Sponsored VR tutorials by employers help people learn skills so they can be in a modernized workforce. Potential employees get an experiential way of learn, the opportunity to learn anywhere, and earn verified badges by completing VR simulation/tests. Employers can see not only the badges potenital employees earned, but also how many times they practiced a skill, how well they did on the skill tests, and how engaged they were.
We modeled the workflow from employee to employer, looking at how a potential worker trains for a job, is discovered, and becomes hired through microlessons. We looked at how employers would be able to verify those skills, and
We were really inspired by some of the students we talked to at civic-corps who told us they were really motivated when they could themselves in the job they wanted. They also told us having a clear understanding of the path to get there was really important, as well as having that path be accepted and trusted by employers (like a high school degree is now). They also said that the time commitment of regular schools was a big barrier to access for a lot of people. That drove us to explore ways to create bite-size learning experiences that could be done in your own home. As well, we were interested in the ways VR could transport someone to a specific role, and teach them a skill in the actual environment in which it would be used. And we wanted to allow these workers to be able to track their progress. We created a UI for a potential worker, who can learn lessons that employers have sponsored. That worker earns badges as they learn the tutorials and take tests/do simulations that verify they have learned the skill. The UI shows the badging experience. Then we created an AR flow that modeled a VR flow showing a very specific task -- learning the technique of Bakri. We focused on bakri because Kaiser is the largest employer in Oakland, and we because its a bite-size tutorial. Bakri is a technique used in maternal health wards to stop hemorraging, which is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the developed world. We found POV footage showing this task being done, and used Aurasma to mock it up. Then we make an interactive mock-up of the employer's dashboard where they can see how well employees did.
While we chose the hospital use case, we see this experience applying broadly to fields such as construction and electrical technicians. We had a great interview with someone at the port who talked about the application in their fields for such a place as diverse as Oakland.
Made by Caroline Crandall, Regina Escamilla, and William Wu during the Future of Oakland Makeathon, with the IDEO CoLab.
