In order to harness the potential of virtual reality, you must first understand how VR fundamentally changes some of the rules and expectations of what “content” and “experiences” mean. Maxwell Planck, the technical founder of Oculus Story Studio, spent a decade at Pixar contributing to some of the most memorable films of the early 21^st century. However, even that cutting-edge environment did not fully prepare him for shifting his narratives from films to virtual reality. In this opening keynote, Mr. Planck will describe the work he is doing at Oculus Story Studio and share the lessons he has learned as he continues to discover the unique opportunities of VR. You will leave this keynote with new ideas and questions to ask yourself as you rethink what “content” means in the world of VR, and how that meaning shapes the types of experiences you can create for training.

Finding ways to make learning “stick” with technology is always a challenge. Augmented reality is one of those “make it stick” technology options available for education and training. However, AR can seem overwhelming, expensive, time-consuming, and difficult to use in everyday learning development. These assumptions cause developers to overlook the potential this technology holds for their learners.

This session will explore how easy it is to get started with augmented reality. You will be introduced to free development tools that you can use to create original AR content. You will leave this session with the knowledge to plan, build, and share your project with the community.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to plan out a successful AR element for use in your lesson
• About the necessary components of a successful AR project
• How to design your own AR project with free development tools
• About the possible interactions available with AR
• About multimedia assets that can enhance an AR project
• How to publish your AR design

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
iOS devices, Pixel, Aurasma, and Blippar.

Technology required:
Laptop and mobile device (mobile phone or tablet, any OS).

In mainstream corporate learning, there is a lack of use cases for (and general knowledge of) applying virtual reality technology to help enhance learning outcomes. What works? What does not work? What have companies learned to date? How can you use VR most effectively in the enterprise? And why is VR, unlike the eLearning model, “community-based” and not vendor-driven?

In this session, you will examine real-life use cases to learn what other companies are using VR for in corporate learning, what mistakes they have made, and what successes they have found. You will gain an understanding of VR immersive learning for both individuals and groups (“multi-play”). You will see multi-play learning that involves learners in different countries in the same scenario at the same time, and you’ll examine problem-solving performance challenges. You will also learn the differences between manufacturers’ headsets to aid your understanding of the types of VR experiences you can produce.

In this session, you will learn:

• What has worked to date
• About common mistakes to avoid
• What truly immersive learning is
• What skills your team needs in order to utilize VR
• How VR overcomes cognitive load
• About the forthcoming VR technology enhancements
• How VR learning data can inform the business
• How others in corporate learning are using VR

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
Immerse platform, HTC Vive headset and controllers, HTC Vive Tracker, VR sensors, Oculus Rift, Google Daydream, Samsung Gear, and haptic gloves.

As an instructional designer, trainer, or coach, how do you turn the lessons you develop into realities that the learner can appreciate, retain, and react appropriately to? Many training solutions struggle to simulate authentic experiences because the training is either designed to prevent something (like sexual harassment) or to prepare for a rare scenario (such as responding to a medical emergency).

In this session, you will learn how a basic eLearning course on recovering angry clients was turned into an immersive experience that not only enforced those bullet points found in the course, but also caused an emotional reaction within the VR activity, aided in retention of the information learned, and empowered the learner to act in real-life situations.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to modestly introduce VR into asynchronous learning
• How to build VR for scalable distribution
• How to generate an emotional response through appropriately developed VR
• How to turn case studies into (virtual) reality

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
360fly cameras, Google Cardboard, iPad, Articulate Storyline 2, Adobe Premiere, and Adobe After Effects.

VR isn’t new to the training world. For decades, high-end simulators and fully immersive VR experiences have been deployed and applied successfully to various fields. But these experiences have—until recently—been limiting, as few had access to the high-end equipment needed and, even worse, there can be an inherent disconnect between the virtual and real world, which can sometimes make applying knowledge challenging.

In this session, you’ll explore a different approach to VR that bridges these gaps: a “window shade.” In this approach, people view a scenario or process in VR, experiencing it directly from the expert’s POV, and then “pull the shade up” by switching to a guided AR live practice mode where they apply what they learned in their real-world setting. All this can be done while deploying the solution via the web so anyone anywhere with a phone, tablet, or desktop can access this VR and AR content and, better yet, refer back to it whenever they need more practice or a refresher. This session will help you find out how the “window shade” approach works and how you can begin using it to develop training.

In this session, you will learn:

• How this out-of-the-box approach to blending AR and VR can make your content more effective
• About the specific technologies that can help you get started
• The basics of mass-audience VR, AR, and 360-degree video content creation
• What pitfalls to avoid with this approach, as well as AR and VR content creation in general

Audience:
Intermediate to advanced designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
VR, AR, 360-degree video, Google Cardboard, WebVR (HTML5, WebGL, C++, C#, JavaScript), Unity, Vuforia, and mo-cap (motion capture).

The world of work is shifting. As globalization and the gig economy continue to grow, there will be an increased need to improve the way people learn, collaborate, and innovate together while they are geographically apart. Virtual reality has great potential to address this growing need.

This session will focus on the potential of social VR for enterprise. It will touch on the future of work in a broad context, offer insights into the benefits social VR will provide for enterprise, and provide case study examples of how companies are already using social VR. During this interactive session, you will participate in discussions and have the opportunity to add your opinions on the role of social VR for enterprise.

In this session, you will learn:

• How the world of work is shifting
• About the potential benefits social VR can provide to enterprise
• From specific examples of how companies are leveraging social VR
• From existing social VR platforms and their respective pros and cons for enterprise

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
Several social VR platforms, including VirBELA.

