Closer Encounters

Industry experts believe learning in the metaverse ultimately will offer supercharged immersive experiences, new forms of social interaction, and closer encounters with artificial intelligence (AI).

During my 15-year tenure at Training, I’ve seen the advent of eLearning, mobile learning, microlearning, and now learning in the metaverse—which, experts believe, will offer supercharged immersive experiences, new forms of social interaction, and closer encounters with artificial intelligence (AI).

I just finished reading a Linwood Barclay novel about AI-driven autonomous vehicles that went on a deadly rampage after a virus changed their directive from “Do no harm” to “Do harm.” I admit it tempered my initial enthusiasm for self-driving cars. It also highlighted how carefully we must evaluate the use of AI and augmented and virtual reality technologies.

In terms of training, implementing evolving technologies “requires a lot of documentation and making sure you’re training the trainers sufficiently so they are ready to help the trainees get used to the technology,” notes Scott Stachiw, director of Immersive Learning with Roundtable Learning Company. “It’s vital to prepare them to address the challenges the hardware—such as VR headsets—presents.”

Even making a decision on the hardware to use can be difficult, points out Justin Parry, co-founder and COO of Immerse. “The landscape is fluid; there is a constant sense that game-changing innovations are just around the corner,” he says. “This can lead to analysis paralysis and hamper not only scale-up phases, but also more small-scale initiatives.”

To learn more about emerging training technologies, see this month’s cover story, “Masters of the Metaverse.”

And to find out the most effective training tools and solutions, check the winners of our crowd-sourced 2022 Training Magazine Network Choice Awards. Kudos to these innovative companies for taking training to the next level!

Lorri Freifeld
Lorri Freifeld is the editor/publisher of Training magazine. She writes on a number of topics, including talent management, training technology, and leadership development. She spearheads two awards programs: the Training APEX Awards and Emerging Training Leaders. A writer/editor for the last 30 years, she has held editing positions at a variety of publications and holds a Master’s degree in journalism from New York University.