The way we teach has been evolving since the dawn of the human species. But the way we learn, the best methods for comprehending and utilizing new information, have been constant. Learning is most impactful for students everywhere when it is done through firsthand experience, and Virtual Reality (VR) can bring those experiences to any classroom.
Research from the University of Chicago reveals that experiential learning can lead to retention rates as high as 90%, compared to just 5% from traditional learning methods (Fazey and Marton, 2002). But what happens when the context to experience learning is dangerous, impractical, or too expensive to bring into the classroom?
This is one question on which lawmakers, educators, and learners all seem to agree. The answer is clear, and it becomes clearer the moment you don your headset—nothing simulates a real learning environment more closely than VR. It is the future of learning, and the future is now.
VR brings the learner into a fully immersive, computer-simulated version of their world and beyond the confines of reality. Check out some of these incredible ways that VR is being used today to facilitate experiential learning.
In the classroom
- Medical students perform virtual dissections of a human heart, a process that has been made more engaging, cost-effective, and impactful through the virtual environment in which it is performed (Wurstle 2024).
- STEM students at ASU explore an intergalactic wildlife preserve where they see theories of evolution brought to life and experiment with different genetic combinations (Faller 2025).
In the workforce
- Boeing trains their future pilots in a virtually simulated flight experience to practice the theory learned in a near real-life environment (Boeing 2025).
- Siemens employees practice working on replacing and repairing windmill parts before doing so in the real world, providing safe training experiences needed to enter the job with a know-how previously unattainable (Vrowl 2021).
"Pure logical thinking cannot yield us any knowledge of the empirical world; all knowledge of reality starts from experience and ends in it."
To some, virtual learning can seem unorthodox and daunting to incorporate into their existing curricula or learning platforms. But there are experts, artists, writers, and researchers who are ready and equipped to take any training topic and bring it to the virtual world.
If virtual learning is the tool that helps learners access their full potential, then KeyBridge Technologies is your toolbox.
Ready to see how virtual reality can benefit the learners in your organization? Check out our website to see what we can do in the virtual realm!