Virtual reality has exploded over the past year, extending to conversations in the mobile, gaming, and video landscape. There’s a rapidly rising interest in how to use this new technology for learning and performance. With “VR” now one of the hottest buzzwords, how much is hype and how much is substance?

In this session, you will explore the current state of virtual reality in 2017. You will see examples of virtual reality in practice in both the consumer and enterprise markets. You will examine what’s working—and what’s not—and how you can apply those lessons to learning and development.

In this session, you will learn:

• About the critical components of a virtual reality experience
• How early adopters are using VR for L&D
• About common mistakes to avoid
• What questions to ask to determine whether VR is right for your organization
• How consumer-led VR is shaping VR’s use in training

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, managers, and executives.

Technology discussed in this session:
Virtual reality platforms, including multiple types of hardware and software.

Healthcare education about dementia typically focuses on increasing understanding through didactic methods (i.e., scripto-visual materials) that address knowledge rather than emotion and experience. A scan of educational technologies for dementia revealed limited products using animated VR and facilitated in-person or physically constructed simulations. These approaches are not cost-effective, sustainable, or easily scalable. Furthermore, these have not been evaluated for effectiveness or impact.

In this session, you will learn how a health science center collaborated with a tech company to combine existing components (VR capability, instructional design, educational methodology and content) to design an innovative prototype for an engaging and immersive VR learning experience. VR can effectively expose learners to other people’s perspectives in order to raise empathy—in this case, toward people with dementia.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to identify the benefits of using VR for healthcare simulation
• How to identify the challenges of using VR for healthcare simulation
• How to leverage the intersection between educational methodology and new technology
• How to collaborate with nontraditional partners

Audience:
Novice designers and developers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Virtual reality hardware with 360-degree video.

A new generation of virtual reality headsets is bringing immersion to new levels—the feeling of actually being in another place. Imagine strapping on a headset and practicing emergency response procedures in a realistic-looking computer-generated environment. Or experiencing racial biases from a first-person perspective. Or sending new employees on a virtual field trip to far-flung company locations. Evidence of the effectiveness of VR in learning is overwhelming, and both VR hardware and software are now becoming more affordable. Still, there are few case studies that demonstrate how to leverage VR for learning. What do you need to understand to use this medium more effectively in L&D?

In this session, you’ll learn about the current state of virtual reality technology and experience early success stories of its use in training programs. You’ll uncover what the research has to say about why VR is an effective tool for learning. You’ll then look at how to get started developing it yourself, using surprisingly inexpensive tools like the Unity game engine. Not only that, you’ll also get to view a live stage demo of a real VR learning project—a patient empathy simulation for the healthcare industry—to see what a practical L&D solution developed in this medium can be like.

In this session, you will learn:

• How VR is being used for training now
• What the research says about the effectiveness of VR for learning
• How to develop interactive computer graphic scenes with real-time game engines like Unity
• How to use VR for both hard-skill simulations and soft-skill, empathy-inducing experiences
• What an L&D VR experience can be like with a live onstage demo

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, managers, directors, and senior leaders (VP, CLO, executive, etc.).

Technology discussed in this session:
HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Google Cardboard, Samsung Gear VR, and Google Daydream.

Immersive learning experiences can be a large leap for organizations, instructional designers, and trainers who are accustomed to traditional classroom and online training methods. It can be overwhelming to think about how to go from creating eLearning to developing complex virtual reality experiences. However, there are other immersive learning options to consider: alternate reality games (ARGs) and mixed reality. These solutions can bridge the gap between the way you currently develop content and new methods, providing you an incremental entry into immersive learning.

In this session, you’ll explore a variety of mixed media experiences that you can use to achieve immersive learning goals with any type of budget and timeline. You’ll play a 10-minute ARG, and you’ll plan your own mixed media experience. You will also discover options for player interactions, and technologies from Excel to Twitter to WordPress that can be used to coordinate and generate alternate reality game experiences.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to use ARGs for employee learning
• About examples of ARGs that are already being used for this purpose
• How to create player interactions in ARGs
• How to identify opportunities for an ARG

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
WordPress, Conducttr, and Twine.

As products and services become more complex, providing the right training or performance support has the biggest impact on improving proficiency. Augmented and virtual reality can be the link that enables you to deliver your valuable content directly to your audience when they need it most. 

In this session, you will explore the benefits of adding AR and VR to your training strategies. You will learn about the pros and cons of deploying these technologies by examining real-world examples of AR and VR in practice. You will also discuss the potential ROI of these technologies, including how you can use them to reduce existing training costs.

In this session, you will learn:

• About the benefits of AR and VR for learners
• About practicalities, considerations, and challenges around deploying such a program
• From real-world examples of how augmented and virtual reality are being applied and used for training and performance support
• About the ROI of implementing these types of programs, including how to decrease overall costs associated with long training periods and potential rework

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, managers, directors, and anyone interested in learning how to use AR and VR for training purposes.

Technology discussed in this session:
Augmented reality (mobile devices, AR software development kits) and virtual reality (Unity software, Oculus Rift, Microsoft HoloLens).

Augmented reality is a trend that’s now becoming more tangible—along with the hardware that allows people to experience it. These shifts mean it’s increasingly important in L&D not only to understand how AR can work, but also to explore how to move forward and actually create content for this new medium. But for many departments facing limited budgets, it’s a challenge to create meaningful learning and performance support experiences in AR without having to spend a fortune on software, hardware, or developers.

