Education
How much more exciting would class be if it featured a virtual reality tour as part of the lesson package? Sitting behind textbooks may become an outdated format, as people experiment with using VR in the classroom. A lot of teachers are warm to the idea of using VR tools to help teach their lessons, with the greatest interest stemming from the Science, History, and Engineering fields. It’ll be something we’ll see making minor headway in 2019. VR in education is more than just taking people on virtual field trips. It also has applications for people with learning disabilities who may struggle in a typical classroom setting. A virtual reality headset allows a struggling learner to get the environment they need to properly learn.
Training
Similar to educating children, VR is a very useful tool for training adults how to perform a specific job. Why make do with simple training tools for complicated machinery when you can have a near-perfect replica in a VR world? This allows users to work with tools that are as realistic as possible, so they’re more readily prepared when they have to do the job in real life. Walmart has already rolled out VR for their employee training. The company has stated that VR training allowed trainees to feel more confident in the real world and boosted their familiarity with the technology that appears in their jobs. It’s a step in the right direction for teaching people how to work complicated machinery within a safe and controlled space where failure means nothing.
Travel
Before you jet off to that exotic destination, why not go on a virtual taster tour to see if it’s for you? Virtual reality allows people to download and watch immersive trips through famous locations, which could help inspire you with regards to where you should go for your next holiday. Even when you’re on the plane, you may bump into a VR experience. Planes are using VR to educate passengers on the flight and its safety protocols, and it’s also a good source of in-flight entertainment. It certainly makes the pre-flight speech a lot more interesting!
Advertising and Sales
Why show off your new product in a video or poster when you can create an immersive VR environment instead? As VR develops, so, too, does the interest of people who want to sell products. VR gives the interesting angle of actually placing the user inside of the advert. Car manufacturers can place VR users directly into the car itself, while furniture stores can show to-scale models of their goods for people to examine. Advertisers also get some additional tools to ensure people are actually consuming their adverts. For example, VR headsets with eye tracking can be used to monitor if the user is actually watching the advert. This is good news for advertisers who want to ensure their ads are being seen. Users, however, may be disgruntled that they can’t simply look away while an ad plays!
Viewing VR
VR has come a long way, but it’s not stopping yet! With so many practical uses for VR, we’ll likely see some new developments in 2019 that use this hardware. What VR development are you looking forward to most? Is there another area of VR you’re excited about? Let us know below.
