who invested his savings into setting up a small VR start-up to add a few
words, as he really has gambled his future on VR succeeding.

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AR, VR, AND ENHANCED REALITIES

Will VR Succeed?
Viewpoint from Running
a VR Start-up
Ishai Albert Jacob

Ishai Albert Jacob is the founder and CEO of VRARschool. He has extensive experience in high school education and
is bringing virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality to that sector.
Virtual realityI had heard of it, but not until putting on the VR headset for the first time did I realize what a shift
in our perspective was coming. Just like that, I was in a roller coaster, telling myself the images that were flashing
before me werent real, yet I was still grasping my seat as I was (virtually) flung around corners. Thus, my fate was
sealed and I knew Id be working in the industry. That was over two years ago, when John OHare introduced me to
VR.
As a teacher, Ive always been a firm believer in the steady progress of education and that it should be the
powerhouse behind a new and open world, with a fairer playing field being possible for all. I had seen education
evolving somewhat, but fundamentally the model had not changed for millenniayes, whiteboards and projectors
were now present in the classroom, but it was still the maestro telling the student what to do. VR and augmented
reality (AR) allow us to break from that mold and shift into a new paradigm, where being in the actionpart of it,
observing it for oneselfbecomes possible.
With this in mind, the field being so new, and education for secondary high schools with VR and AR seeming so
thin on the ground, I decided to set up my own company: VRARschool, a company dedicated to the pursuit of
learning through the new medium, with the primary aim of raising enthusiasm for and engagement with the school
curriculum. We plan to take the often-difficult concepts in a topic and have experts in the field (the educators who
deal with these topics daily) boil them down into a 15- to 20-minute VR, AR, or mixed reality (MR) experience
with a heavy element of user interaction and gamification, which students can watch as many times as they like.
Each subject would have around 30 lessons, starting with physics and, once tried and tested, rolled out to all other
subjects. Its a challenge to keep all the balls up in the air; being entirely self-funded is a battle. VR is expensive, and
keeping the quality as high as possible without compromising performance is always a challenge.
We started off with a couple of lessons and have received excellent feedback from the students in the classroom.
However, interaction is still a problem when you are working with the lowest common denominatorGoogle
Cardboard, essentially a lens holder for your mobile phone with an optional button. Your hands, sadly, are not in the
virtual space. This is fine for a demo but not so fine for interactive full immersion. So, we now wait for the ground to
shift beneath us with the likes of Googles Daydream and Sonys Playstation VR, which will provide the mass market
with a hand in VR.
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Still, theres a lot of hype out there. VR is really not for everyone; as much as we blow our own trumpet, there
is a small but significant number of usersthe carsick among us, those with astigmatic eyesight, and those who
are acutely aware of distance and spatial orientation, for examplewho find our current iteration of VR literally
sickening. Yes, the technology will develop and become better and better over time, and the number of users who
feel unwell will steadily grow smaller. But will this be enough? Will people be happy to don a VR headset (however
light and ergonomic) to enter a brave new world? I believe the answer is yes, and Im betting my business and
finances on it.
VR is a bit like sex: You really need to experience it before you know what you are talking about. All the theory in
the world wont prepare you for it until youve actually had a go. But its like the chicken and the egg. We need more
people to try VR before it takes off, and until that happens, the industry will stall for a while. Yet the evidence is clear
to see: Students who were not engaged can become completely absorbed by essentially the same teaching material
repackaged for this new medium.

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