Thankfully, creating effective AR experiences doesn’t have to be rocket science or break the bank. In this hands-on session, you’ll find out how you can begin creating custom AR content right now. In less than one hour, you’ll learn how to leverage budget-friendly tools like the Unity game engine and the Vuforia AR platform to develop your own simple augmented reality application. This session will help you create your own basic AR solutions and give you a jumping-off point for building your AR development skills even further.

In this session, you will learn:

• What kinds of augmented reality experiences are easy and inexpensive to design
• How to create simple AR applications right now, without any time or money investments up front
• How to start developing with the free Unity 3-D game engine
• How to begin using the Vuforia AR platform

Audience:
Novice designers and developers.

Technology discussed in this session:
The Unity game engine and Vuforia augmented reality platform.

Technology required:
Laptop running Unity software.

Virtual reality is no longer just an expensive curiosity, but a real option for many trainers and educators. Like many new media, it runs the risk of being used badly. Strategies and methods from earlier media are not necessarily suited to new media. If you apply classroom methods to VR, what will you miss? If you apply video strategies to VR, what will you get wrong?

In this session, you will learn initial ideas and frameworks for how to use virtual reality for learning. Specifically, you’ll review how virtual reality provides affordances for addressing cognitive load theory’s three types of load. You will review what multimedia learning theory says about using graphics and audio, and how these lessons can be applied to VR. You’ll also review situated learning and experiential learning. Throughout this session, key findings from the worldwide network of VR labs will be applied to inform discussion. You will develop an overall framework for looking at when, and how, virtual reality training works.

In this session, you will learn:

• About the Proteus effect
• About situated learning in VR
• About creating presence in VR
• Frameworks for thinking about learning in VR
• About differences between expert and novice learning in VR
• About limits to learning in VR

Audience:
Intermediate to advanced designers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
HTC Vive, Samsung Gear VR, gaming engines (including Unity), and WebVR.

The ability to explore an environment in all directions offers exciting possibilities for telling stories and engaging audiences. But how do you make the exploration truly interactive so it opens up more learning opportunities? From hazard identification to virtual tours to situational decision-making, where will this exciting new technology prove most beneficial to workforce performance?

In this session, you’ll hear the findings of a year-long investigation into the opportunities of using mobile VR in workplace learning. By following the journey from start to finish, you’ll deepen your understanding of what’s possible with this new and exciting technology. You’ll explore the potential learning applications and discover how visual design, music, and positional audio work together to immerse users in the experience. The session includes a live demo of mobile VR for learning. You’ll take away tips on aligning the technology to your business challenges and integrating it with your learning strategy.

In this session, you will learn:

• How VR enhances learning interactions
• How learners respond to immersive learning environments
• When it is appropriate to use VR content in learning
• About the challenges associated with the new technology
• How to make VR affordable and accessible in L&D
• How to move from interactive 360-degree video to virtual reality
• How sound, voice-over, and UX design create a fluid experience

Audience:
Novice managers and directors.

Moving your organization forward with new approaches to learning and development can be challenging—especially when the new approaches involve nontraditional ideas or technologies. Our Overcoming Barriers sessions bring together people who have already walked this path to share what they have learned. Join our panel of experts as they discuss how you can overcome the most common barriers to incorporating augmented reality into your training and development programs.

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, managers, and executives.

Technology discussed in this session:
Augmented reality platforms, including multiple types of hardware and software.

Eight out of 10 college graduates expect to receive formal training from their first employer. The training industry has struggled to satisfy this need—partly due to a lack of affordable and appropriate media, and partly due to training programs that ultimately lack engagement. With 24/7 availability of on-demand, high-quality media, the digital workforce is becoming even more disengaged from these outdated training solutions. Fortunately, the recent growth of virtual reality and of media and graphics has made top-shelf multimedia technologies more affordable and accessible to trainers. There’s now an opportunity to create training solutions that can compete with today’s entertainment media, making training much more engaging and effective.

In this session, you will examine the growing need and opportunity for cutting-edge media technologies like game- and VR-based experiences. You will explore how VR technology has drastically scaled down in size and cost, and learn about the immediate opportunities for the training industry to incorporate game- and simulation-based training. You will analyze the transformation of legacy content into these new interactive, emotional experiences through the lens of instructional design and collaboration with subject matter experts. You will leave the session with a thorough understanding of appropriate technology for game- and simulation-based training, from screen-based simulations all the way to immersive VR solutions.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to assess appropriate implementation of eLearning technologies (computer-based, games and sim, or VR/AR) for training
• About time and cost considerations associated with these new technologies
• How to prioritize learning objectives over graphical gimmicks when using VR

Virtual reality offers a promising new strategy for training, engaging learners in a realistic and 360-degree environment. But while the skills transfer possibilities are enormous, there have been two major challenges with using this medium in L&D. The first was the technology cost: In the past, VR head-mounted displays were too expensive for most companies and schools to consider. The second was content creation: Most L&D professionals lacked the capability to design VR environments and integrate them effectively in training. However, a lot changed with the release of Google Cardboard, as this technology allows organizations to invest in affordable head-mounted VR displays. Cost has become less of a concern; now it’s just a matter of how to design effective VR content.

In this BYOL session, you’ll discover how to design budget-friendly, interactive VR experiences for Google Cardboard using 360-degree videos. You’ll find out how to create meaningful learning experiences using 360-degree video, and how these VR experiences can be displayed inexpensively using Google Cardboard and smartphones. At the end of the session, you’ll have useful guidelines on the main phases of designing interactive 360-degree videos, as well as a proven method to integrate these immersive experiences in training sessions.

