At Near-Life™ one of our goals is to make learning more accessible, and feasible. So to build on our existing interactive video technology, we have been working on a new VR authoring tool that uses web technology, meaning all you need to experience immersive learning is a mobile phone.
Our work has been funded by Innovate UK and was originally backed by the UK’s Department for International Development. The project will form part of a suite of immersive courses developed with international organisations on our sister-site, Resilience Academy.
Our new technology allows organisations to easily create 360° and 180° immersive learning scenarios. Additionally, the authoring tool uses web VR technology which means learning scenarios don’t require any expensive hardware, they can be played through a mobile phone app.
As part of the project development, we worked alongside the World Health Organization, the UK’s International Search and Rescue Team and the Global Inter-Agency Security Forum to develop a VR security training course for the WHO’s Emergency Medical Teams programme.
We filmed at Lincolnshire Fire Service’s specially designed search and rescue facility to imitate real-life scenarios that Emergency Medical Teams could face on the job. This new way of learning is based on the work of the World Health Organization to establish best practice and standards across the international responder community.
“It’s been a real privilege to work with the WHO and our UK Partners to produce this course and support the vital work of Emergency Medical Teams internationally. The learning will allow learners to experience the type of challenging situations they could face in the field in a safe but immersive way.”
Mike Todd, Co-founder & CEO, Near-Life™
The VR security training course will go live in November, this year.