The future is virtual: the role of AR and VR in work and education
May 2, 2022
Our world is changing and so is the way we interact with each other, especially in educational and work environments. The metaverse is enabling new ways of social interaction, with virtual and augmented reality becoming more mainstream.
Take the Wavemakers program, for example. It’s built on Virbela VR technology, giving participants the ability to step into this new virtual world and experience it for themselves. Platforms like these create immersive, interactive and intuitive spaces, giving us the sense of presence and place that is absent from typical video conferencing platforms. Far from being another online meeting full of disembodied faces (or names acting as placeholders when users turn their cameras off), these virtual platforms operate as an extension of our physical reality.
And that’s precisely why platforms like these will become a much more common way we interact in the future, according to Aaron Frank, an expert in augmented and virtual reality and a widely published researcher and writer with extensive experience working in Silicon Valley.
“What’s unique about a virtual environment like this is that what it tends to do is replicate many of the social behaviours and social dynamics that we’re traditionally used to in the real world, but that we don’t normally get when we’re on other kinds of communication tools, like Zoom or video conferencing,” explains Frank.
They represent the future of work and education, offering anyone with an Internet connection anywhere in the world the ability to interact, collaborate and learn together in settings that mimic our real-world environments. Users can create their own avatars that can walk around, sit at desks, huddle with others in meeting rooms and view presentations on projected screens in lecture halls. In many of these platforms like Virbela, you can even play games, socialize in settings like dance parties and even take a boat out on the water. It creates a sense of connection that a typical Zoom meeting just can’t offer.
So why are they so effective at creating this sense of space and place?
Augmented reality involves enhancing your real world setting, while virtual reality creates a completely virtual environment. Frank explains that the key feature of both is their use of three-dimensional space. That’s a “really big deal,” because the human mind is inherently meant to think in 3-D. “We’re born into a 3-D world and as babies we learn to navigate the world by moving and picking things up and moving our bodies around. And it’s only as adults that we’re asked to learn non-intuitive skills like moving a mouse cursor on a 2-D screen or typing, using a keyboard to type words,” says Frank.
But with augmented and virtual reality we’re returning to a more intuitive use of digital environments. “What this will do is open up for far more people to be able to participate in the use of working with computers.”
In fact, we’re seeing these platforms become mainstream, with major companies like Facebook’s Meta building its Horizon platform for virtual environments, making it easy to imagine a future of professional spaces built entirely within immersive virtual reality. And in fact, that’s already happening, Frank explains, using the example of eXp Realty, a $1-billion, publicly traded company with more than 30,000 employees operating entirely in virtual reality through the use of Virbela technology.
“This is not some science fiction future that we’re talking about,” says Frank. “This is very much something that’s been developing and it will definitely be a bigger part of our online professional lives.”
Question: Are you prepared for the reality of increased VR opportunities in the future workplace? What skills can you develop today that will help you thrive in these metaverse-enabled settings.
About Wavemakers
The Wavemakers program is a first-of-its-kind work-integrated learning program that leverages cutting-edge, accessible virtual reality technology and forward-thinking speakers. Wavemakers provides post-secondary students from diverse backgrounds, experiences and perspectives with the opportunity to come together, develop and cultivate future-proof skills, and build long-lasting connections with industry leaders, to help their transition into the workplace. It’s about providing meaningful opportunities to a diverse community of future leaders who can tackle today’s big challenges with even bigger and bolder ideas that will carry us into a more positive and inclusive tomorrow.