Why We Needed To Launch a School Teaching The Industry Through VR Headsets

People ask me why we run Creative Mastery in VR.  That’s until they put a headset on and experience the School of Communication Arts 2.0 in the metaverse.

My teachers were hooked from the very first class.  One very simple and powerful observation was from Rob MacGillivray – who teaches my students film and story-telling amongst other things – who noticed how the introduction of space allowed for the inclusion of Memory Palaces into the design of our classes.

Rob brought pizazz and panache to his first masterclass in VR, which was held inside an art gallery space.   He placed ‘Non-playable characters’ wearing Armani suits around the room as if they were guarding the art he wanted to show the students.   Spatial sound allowed the students to walk around the gallery in groups and share private conversations about how the art made them feel.

I’m teaching the students inside the same gallery, and with a quick shake of a controller, Rob’s art on the wall is replaced with scenes from work and multiple choice questions.    Everyone must run quickly to the answer that most closely feels like their truth.

Our students tell us that they are more engaged than on any other course they’ve been on, which is probably a ringing endorsement of the company running our platform calling themselves ENGAGE XR.

They love not being able to see emails and WhatsApps with their headset on, so long as we keep our classes short and snappy.   The perfectly designed class involves having the headset on for no longer than 40 minutes at a time, and this restriction has forced all of us to edit our classes to make them tighter and sharper wherever possible.

Deanna Rodger ran a poetry workshop in the first week of Creative Mastery, with the day building up to each person taking it in turn to stand on a virtual stage in the SCA Cabaret Club and perform their piece.   I’m not 100% sure we would have seen Kirsty McKinlay step up and perform like she did if the class was IRL. She already knows that this is a safe space where she can create and test and try-out things.

How glorious.

My passion is in vocational and lifelong learning, and I am convinced that enlightened companies will soon be forced to give all their employees time to learn and grow.   In a fast-changing world, employers have a responsibility to support their people with access to courses that help them navigate the future with confidence.

We designed Creative Mastery through consultation with partners like The MISSION Group , and a desire to support their great talent in places like Bristol, Devon and Leicester. VR saves everyone time and money because the journey to the best schools in the metaverse is as simple as slipping on a headset.  It also means that the best schools can welcome great talent from across the UK.

Presently, we give people taking Creative Mastery their own free VR headset for the two year course.   The course is 95-100% free for most employers.    We can afford this because we get paid monthly by the government and we spread the cost of the headset across the length of the course.

We can all see the day when headsets will be much, much cheaper and more comfortable to wear for a bit longer than 40 minutes at a time.  They will be given to employees as another business tool and it will unlock a flood of benefits for remote communications between people wanting to share ideas and experiences.

When that happens, I want SCA to be able to offer our partners an almost limitless menu of learning experiences for their best talent to continue to be developed and supported in their career.

Those who joined the April pilot of Creative Mastery are helping to shape the future of our industry in more ways than they might imagine.  The next intake will be slipping their headsets on for the first time in September and will have a similar impact.

Would you like to be in the September cohort?    Would you like to nominate a colleague, an employee or a friend?

It’s completely free for most people reading this message, but the employer does need to support you by giving you time to learn with us.

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