Get Real with 360-Degree Video in Training
A 360o video places you at the center of a cinematic experience. It allows you to look in any direction and experience the action, sights, and sounds that seem to surround you. You can look up, down and all around you as you would in the real world and explore the scene from any perspective.
By using 360o video and simulation eLearning you can shift your training into a whole new dimension, literally! Learners can have multi-sensory training experiences in a safe environment. This is especially significant in industries where replicating the real-world, or actually learning in the real workplace, is usually expensive, dangerous or complicated.
But 360-degree material can just as easily be used in everyday, low-risk contexts, such as giving learners an onboarding tour through their new workplace. You could walk them through the office or industry production line, where they can see the day-to-day activity.
78% of institutions say video makes the on-boarding of new employees smoother. 1
Research has shown that people more easily 1) remember and 2) transfer and apply new skills if they learn them in the context in which they need to be used.2 In other words, skills are best acquired in realistic contexts. 360o video is about as close to real as it gets!
What is a 360-degree video?
360-degree videos, also known as immersive videos or spherical videos. The footage of two or more camera lenses at different positions is stitched together to create a scene that seems to surround you. It can be shot using an omnidirectional camera or a collection of cameras in the same location but at different angles.
The incredible value of 360-degree video is that it places the viewer realistically in the context.
It visually transports them right into the environment, exactly where the camera was.
Instead of sending employees for on-the-job training, where accidents, errors or contamination of sterile environments could be critical, a 360-degree video simulation can help them build the confidence, decision-making skills and procedural skills they need to perform their role competently, but in a less hazardous place.
This also reduces the costs of repeatedly taking learners to a work site.
For example, a crane operator, will be less intimidated when operating a crane, if he has already seen a realistic 360o video of the environment in which he will work and if he has trained and practiced the necessary procedures in that near-to-live, simulated context.
Training using 360o video will give him more immersive seat time and experience, practicing his operating skills, in the 3-dimensions that this role requires. With an authoring tool like SimTutor, you can add hot-spots and other calls to action into the video training to make it truly interactive.
360-degree video: can you do it yourself?
360o video technology is relatively new and still improving and evolving. However, you can employ this format on any budget or scale. For most situations, especially with SimTutor, you can start with an inexpensive option.
SimTutor’s customer success manager, Benny Jekel explains further:
“The good news is, most of the work is done for you when it comes to producing the 360 o content. The 360o ready camera will produce a normal video or image file that can be uploaded into SimTutor which will give it the 360o degree effect.
Most cameras come with a mobile app (some have a PC application available too), which will do all the heavy lifting. It will convert the multiple camera video or image feeds within the device to one combined video or image. Once you have this combined output from the software, it can simply be uploaded into any step within SimTutor! (Ensure you have the 360o checkbox checked!)”
One last thing to consider before you start shooting 360o media is HOW to shoot the content, because a 360o camera captures everything! You must think about how to avoid seeing yourself or the person who is filming.
There are two easy options to manage this:
- Keep the camera stationary on a tripod or similar.
- Use a device or even your arm to lift the camera above your head! (You'll need to ensure to blur/black out the bottom of the finished media if you don't want the top of your head to feature in your training video! This can be done in any video editing tool)
Once you have recorded and edited your video, you can upload it to SimTutor, add interactive steps such as hot-spots, drag-and-drop and Voila! You will have recreated a 3-dimensional context in which to immerse your learners and reap all the benefits of interactive, contextualized training.
Speak to us about how we can assist you with integrating 360-degree video into your training.
References:
- Kaltura Report, the State of Video in Education 2017
- Thalheimer, W. (2009, April). Using Linguistically, Culturally, and Situationally Appropriate Scenarios to Support Real-World Remembering. http://www.work-learning.com/catalog/
- Ibid