Virtual and mixed reality for learning and training

In June 2022, Virtual Reality (VR) helped perform one of the riskiest surgical operations ever: the separation of Siamese twins. This highly complex operation, which took place in Rio di Janeiro, required 7 surgical procedures and the mobilization of a medical team of around 100 people. In preparation, the teams spent several months testing different techniques on virtual projections of the twins, obtained from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT-Scan). This event is just one example. Advances in technology and research in this field mean that Virtual Reality can now be used in a wide variety of fields.

This article deals with the use of VR for human learning. After an introduction to VR and related concepts, the article lists the main advantages of using virtual environments, notably their ability to free themselves from the constraints of the real world. The article then explains how these environments can benefit from the ludic dimension of video games, and goes on to study concrete examples of the use of these techniques in the field of initial and vocational training.

One of the challenges of learning tools is to offer content adapted to the learner. The aim of this article is to give an overview of how virtual environments for human learning (VHEs) are constructed, so as to enable simulation adaptations at different levels, and to facilitate collaboration between the various people involved, whose field of expertise is not necessarily IT (trainers, ergonomists, domain experts).