The Customer Safeguarding Virtual Training Platform NIA Project with support from mX Reality, aims to deliver a future solution to better train Field Force and office staff to better manage situations they may encounter when interacting with customers in vulnerable circumstances who may or may not be on the PSR. The solution will utilise virtual environments and scenarios that take place in various customer properties that trainees can ‘play’ through, receiving personalised feedback on their actions.
Benefits
This project does not aim to see direct financial benefits; but to improve the experience of customers in vulnerable situations who are registered on the PSR and the wider public who may find themselves in vulnerable situations. In addition, the project is expected to provide the below benefits:
• More engaging training that is personalised to each individual undertaking the training
• Training that can fit around life/work and can be accessed 24/7 requiring less employee time than classroom learning with an expectation of a higher knowledge retention rate of 25-60%
• Improved communication and support of customers in vulnerable situations by allowing staff to practice real-life scenarios in a virtual environment before interacting with customers
• Online courses also use 90% less energy, produce 85% fewer CO2 emissions and are more cost-effective than face-to-face training
Learnings
Outcomes
The four scenarios that formed the project scope have been successfully delivered and are compatible with Cadent’s SCORM training database. Whilst further iterations of the scenarios were required, following user testing, these changes did not impact the general goal of the training scenarios, i.e. providing 3-D game based learning for users. Each scenario has proven to be intuitive and informative, enhancing learning already known or providing exposure to a typical scenario the GDNs often encounter. In addition we now have four environments with a number of resources already created which we can utilise and re-use in future training scenarios.
Lessons Learnt
The use of an immersive environment provides benefits of reuse for future stories, but this can also create some restrictions; meaning that resources created need to be reused and this can look repetitive for the user. Each new item is seen as a resource which needs to be created in the immersive environment, and this can lead to extra costs and time.
Behind each story is a detailed script which translates into everything from mouth action, breathes taken and how questions/quizzes are asked. This takes a lot of planning and accuracy. This resource requirement should not be underestimated.
By carrying out user testing with our internal Safeguard Champion Network, 40+ resources, we were able to gather important insights into how the scenarios would work in practice, as well as the look and feel, prior to implementation. By having a Safeguard Champion test at maximum two of the four scenarios, ensured that scenario fatigue did not set in, so useful feedback could be obtained. This valuable feedback provided the basis for creating the final work package, WP10, which was funded through the pre sanctioned project contingency.
