Changefied creates virtual training solutions that help learners acquire a variety of skill sets, including public transportation and IT skills. In 2023, the company supported the Dutch government in teaching young special education groups by leveraging immersive social learning tools to practice situations such as public transportation routes.
Additionally, Changefield's public transportation solutions support specific government-level support networks by providing affordable and repeatable solutions to support underserved sectors in areas such as special education and support groups. We provide tools to assist you.
In a recent exclusive interview with XR Today, he said: Changefied BV General Manager Tim Van Dam said: explained:
Virtual Public Transport, this is the first game we started four years ago, and we got in touch with someone who wanted a process for young people to learn how to travel by public transport. The young people were autistic or had mild mental disorders. You need to practice in a safe place to be able to travel on public transport.
Van Dam said it allows learners to repeat immersive training sessions, creating repeatable training scenarios that are accessible and affordable. “If you can't do that, you can use it again and again to get the hang of it first. ”
Van Damme He also explained that in the Netherlands, young people with disabilities such as autism are trained on public transport and there is a lack of buddy systems to familiarize learners with public spaces.
Changefied's solution helps fill gaps in local social care networks by allowing learning groups to experience everyday situations in a safe and reproducible virtual setting. “Now we can use virtual reality to prepare for this journey,” Van Dam said.
Vam Dam also said:[Goverment] I have very little budget and time. ”
complete learning package
Eric Welling, Principal Software Engineer at the companyand the public transportation simulation tool “It's a complete package. ” Welling says the tool “Everything that can go wrong and hit on public transport is there. After all, you experience basically everything that can go wrong, so you know how to deal with all those situations. ”
Mr Welling added:
Also, something very important in our game is that you, the player, can actually control your character. This is not just an instruction telling you what to do, you as the player are responsible for actually performing these tasks and remembering what to do at any given point. Therefore, these buses and trains in the game will move whether you are on board or not. So navigating this world is your real job as a player.
Additionally, Welling says that the big benefits of immersive learning solutions, such as Changefied's immersive public transportation and computer IT skills building solutions, are: Some of these limitations are removed because you can practice as much as you like. ”
Immersive learning to build IT skills
Virtual TechLab, Changfied's IT skill-building immersive learning platform, is a VR solution that supports IT training procedures and allows teachers to guide students during immersive learning scenarios via tablets.
Changefied designed the Virtual TechLab solution to support a wide range of users, from experienced IT instructors to trainees and students, enabling comprehensive and democratized IT learning opportunities. The company claims that its Virtual TechLab immersive learning system is easy to use for teachers, who can tailor training sessions to the learning needs of their students from the tablet.
With Virtual TechLab, learning institutions no longer have to limit their opportunities due to budget, time, or hardware limitations. Additionally, by using VR training services, teachers no longer have to worry about the consequences of mistakes in real-world training, which can be time-consuming and costly.
Mr Welling added:
Normally, [students] You will be taught how to do this in regular lessons, and also some practical parts. This is quite problematic, as it can be expensive and time-consuming for teachers to set up all these computers for students to work on. Components can fail very quickly. Next, you need to determine which component is broken and obtain a replacement. These students really don't get enough practice with real computer parts. So by doing it in virtual reality like this, you can practice as much as you want in real life.
Collaborate with end users and leverage feedback
Welling said Changefield is “looking for partners to collaborate with us to conduct further large-scale studies to test the benefits,” and the company said:We are actively seeking user data and feedback.
Van Dam also said that Changefied We received positive feedback through our public transportation solution. On the other hand, our company is still in the process of development. “Build” your training scenarios and put in “more stimuli and different scenarios.”
Mr. Vam Dam also pointed out that: It's based on the first level Changefied built. Thanks to the company's immersive learning platform, a “significantly higher proportion of people” can now travel by public transport. – “What we learned last year is that we have a lot of stakeholders. We did not expect so many stakeholders to participate in this process,” Vam Dam said.
Mr Welling added:
I think it's still a growing industry. That's why standalone VR headsets have become commonplace over the years, allowing him to run his XR solution in the first place. I know there is still a lack of content and a lack of community. There are research institutions all over the place that are really trying to drive innovation, and I think we all need to come together and try to really take it to the next level. Try to bring together multiple of these stakeholders. As a software company, we have to do it now.
To learn more, check out our exclusive interview with XR Today's Eric Welling and Tim Van Dam.