In this session, you will learn:

• What Google Cardboard experiences can be like
• About the potential of interactive 360-degree videos and Google Cardboard for L&D
• About a new method for integrating 360-degree video into your training
• Which tools and software you can use to design interactive 360-degree videos

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Interactive 360-degree video and Google Cardboard.

Technology required:
A smartphone with any app for Google Cardboard installed.

There is excitement in the air about augmented reality; but, just like with any new technology, different companies are approaching it from different directions. And while looking at the potential of AR from a number of angles will help push the technology further, this lack of a single development approach also means that, at this stage, some solutions will play nicely with others and some will not. To assist this technology in moving forward and becoming mainstream, the augmented reality space needs some established structure and standards.

In this interactive session, you’ll explore various aspects of a new standard for AR: the IEEE Augmented Reality Learning Experience Model (AR-LEM). You’ll take a closer look at the aspects of augmented reality that should be standardized and why industry standards for AR are important for helping this technology grow. You’ll also investigate the specifics of the standard, enabling you to ensure that the augmented reality solutions you’re working on now will also work with the tools of the future.

In this session, you will learn:

• What the IEEE AR-LEM standard is and how it impacts AR
• How to interpret the various aspects of the standard
• What impact the standard may have on a specific project
• How to begin making AR-standard decisions now to help future-proof your projects

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers and developers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Experience API (xAPI).

When you begin to explore virtual reality programming, you quickly realize it requires learning many new things across several disciplines. It can be difficult to determine where to start, as the expanding list that begins with VR programming grows to include 3-D graphics, user interface conventions across varying VR hardware, how to set up and use a VR headset, where to find the best VR applications, and more.

In this session, you will be put on the fast track with a road map for how to get started in VR programming. This session will provide an overview of the Unity game engine, Unity VR plugins and software development kits, the open-source 3-D graphics program Blender, the HTC Vive headset, and Steam VR.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to get started programming with Unity
• About the Vive software development kit
• How to get started developing 3-D models with Blender
• About Steam VR and free offerings on the Steam VR store
• Tips for setting up the Vive headset

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, and project managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Unity and Unity VR; HTC Vive and Vive software development kit; Blender; and Steam VR.

On the manufacturing plant floor, production is crucial. No matter how well trained the employees are, there is a loss of retention between training delivery and application. The longer it takes to close that gap, the longer production is halted.

In this session, you will learn how Plex is working to close the gap between training and performance. You’ll explore possibilities and ideas that could spark your imagination or help you tackle the hurdles you face. Observing how AR, VR, mixed reality, and other technologies are being used on a factory floor may get you to think outside the box and appreciate the possibilities. Come learn what is working and what is not working, and how it can translate to your environment.

In this session, you will learn:

• How Plex is attempting to close the training gap
• About the various technologies used in these efforts
• How an approach that mixes various technologies might fit in nontraditional settings

Audience:
Novice designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Microsoft HoloLens, Google Glass, HTC Vive, Daqri, mobile devices, and tablets.

There are a wide range of solutions for implementing augmented reality in training and enterprise applications. Even with these myriad solutions, it’s not always clear how to use them to provide the best possible experience for users. How do you ensure that these solutions are being used to build something useful and meaningful? What is the difference between a good and a bad augmented reality experience?

This session will review the development of the Realities360 AR application. It will cover the design and development of the app, from initial concept to finished product. This will be an in-depth case study on app development and will delve into some moderate technical details. Ultimately, you’ll understand how the team from Float solved real problems related to modern AR app development, including both design and development challenges, and why they chose the solutions they did.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to leverage existing solutions to create useful experiences
• About common design challenges when authoring AR content
• How to choose the best technology stack for your requirements
• Best practices for developing while iterating on AR experiences
• How to leverage your team’s skill set to provide the best results for users

Audience:
Intermediate to advanced designers and developers.

Technology discussed in this session:
iOS, Android, Xamarin, Unity, Vuforia, Wikitude, and Pikkart.

There’s a great deal of buzz surrounding virtual reality, augmented reality, and similar technologies in our industry. And with good reason; the possibilities they pose for learning and training are endless. But these technologies are only in their infancy, and they are sure to shift and evolve over the next few years. As such, if you want to understand the opportunities for learning and education that are emerging from these technologies, you need to follow their evolution in the consumer landscape. This session will explore the fast-moving worlds of AR and VR technologies by examining one of the primary drivers fueling their growth: funding. Barry Downes is a managing partner of a venture capital fund specializing in AR, VR, financial technology, and the Internet of Things. Mr. Downes will share how he sees these technologies evolving and emerging, and he’ll discuss where their short- and long-term evolutions will take us.

After years of existing mostly in the world of science fiction, virtual reality is finally ready for its close-up. With VR normalizing itself within the consumer culture, the interest in using these technologies for learning and performance is growing. But where can curious learning professionals go to learn more about the power and potential of VR? The answer is simple: gaming.

In this session, you will explore how the world of VR gaming is shaping VR’s use for training. You will examine not only how VR gaming is creating new types of experiences, but also how it is transforming existing game paradigms. You will look at multiple examples of VR in gaming, and examine lessons for the training world in each example. You will also learn some of the questions to ask to determine whether VR is right for your organization.

In this session, you will learn:

• How the gaming world is blazing a path for VR
• About the lessons for trainers that are present in VR gaming
• How to determine whether VR is right for your organization
• How early adopters are using VR for L&D

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR.

Virtual reality platforms for learning are being popularized across all industries, from healthcare to automotive. But learning how to create VR content in VR remains an under-explored area.

