Virtual reality is making scenario-based elearning more effective (and enjoyable) than ever.

Here at Ashford, we love a good story. A well-designed, realistic workplace scenario can be more motivating and relevant for learners than linear approaches to learning. (And besides, they’re fun to create!)​

An effective elearning scenario is a story that learners relate to and become emotionally engaged with, which improves knowledge retention. Scenarios give the learners the opportunity to make mistakes in a ‘safe’ environment. This helps learners prevent real errors and fix problems when they happen in real life. Scenarios also promote critical thinking and give learners the chance to make realistic decisions.

We’ve been creating scenarios as part of training courses for many years. In the past, they were mainly stories in paper-based training and role-playing activities in workshops. More recently, the growth in popularity of elearning has provided the opportunity to create complex branching scenarios. These take learners down different paths depending on the decisions they make.

Now, virtual reality lets us create even more immersive stories, scenarios and game-style courses. It provides highly engaging and effective learning in a ‘safe’ version of the real world.

Here are some we made earlier

We’ve added a couple of short demos to the website, under the Virtual Reality tab (https://www.ashfordgs.com/virtual-reality/). Do let us know what you think! Contact us to learn more and chat about how we can create scenarios to help you develop your team. Email info@ashfordgs.com or call us on 01962 624268.

Handling Difficult Situations (scenario)

A staff member has to deal with an irate customer. As the learner, you decide how the staff member will react at each stage of the scenario, and the customer reacts accordingly. The sample includes voice-over* and subtitles.

* For this demo, we recorded the voices in-house. Paul and Chris were most put-out when their nearest and dearest didn’t recognise their voices!

Data Protection Mission (game)

Data Protection compliance training doesn’t have to be dull! As the learner, you are on a secret mission to find out who has breached the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and leaked data from the organisation. The demo features an introduction and interviews, after which you check the case notes. Finally, you accuse the staff member you think is responsible for the leak. The sample contains subtitles but no voice-over.