OUR VISION

Introduction

Virtual training can earn companies a positive return on investment (ROI), with relative small investments. Smart companies provide employees with training opportunities to keep skills and knowledge at their top in order for employees to produce high-quality work, with all the advantages of a no-risks virtual environment to work inside. In the past, employees typically learned in classrooms led by expert instructors. but that scenario has been changing.

While face-to-face instruction offers the opportunity to interact in person with the instructor and classmates, and may be the first choice of most people, it is not realistic in today’s global environment: technology opens up new learning options.

Virtual classrooms and virtual worlds make up an array of environments for learning. Some are more instructor-led, and others are totally learner-driven. They are also cost-effective once the technology is in place and the company culture embraces other learning patterns.

Outside of subject areas where face-to-face interaction or real world testing is necessary, many researches indicate that no significant differences exist in the effectiveness of learning through virtual environments and collaborative tools.

Carefully developed 3D graphics and visuals can help better explain new concepts. Realistic environments, advanced physics simulations and even short videos and integrated multimedia contents contribute to a more visual and immersive approach to understanding concepts. That, combined with the instructor’s interactions, ensures a better and more effective way of learning. In fact, some animated sequences and scenarios in v- training would be difficult to safely and affordably duplicate in a classroom.

Interaction through blogs, wikis and discussion boards can help learners see other points of view. There is no danger of isolation for virtual learners, since they play in a immersive workspace with many other avatars and powerful tools used to reinforce the learning.

The opportunity to access specific sections of the learning content as many times as necessary to grasp key concepts provides a better overall understanding of the topic. Also, choosing the best time to learn puts the learner in a better frame of mind to learn.

While it may be tempting to assume a shift to v-learning is only about cutting costs, an over-reliance on the financial ROI justification risks compromising the current learning program’s effectiveness. Companies must objectively evaluate the financial impact on business when considering the adoption or avoidance of v-training. V-training can help address many critical business problems like supporting global employee learning, decreasing travel and expenses, and increasing productivity in a competitive environment. But companies need to do a careful assessment of the nature of internal and external learning at all levels of the business, especially the benefits, costs and risks.

3D virtual meeting spaces and virtual workspaces are the most innovative way to meet, work and interact online with others. 3D virtual spaces or virtual worlds, are ideal communication platforms which allow real time simulations and interaction among users. We are used to keep in touch through e-mails, blogs and social networks, but what a virtual 3D space offers is a synchronous interaction between people, in a dynamic environment that can be anything fantasy suggests. A virtual world is a space not only to communicate, but also to share content and media, such as videos or images. For example users can have a virtual room with a slide projector where they can meet and watch and comment together any media content projected on a screen seen by all people present at the same time. On the other hand a user could organize a presentation of a business idea or his company to share with colleagues. Moreover, Web 3D environments are ideal for simulation and prototyping, as well as collaborative design. These applications make the best use of this new powerful technology. Learning through simulation has proven to be an efficient mean for training emplyees, managers and workers, on best practices or risk management. To read more about virtual worlds technologies applications, please see our Solutions section in our website.

At ISN Virtual Worlds we believe that Digital AVATARS and Web 3D virtual environments are the future interface for our everyday use of computer systems, both at home and work.
In the last 5 years the word “AVATAR” has become known to everyone, through web social networks and virtual worlds, but also in the massive media arena, such as the movie industry. We believe there’s a lot more coming behind our AVATARS and it is what will happen to the evolution of our Digital IDs on the Internet, whether it is a web or grid (web 3D) environment.
The first hints that the web and the desktop itself would go 3D came also from some Operating Systems such as Linux, with the multi-cube cube desktop, Mac Os with 3D menus and Windows Vista, with the semi-3D Aero interface. With the raise of Virtual Worlds, 3D environments had their true moment of connection with the web. As the web goes 3D, the AVATAR becomes more and more important to represent us on the web in 3D environments. So, as a natural evolution, it is assumable that the graphic representation of ourselves on web, our AVATAR, and our digital IDs, in terms of security keys to access web services, will eventually merge into a unique user identification interface, made of an alphanumeric key or ID and a visual representation as an AVATAR.
As Virtual Reality enters our homes and finds more and more business applications, our AVATARS will become increasingly important in our everyday life. It will be through our AVATARS that we will access tools and application and simulation environments. If the natural evolution of digital work environments is in 3D, then our AVATARS are the interfaces between us and our future interaction environments.