Technical Training Reality (TTR)

Here is a proposal to leverage XR for Technical Training (TT) for corporate engineers, technicians, sales, and other teams to keep them on the cutting edge of new technology and new products while “all are singing from the same hymnbook.”

Master “Template” for Content Development

• Not all training content will need all four steps/stages
  • Options include:
    • Steps 1 + 2 + 3 + 4
    • Steps 1 + 2 + 4 (e.g., components training)
    • Steps 1 + 3 + 4 (e.g., systems training)
    • Steps 1 + 4 (e.g., non-standard, custom)
    • Steps 1 (e.g., standards, policies, follow up/revisits, etc.)
• All training content should be deliverable on multiple platforms
• All training content should be accessible via Learning Management System (LMS)
• For sequential content (aka a curriculum), each step is a prerequisite for the next
  • A curriculum will include all required courses and have a unique code/title
• All content must have interactive elements
• All training will have step 1
• All competency-based training will have steps 1 & 4
• Steps 2 & 3 will be delivered as practical

Master “Template” Steps for Content Development

1. eLearning
   • An on-demand, self-paced intro to the topic
   • Launched from LMS
2. Virtual Reality (VR)
   • An on-demand, self-paced interaction with a fully digital twin
   • Launched from LMS
3. Augmented Reality (AR)
   • An on-demand, self-paced interaction with digital overlays and prompts
   • Launched from LMS
4. Mixed Reality (MR)
   • No AR overlay prompting
   • May have quizzes or checkpoints to confirm agent competency in physical, non-digital/virtual actions
   • Digital elements are launched from LMS

Progression from Virtual to Physical

Starting with:

• Step 1 – eLearning (all digital, low interaction) and advancing to…
• Step 2 – VR (all digital, high interaction) and then on to…
• Step 3 – AR (digital overlay of physical, high interaction) and then finally…
• Step 4 – MR (digital documentation/verification of physical, high interaction)

Step 1 – eLearning Detail

1. eLearning
   • An on-demand, self-paced intro to the topic
   • Launched from LMS
   • Browser-based
2. Traditional LMS training class format
3. Best for:
   • Product intros
   • Skill intros
   • Policy/procedure intros
   • Best practice intros
   • Specification & Standards updates

Step 2 – Virtual Reality (VR) Detail

1. Virtual Reality (VR)
   • An on-demand, self-paced interaction with a fully digital twin
2. Optimal presentation w/Head Mounted Display (HMD)
   • Satisfactory presentation on a laptop/tablet
3. Best for:
   • Product orientation
     • CAD/Exploded drawings
   • Subject Matter Expert (SME) skill demonstration
     • Reproducible scenarios
   • SME product/skill operation demonstration
   • Application orientation
     • Immersive worlds

Step 3 – Augmented Reality (AR) Detail

1. Augmented Reality (AR)
   • An on-demand, self-paced interaction with digital overlays/prompts with the physical world
2. Optimal presentation w/ HMD
   • Acceptable presentation on a laptop/tablet
3. Best for:
   • Product interaction
     • Guided tours
   • Trainee skill demonstration
     • Reproducible scenarios
   • Trainee product/skill operation demonstration
   • Application case studies/Problem solving exercises
     • Immersive worlds

Step 4 – Mixed Reality (MR) Detail

1. Mixed Reality (MR) – Virtual & physical worlds
   • AR overlays are quizzes to confirm agent competency in real life (IRL)
     • Not all Step 4 training will have AR elements
   • SME-based Instructor Led Training (ILT)
     • LMS course for transcript tracking (Step 1)*
2. Hybrid platform use
   • HMD/Laptop/Tablet
3. Best for:
   • Trainee skill demonstration with products/applications IRL
   • Trainee IRL competency verification Refresher/update training
   • Mid-term & Final exams

How to use the steps

The thing here is that there isn’t a true “right” way to use the steps. These steps could be implemented within a single course. For example, each step (1-4) could be a sequence of modules within the course that progressively moves from the self-paced digital introduction via eLearning to the digitally guided praxis of step 4.

Or… each step could be a course situated within a curriculum where each course equates to a step and the progression is slower and more deliberately paced to allow for (hopefully) deeper levels of interaction and better knowledge transfer.

Of course, depending on the content and context of the course, you may not need all 4 steps. After all, if the training is a simple update to some policy or procedure (e.g., a menu’s changed layout in a software revision), the basic eLearning may be all that’s required.

Likewise, for really complex topics, once you reach a step in a sequence, you may need several modules/courses at that step to cover everything needed. For example, once you reach the AR step for installing a piece of hardware, you may need a second module delivered via AR for startup and commissioning (or a module for each, both startup and commissioning) that hardware and yet another for programming the newly installed hardware.

YMMV.