In this session, you will explore a VR learning framework that was conceived to teach the Unity game engine in VR. You will see various demos from an upcoming product, the VR Entertainment Badge. The session will cover evaluation approaches used to determine the effectiveness of a VR framework, as well as a closer look at the differences and advantages of teaching VR in VR.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to evaluate a VR learning framework
• What constitutes a VR learning product
• What it means to teach VR in VR
• A better understanding of opportunities in the VR learning and educational space

Audience:
Novice to advanced managers and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
Virtual reality; room-scale VR (HTC Vive).

Are you interested in what it takes to create great augmented reality experiences? Do you need useful, practical tips on what makes (or breaks) an interface and user experience for AR? If so, then this session is for you.

In this session, you’ll learn how Float uses human-centered design processes to create dynamic, approachable AR experiences for users of all skill levels. You’ll get an introduction to the current state of AR design, see why AR designs fail, and find out how to make yours more successful. You’ll go beyond theory and dive deep into real-world AR examples and case studies. No technical acumen is needed—just come with an interest in AR and enthusiasm for what could be the biggest thing in learning technologies since mobile first burst onto the scene years ago.

In this session, you will learn:

• Usable tips on how to create great AR designs
• What not to do when designing UI/UX for AR
• About examples of well-designed AR
• How to use human-centered design in AR creation

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
AR and human-centered design.

As you begin to develop VR and AR experiences for L&D, it’s important to consider how people interact with the content in your digital world. And as these mediums continue to grow and evolve, so too will your options for interfacing with them. If you’re developing VR or AR content and looking to take your learning experiences to another level, it’s worth investigating an unexpected way to interact with your content: gesture control devices.

In this session, you’ll learn about three technologies for incorporating gesture control into your VR and AR experiences: the Myo armband, the Bird wearable by MUV Interactive, and the Oculus Touch motion tracked controllers. You’ll take a closer look at the functionality and features of these technologies, discuss how gesture control can enhance your AR and VR content, and explore the possibilities for integrating them into the learning experiences you design and develop.

In this session, you will learn:

• The primary functions and features of Myo, Bird, and Oculus Touch
• About real-world examples of gesture control devices used in learning solutions
• How to identify opportunities for incorporating gesture control devices into your learning solutions
• What impacts the feasibility for implementing gesture control devices

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Myo armband, Bird by MUV Interactive, and Oculus Touch.

Over the past two years, augmented reality and virtual reality have started to bloom in the consumer marketplace. These technologies enable all types of learning and education experiences across all of the outcomes in Bloom’s Taxonomy. In other words, AR and VR are poised to break into the mainstream of education and learning.

In this session, you will explore the key reasons that virtual reality and augmented reality have value for learning and performance. You will learn why an enterprise-wide approach to AR and VR maximizes the value and benefits of investing in these technologies. You will also discover the unique ways in which AR and VR can improve learner outcomes compared to other technologies.

Are you looking to infuse some excitement into exploring and discovering your organization, but concerned that the only budget you have is simply the time and skills of the people in your department? Don’t let that stop you from considering augmented reality experiences. There are ways to leverage AR to encourage your staff to self-discover your organization and have a more engaging multimedia experience—all without breaking the bank!

In this BYOL session, you’ll learn how to leverage the free version of the Aurasma AR web development software to create an “Augmented Reality Amazing Race.” In this approach, already tested in a hospital new-staff orientation, employee teams travel across their organization using the Aurasma app on iPads to discover hidden treasures and learn more about the organization where they work! This session will teach you how to use the Aurasma tool and app to turn objects, images, and places into surprising AR interactions, and how to easily build your own AR mini-race experience.

In this session, you will learn:

• How you can use AR in your organization for practical learning
• What kind of AR experiences Aurasma can provide
• How to use the free version of Aurasma to create a simple AR experience
• How to design and develop an AR Amazing Race

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Aurasma AR web development platform and app.

Technology required:
You will need a laptop that can access the Internet to use the Aurasma cloud-based software. You should have the Aurasma app installed on a mobile device in advance.

Moving your organization forward with new approaches to learning and development can be challenging—especially when the new approaches involve nontraditional ideas or technologies. Our Overcoming Barriers sessions bring together people who have already walked this path to share what they have learned. Join our panel of experts as they discuss how you can overcome the most common barriers to incorporating virtual reality into your training and development programs.

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, managers, and executives.

Technology discussed in this session:
Virtual reality platforms, including multiple types of hardware and software.

Virtual training is not new. It has been evolving since the beginning of the century, and much has been learned over the years about what works, what doesn’t work, and what skills are required to succeed in both design and development. The advent of AR and VR technology adds a new layer that L&D professionals need to understand.

This session will provide the key lessons learned from over a decade of 3-D simulation and virtual training development, and you will explore them in the context of VR development in 2017. You will learn from one company’s experiences over the last 12 years and how these are applicable to training delivery in VR. You’ll also learn about the critical skills your team needs in order to develop various realities, and how to design models with the future in mind.

In this session, you will learn:

• How your team can gain the skills they need to develop VR, AR, or MR training
• Valuable insights into the 3-D for VR production pipeline
• How to “future-proof” your 3-D modeling
• Why it’s important to deeply integrate instructional design at a technical level

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
3-D modeling software (3ds Max, Navisworks, Simulate), real-time game engines (Unity, Unreal, CryEngine, Stingray), point cloud scanning, CAD data, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Microsoft HoloLens.

