Abstract
With the democratization of informatics technologies, there is a new demand for more advanced Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) and also fancy training devices that integrate technologies like Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR). The fact that these solutions are now affordable makes the learning managers dream about having realistic simulations for training. When delivered, sometimes customers are not satisfied because the software is often complex, not user-friendly enough, or not compatible with the computer fleet of the company. Consequently, professionals show a preference for the old training solution. In this chapter, the crash case of a French university commissioning a simulator on VR for training operators on the production of anti-cancer drugs will be presented. The authors will highlight the reasons that made this training not adapted to the field in which the training takes place, then, explain which guidelines an effective instructional designer should take into consideration while developing the training solution.
TopIntroduction
With the democratization of informatics technologies, there is a new demand for more advanced Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) and also fancy training devices that integrate technologies like Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR). The fact that these solutions are now affordable makes the learning managers of large but also small companies dream about having realistic simulations or immersive environments in which the learner can have a realistic experience about the matter he/she has to learn. This is the case for hard skills such as the gesture in the case of medical training for surgery (Sanders, et al. 2000) or pharmaceutical production (Denami, 2016), or for training drivers of complex engines. In addition, VLEs are often used to train soft skills, like for customer services officers, or for learning concepts like “innovation” (https://www.daesign.com/blog/produit/lutte-anticorruption/). In fact, the idea behind this is that, by simulating and being immersed in a realistic environment, trainees will be better prepared for the tasks or mission they have to accomplish, and by then, that they will be more competent. Nonetheless, it is possible to observe that, while delivering the expected training solution, the customer cannot use it correctly, because of the heavy process of appropriation of this software, which is often complex, not user friendly enough, or not compatible with the computer fleet of the company. Also, when implemented, this fancy solution may not fit the real time dedicated to the internal training on the topic: the training appears to be too long, too complex. In addition, when available, professionals may show a preference for the old training solution and the possibility to get trained by the new one appears too difficult. This is a “hidden” reality that is not uncommon in small and large companies that decide to implement technology-based training. It is the same for universities and school. It must also be noted that it is very difficult to estimate the economic investment in such trainings that are not fully and usefully used by customers.
This chapter aims to present a crash case of a French university (of which the author made the choice to not declare the name) commissioning a simulator on VR for training operators on the production of anti-cancer drugs from a company producing training solutions as serious games, micro-learning which are short (less than 5 minutes) and specific learning contents (video or audio or PDF) that are given to the learner exactly at the moment he/she needs them, mobile applications for learning. After introducing the protocol, which was used in order to make a usability and efficiency test of the training software, the authors will explain and highlight the reasons that made this training not completely adapted to the field of use. Specifically, the authors will focus on the concept of “professional gesture”, in other words, the unit of the activity of the professional-learner in a specific field of action. Then, the authors will explain which guidelines an effective instructional designer should take into consideration while collaborating with customers to develop a training solution. In this last part of the chapter, the aim will be to introduce the “professional didactics” and the “activity analysis” as methods allowing a detailed diagnostic of the content of the training.
In this study the authors address the fields of lifelong and adult education. In fact, the training that has been designed and tested aims to be employed on the one hand for adult education in the academic field of “pharmacy” in order to validate their diploma, and on the other hand for the lifelong training which is mandatory for the professionals in the field of hospital and pharmaceutical production.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Activity Analysis: is a method that allows the analysis of the worker’s activity in a specific situation.
Problem-Solving: is defined as a process of heuristic research into mechanisms for solving a problem in a confined space (Newell & Simon, 1972), or as a sequence of cognitive operations aimed at achieving a goal (Anderson, 1980).
Virtual Learning Environment: is a digital environment, which is designed to create a learning experience.
Ergology: is an approach to understanding and analyzing human activity in a work situation based on two fundamental assumptions: 1) the work activity is complex; 2) the human being always wants to be in control of his standards. The complexity of the activity is reflected in the frequent sensible gap between the actual work situations performed and the standards that prescribe how this activity has to be performed. Indeed, the real activity never perfectly meets the prescribed standards and procedures, unexpected events and invention are elements that are regularly found, even in the most planned situations that seem not to leave room for individual initiative (such as, for example, assembly lines). Activity is defined as the set of dimensions that characterize the human being, namely the body, the mind, the individual and the collective, facts, values, private life, professional life, imposed frameworks, desired situations, etc. These dimensions are enriched by various contributions that, once grouped together, reflect human activity at work. To achieve this vision, in order to understand and solve the problems related to work activity, ergology relies on methodological approaches to the study of activity such as the analysis of activity and work and professional didactics. The unit of the work activity is the professional gesture.
Affordance: “ The affordances of the environment are what it offers the animal, what it provides or furnishes, either for good or ill. The verb to afford is found in the dictionary, the noun affordance is not. I have made it up. I mean by it something that refers to both the environment and the animal in a way that no existing term does. It implies the complementarity of the animal and the environment ”. J. J. Gibson (1979). The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), Boston.
Professional gesture: it is an ensemble of physical or mental tasks that compose the worker’s action to achieve a working objective.
Professional didactics: is the ensemble of methods that are used in order to create training to teach and learn a profession. After the industrial revolution, many studies developed with the aim of producing a “science of work”. These notions of “science” and “work” present an opposition between two terms: the first having a theoretical connotation and following cause-and-effect relationships, and the second having a connotation of situated and pragmatic activity. The first studies of work activity started in the second half of the 19th century, with the industrial revolution and Taylorism, the aim of which was to produce a “scientific organization of work” in order to obtain optimal conditions to maximize industrial production. From the 1960s onwards, and thanks to ergonomics, the study of work activity began to focus on the individual's adaptation to the tools and instruments at his disposal. One of the problems with translating work activity into science is that “work activity” is only observable as an activity in action, because of its dynamic nature and completely linked to the context. Therefore, the multiplicity of available definitions of the working concept makes it impossible to identify its nature univocally. Even if the “science of work” is based on the study of the individual, and therefore of the human being, it remains an application of physical, psychological, historical and economic principles that do not take into consideration the unity and specificity of this activity, which is defined by the fact that it is an act of the individual’s will. This impossibility of formalization of this activity, and therefore of immediate application, has made it difficult to develop a true “science of work”.