Technologies

Most people of a limited view of the possibilities of a 3D virtual immersive environment. They don’t understand all the benefits such an environment has to offer to an organization or the many application. Often they think of just a virtual classroom with virtual seats and virtual PowerPoint. They consider it a simple replacement for a 2D webinar. The fact is that VIEs offer much more than simply a replacement for 2D virtual classrooms.

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3D virtual immersive environments (VIEs) do not have to be 100% realistic. In fact, take advantage of the fact that you can do anything in 3D worlds and leverage that advantage. For example, if you want to create a gathering place for avatars, you don’t need to put it under a roof or even have it indoors. Since weather is not a factor in 3D VIE you don’t need a roof over your head. Also, put things close together that aren’t normally close together. If you are creating a corporate campus to mirror your own corporate campus, you don’t need large distances between buildings. Also, consider creating concept spaces instead of actual spaces. For example, if you want to teach about surgery. Create a giant surgical theatre that is larger than the real space so that lots of avatars can gather around and watch.

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It’s official. Jobs are coming back. In a speech given last Friday in Charlotte North Carolina, President Obama made a statement about jobs that "We are beginning to turn the corner!” He cited the latest data from the Labor Department adding that the economy added 162,000 jobs in March, the biggest increase in three years. A quick couple of Goggles’ (or a “Topeka” if you caught the April Fool’s joke Google played) looking for local proof actually supported this claim and among the largest gainers…IT workers. In fact, companies are hiring IT workers at the highest level in quite some time. No surprise as those unemployed have taken advantage of retraining opportunities and IT leads the way there too.

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Have you ever wondered what a virtual immersive environment or virtual world could do for your organization?

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A well-craft online simulation of a sales call, operating a piece of equipment or troubleshooting a difficult situation can impact a learner’s behavior and serve as a powerful educational tool.

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Recently, I have written a book with Tony O’Driscoll which is called Learning in 3D Adding a New Dimension to Enterprise Learning and Collaboration. Here is a small excerpt from the book.

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This entry continues the discussion of how organizations can use consumer-based Web 2.0 tools to enhance organizational learning.

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Several consumer-based web technologies have recently made a big splash in the learning and development field. These technologies were originally designed for social networking and interaction but have now grown into tools used to create small learning events and to provide information on an as needed basis. Let’s take a look at a couple of the tools and see how they are being used.

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One of the newest learning technologies to be launched within organizations is the use of virtual 3D worlds; also known as Virtual Immersive Environments (VIEs). These are environments in which the learner creates an avatar—a three dimensional figure—and interacts within a virtual 3D world. One such example is Second Life on the consumer side and ProtoSphere on the corporate side.

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Learning technologies have evolved rapidly in the last twenty years - from laser disks to CD-ROMs to web-based courses to the use of Blogs, Wiki’s, RSS Feeds and Widgets. If used properly these new technologies can be powerful tools for connecting learners to one another and accelerating innovation and knowledge acquisition within the organization. As learning professionals, an important competency is to understand how these newer technologies support learning.

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