Technology with the potential to transform learning is here: Virtual realities, augmented realities, and mixed realities are not just bleeding-edge tools anymore. Much of the pioneering work that came from early adopters and the military is now having mainstream impact. When L&D professionals contemplate using these new realities for learning, they often focus on the technical side of how to create these experiences. But what about the psychological considerations you should take into account when designing content for these new mediums?

In this session, you’ll consider the technology, the psychology, and the learner experience as you explore how these new realities are helping people learn better (if, indeed, they are). You’ll examine how these new realities affect the learning experience from the point of psychology and neurology. You’ll then look at the capabilities and use cases of these new technologies and investigate how they align with the psychology of how people learn. Finally, you’ll investigate what you can do to utilize these new realities effectively in your organization, leveraging your understanding of the neurology and hard experience of others.

In this session, you will learn:

• How new realities affect learning experience
• About the psychological and neurological aspects of new realities in learning
• How organizations can utilize new realities for learning
• How this new technology has the potential to transform learning

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, managers, directors, and senior leaders (VP, CLO, executive, etc.).

Technology discussed in this session:
Virtual reality, augmented reality, and constructive simulations.

Effective instructional design maximizes learner motivation, cognitive capacity for information processing, and learning transfer. For any given training, the most appropriate design should be informed by a careful consideration of training context characteristics as well as the strengths and limitations of the technology.

This session will examine an organizing framework to help facilitate these critical conversations and construct motivating, attention-grabbing learning events.

In this session, you will learn:

• How learner, organizational, and technology characteristics jointly influence design choices
• About tools to help organize design considerations and stimulate productive conversations among designers and developers of immersive learning programs

Audience:
Novice to advanced project managers, managers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
Augmented reality and virtual reality.

There are more and more tools entering the marketplace that allow you to quickly create 360-degree virtual reality images. However, the final results aren’t always what you’d like: The stitching of VR images in these tools, unfortunately, is not always perfect. Also, there are often inconsistencies both above and below the VR image. These flaws can take away from the immersiveness of the experience you’re creating and even get in the way of learning.

In this session, you’ll discover how to use Photoshop to fix some of the common problems that can happen in the VR images you capture. You’ll learn how to fix the top and bottom of the image to make it look more professional. You’ll also get tips on how to add content within the image to enhance the VR experience. Finally, you’ll learn tricks that can help you capture better VR images in the first place, which will then require less post-production work to fix.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to fix skewed objects in your VR images
• How to improve flaws found at the top and bottom of your VR images
• How to add content within a VR image to enhance the view
• How to shoot better VR images

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers and developers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Adobe Photoshop; Google Cardboard viewer and app.

Technology required:
Laptop running Adobe Photoshop CC or newer; Google Cardboard viewer (to see results); Google Cardboard app (on phone or tablet).

You’ve decided that 360-degree video looks promising and you want to try it out, but you have questions: What do you need to get started? What should you watch out for? Do you have the skill set to do it? What are the benefits? What is it going to cost? And probably more.

This session will explore a company’s year-one journey into using 360-degree video. You will learn what you need to get started shooting, editing, and sharing 360-degree video content. You will identify the common and not-so-common issues faced while shooting 360-degree video, including equipment, talent, technique, and organization. You will see three short 360-degree videos and find out how they impacted the development team and learners throughout the process. Overall, you will get a firsthand account of an organization that went all-in on this new technology and how it’s worked out so far.

In this session, you will learn:

• About the different types of equipment, the techniques, and the time needed to shoot 360-degree video
• About three types of 360-degree video projects developed for manufacturing and corporate audiences
• About common and less-common issues faced while shooting in 360 degrees
• Lessons from throughout the process

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Git2 Action camera, 360-degree camera rigs, Kolor, AutoStitch, Ricoh Theta S camera, 360fly 4K camera.

For virtual reality to achieve its goals, instructors need to create presence—the feeling of being in the virtual scene. Presence is what differentiates VR from video, and it’s what gives VR its unique power to affect learners. Virtual reality content doesn’t always do this well, leaving users less immersed than instructors intended, and creating weaker experiences and learning impact.

This session will outline both theory and application of presence, providing you with a clear checklist and understanding of what presence is, how to create it, and how to enhance it during learning sessions. You will review studies of presence and its impact, and discuss some of the areas still being worked out. The session will also touch on related concepts like narrative transportation and the role of content vs. instructions vs. tech in creating presence. Examples of low presence and high presence will be discussed.

In this session, you will learn:

• What presence is
• How presence is created
• How presence is broken
• How presence is enhanced
• About the limits of presence in certain platforms
• How presence correlates to impact

Audience:
Novice designers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
Virtual reality, HTC Vive, Samsung Gear VR, and Google Cardboard.

When any technology is used for training or performance support, you want to make sure it’s actually effective. That’s why the impact needs to be examined through a performance lens to determine whether the technology really enables people to do their work better. This analysis of the context is increasingly important to the development and deployment of AR and VR.

In this session, you’ll examine the analysis and behind-the-scenes planning you’ll want to do for your AR and VR solutions. Based on work done in the fields of episodic context and human factors engineering, you’ll look at how these technologies can help or hinder people’s work, and how episodic context analysis can help you focus on configuring technology so that it blends with their work instead of getting in the way of it. You’ll also find out where AR and VR big data can be employed to provide more information about how the experience impacts the worker within their context. If you want a technology planning approach that helps people perform better and reduces risk, this session is for you.

