Learning with Virtual Reality

At EDF Energy we want to innovate to transform people’s lives with skills and job opportunities. By renewing the skills of our employees, we will be able to operate in a more “digital world”. But what does a “digital world” really mean and how does that relate to the learning and development opportunities we offer?

What is Virtual Reality?

One of the tools that we have been using at EDF Energy to bridge this gap is Virtual Reality. Virtual Reality enables a person to fully immerse themselves into another world – usually via a headset. Imagine what it would be like to explore how the inside of a human body works or even walk a tightrope at a frightfully high vantage point. With virtual reality, or VR, this type of thing can become accessible. 

Within Virtual Reality you can explore environments in rich detail, making the transition to new locations much easier. You can see, touch, feel and in some cases even smell an environment before entering in real life!

How are we using Virtual Reality to upskill our people?

The team that I lead – Digital and Innovative Learning, Campus – are real experts in understanding how certain technologies can improve how people learn certain tasks that are related to our business. One example is within health and safety – which is an overriding ambition of the organisation through our “Zero Harm” focus.

By understanding how Virtual Reality could positively contribute towards learning, the team have delivered training for key health and safety related activities. We have digitally replicated the inside of one of our Nuclear power stations and created simulations that replicate real life tasks. This piece of training has been a big success with our employees and has seen approx. 90% cost reduction.  We can now call upon data to understand where we might need to intervene in the future.

It is our people who benefit most from the innovation – making their daily tasks easier to complete and in an engaging way.

What next?

This example is only one of several innovative learning projects that have gone well. It’s through our innovative learning processes that we can keep providing solutions like these to our business. This particular project has also been shortlisted for an innovation award at the “World Nuclear Exhibition” in June 2018.

If you are interested in understanding more about this project or how we approaching innovative learning please get in touch with Lloyd Dean from Campus.