Virtual Reality in Workplace Learning: Affordances, Limitations, and Future Directions

The interest and use of Virtual Reality (VR) technology for workplace learning has been increasing and is projected to increase further based insights from scholarly literature, industry reports, and interviews with organization and learning leaders. We present and discuss perceived affordances, limitations, and future directions of VR learning based on interviews with 21 workplace learning leaders across sectors and industries. Perceived affordances include: (1) simulation of dangerous or difficult real life scenarios, (2) interpersonal and leadership skill development, (3) affordability, (4) data and assessments, (5) social learning, and (6) bridging the real and virtual. On the other hand, perceived limitations include: (1) limitations of experiences in VR, (2) hardware bottlenecks, (3) costs, and (4) limited acceptance of VR learning. Many study participants anticipated improvements in VR hardware fidelity and comfort, simplification of VR learning creation, and expansion of AR learning opportunities, while some anticipate no significant changes in VR learning opportunities and adoption. We also discuss recommendations for VR instructional design and implementation and various directions for further research.