In this session, you will learn:

• How AR and VR can either inhibit work or help users perform work
• What the research on situational awareness says about preparing AR and VR solutions
• How to perform an analysis of the moving context in which work is done, and how this impacts the information provided in an AR or VR experience
• How mobile collection of big data can provide designers important information about the impacts of VR and AR on work

Audience:
Intermediate to advanced designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
The session will show examples of how tiles, mobile simulations, QR codes, and mobile AR applications have been structured using episodic context analysis.

There is enormous potential for what L&D professionals can achieve by harnessing the levels of engagement available with virtual reality and augmented reality. Hardware and infrastructure suppliers continue to push the capabilities of these technologies forward. However, there is an enormous gap between those advancing technologies and the realities of today’s learning landscape.

In this session, you will explore the pioneering use of artificial intelligence–enabled avatars to host, accompany, guide, and instruct learners in the unfamiliar world of an immersive experience. You will examine case studies exploring the where, when, and how of using affordable, accessible immersion in VR to benefit learning processes. You will explore tools and tips available today that can help you harness the power of VR for your organization.

In this session, you will learn:

• Why using a virtual “host” in the virtual experience is beneficial to the learner
• About the engagement advantages of VR and why they are realistically achievable today
• How hybrid training can benefit your organization right now

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
Virtual reality.

Augmented, virtual, and other enhanced reality technologies are in their infancy; the world is only beginning to explore the potential of these technologies. This presents our industry with a unique opportunity: Instead of just reacting to the available technologies, we can provide input that helps shape them. During this general session, we will engage in a discussion exploring how the worlds of AR, VR, and other enhanced realities can integrate with learning and development. We will explore what the opportunities are and what barriers limit our ability to harness the potential of these technologies. We will examine what we need these technologies to do and what resources we need in order to utilize them in our work. The discussions in this session will help drive a Guild Research report that summarizes the state of VR, AR, and enhanced realities within our industry—and, more importantly, what our industry needs from the technologies going forward.

Augmented reality allows you to create an immersive experience for learners. AR can combine images, sound, movies, games, search engines, databases, social media, and the web and explode them across the physical world, revealing invisible stories around products, processes, and operations. But what makes a compelling AR experience that makes learning stick, and how can you get started creating AR content?

In this hands-on session, you’ll find out how to design and create low-cost AR learner experiences that pack a punch. You’ll explore a wide range of budget-friendly AR authoring tools, learn about their strengths and weaknesses, and identify how to design around them. You’ll also investigate which AR experiences work best across different learning solutions, allowing you to target the experience you create to the context and situation it will be used in.

In this session, you will learn:

• Which AR experiences are most likely to create sticky learning
• About the functions and limitations of several current AR authoring tools
• What current AR viewers are like through a live demo
• Best practices of mobile AR design
• How to prepare an AR experience design plan

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Layar, Playme, Zap, Aurasma, EasyAR, WakingApp, and ARToolKit SDK.

Technology required:
A smartphone or tablet (Android or iOS) and a laptop.

Navigating larger-scale virtual spaces presents difficulties for learners. The difficulties and the solutions parallel those in eLearning but take unique forms in VR. How do learners know where they are? How do learners know where to go or look next? How can multiple paths be presented and organized?

In this session, you will look to architecture, web, and eLearning design for wayfinding solutions in virtual reality. You will learn a variety of spatial, visual, and storytelling strategies to help direct the learner and minimize extraneous load. You will explore alternate solutions to wayfinding issues and leave with a toolkit of strategies to use in various situations.

In this session, you will learn:

• About the unique wayfinding issues that VR presents
• How to examine wayfinding strategies used in eLearning and web design
• How to contrast wayfinding strategies in architecture
• About spatial and visual strategies for situating VR users

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
A variety of wayfinding solutions in a pair of Unity-developed examples for HTC Vive and mobile VR.

Technology is being used in many settings to augment work, but mainly in task completion. VR and immersive 360-degree video, however, can aid people in more emotionally challenging situations. The Hospital for Sick Children sought to help children who face severe hospital-based anxiety in the preoperative area. The team also faced the challenge of making 360-degree videos acceptable to parents and healthcare professionals.

In this session, you will explore the theoretical framework of managing anxiety and learn how 360-degree immersive videos provided a solution for managing anxiety in children. You will learn how to use a framework, aligned with pragmatic research, to create and develop 360-degree videos. You will learn about the strategies that were effective in encouraging adoption of 360-degree videos by key stakeholders, and key steps for developing scalable 360-degree videos.

In this session, you will learn:

• About the role of 360-degree videos in providing exposure therapy to reduce anxiety
• The steps to rapidly develop and assess 360-degree videos for side effects in children
• Strategies useful for encouraging institution-wide adoption of virtual reality
• How to assess the user acceptance of new technologies

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
360-degree video.

For years, training departments and instructional designers have struggled to develop quality mobile learning. Users don’t want to access eLearning courses designed for a computer or watch 30-minute training videos from their phone while using up all their data. And technologies like VR and AR sound expensive and difficult to make scalable for a company.

In this session, you will learn how to build a new and improved mobile strategy that may include augmented, virtual, or mixed realities. You’ll find out how to turn those boring training videos and eLearning courses into completely unique and engaging interactive learning experiences with the power of the mobile phone. And you’ll even learn how you can fit AR and VR into your existing budget.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to create a learning strategy that includes AR and VR
• How to budget for the development of these technologies
• How to elevate mobile learning to greater heights
• How to make AR and VR scalable

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
Anatomy 4D, Elements 4D, String app, Layar, Blippar, Vuforia, YouTube 360, Unity, Articulate Storyline, Samsung Gear VR, Google Cardboard, and 360fly cameras.

As virtual and augmented reality technologies continue to advance, it becomes more important than ever to determine how best to utilize these tools in eLearning and training programs.

In this session, you will explore various use cases for virtual reality and augmented reality. More importantly, you will explore situations in which you should NEVER use VR or AR. During this highly collaborative session, participants will outline cost-effective best practices for training industry professionals to apply over the next six to 12 months. No single organization has all the answers, but L&D pros can work together to create some usable guidelines.

In this session, you will learn:

• Best practices for getting started with augmented or virtual reality
• From early use cases of AR and VR in practice
• When NOT to use AR or VR

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
Virtual and augmented reality.

Two of the more important elements in quality eLearning are interactivity and storytelling. Virtual reality enables you to take those two elements to new heights, but it also presents new and unique challenges.

In this session, you will learn the story behind The Price of Freedom, a mind-bending spy drama that takes place entirely in VR. You will learn about the challenges that came up in building the game and how the storytelling evolved. You will learn about what makes VR storytelling unique, and how to harness VR platforms to create new and immersive experiences.

Many global companies today are aiming to develop deep understanding of the human side of organizations, markets, and societies. The challenge many organizations face, as they seek to develop their leaders, is how to bring about this level of insight and understanding without sending all of their managers and leaders around the world. Enter 360-degree immersive video.

This session will focus on the use of 360-degree immersive video for manager and leader development. You will look at how Duke Corporate Education has applied this technology, immersing leaders in new environments and tasking them to use observational skills to uncover patterns. You will learn how 360-degree immersive video is helping managers and leaders discover what biases they have. Finally, this session will provide real-life examples, walking you through design and implementation considerations along the way.

In this session, you will learn:

• About applications of 360-degree video to leadership development
• Through example footage and materials related to Duke Corporate Education’s work
• About design and implementation considerations
• How to engage in discussion about using this technology for leadership development

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, managers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
Kodak Pixpro SP360, monopods and tripods, sound equipment, and Samsung Gear VR (with Galaxy S7).

When you’re about to launch new software, hardware, or programs, you may be focusing on the technical aspects of the launch. But there’s another angle you need to consider: user buy-in. That was the concern for USPI, a company that owns more than 300 surgical centers and hospitals across the US, when it was preparing for its new staffing software rollout. This software was mandatory for all employees to use, and with so much on the line, the team knew engagement was key to success. But how could they build that staff buy-in when they lacked both an established communication platform and, more importantly, an existing culture of change to lean on?

In this case study session, you’ll find out how USPI leveraged augmented reality as a key component in its launch communication campaign and how this boosted overall buy-in. You’ll see how the team used posters, video, and the Aurasma app to deliver AR content to their audience in a way that was budget- and device-friendly. But AR alone doesn’t make for a successful campaign, which is why you’ll also explore how an interactive, feedback-driven campaign like this can maximize audience participation and engagement, contributing to more audience buy-in.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to create a branded, multifaceted communication campaign using AR technology
• How to create an AR campaign that can reach a varied demographic with equally varied technology
• How to structure a virtual campaign around a narrative
• How to produce iterative content based on audience feedback
• What an AR-based campaign can look like with a live demo of the project

Audience:
Novice designers, developers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
Aurasma (augmented reality app for Android and iPhone); video and posters.

Today’s learners are faced with an ever-growing surplus of content to learn, process, and employ in their careers. Companies have terabytes of knowledge, skills, behaviors, and standard work required for successful day-to-day operations. They need to empower their employees with a system for efficiently building on or augmenting the capabilities each person brings to the organization. Augmented intelligence is one possible solution.

In this session, you’ll examine several major AI voice technologies and how they’re being used today, including API.AI, Google Home, Alexa, and several others. You’ll then take a look at how voice-user interfacing can be used for learning and information, including demonstrations of hands-free, multi-level instruction complemented by audio and visual feedback. This session will give you the opportunity to engage in a conversation about what new user experiences this technology can give your audience—not years in the future, but today!

In this session, you will learn:

• About voice-user interfaces
• About the API.AI open-source technology
• How to create a basic Alexa skill or Google action
• About potential uses for AI in your employee development programs

Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers, developers, project managers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
API.AI, Google Home (Google Actions), Alexa (Amazon Echo, Dot, and the Alexa Skill Kit), and other integrations (Google Calendar, Internet of Things, Amazon DynamoDB).

Virtual reality has great potential for learning and development. Like any new technology, VR also comes with risks, such as investments of time, money, and other resources. To minimize these risks, it’s important to do everything you can to get things right the first time.

In this session, you will explore case studies of global organizations that have embarked on their first VR training programs. You will examine specific briefs, proposals, and results from real clients that have already walked this path. If you are considering implementing VR training in your organization, you won’t want to miss this session.

In this session you will learn:

• About the criteria for technology and methodology to evaluate your training approach and where VR fits in
• Questions to ask yourself about VR
• How to vet a technology partner
• How to get executive buy-in and secure funding

Audience:
Novice to advanced project managers, managers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
Virtual reality.

AR, VR, and enhanced reality technologies are truly disruptive. The potential of these technologies isn’t just to enhance the work of L&D professionals; the real potential lies in doing something different and viewing your work through a different lens. If you want to harness the potential of these technologies, you need to see the work you do differently. In this closing panel, you will hear from early adopters of these technologies. You’ll learn from their successes, their failures, and the surprises they discovered along the way. They will discuss the path that the industry is forging, and debate whether the L&D field is headed in the right direction or whether it needs to shift course. This panel will put what you’ve learned at Realities360 into context, preparing you to blaze your own trail of discovery as you return to work.