Digital learning and assessment specialists, eCom, have launched a virtual reality (VR) authoring tool specifically designed for use in learning and assessment. Called eNetReality™, the tool has been successfully tested in the fields of education, construction and medicine – and is continuing to be trialled by a pilot group of organisations in the academic, charity and public sectors.

Developed by eCom USA Learning Solutions – a sister company of eCom Scotland – eNetReality was developed specifically to help a college, working with disadvantaged students, to make a learning experience more accessible. Tanya MacDonald, who heads up eCom’s eNetReality development team explained, “Working with the college, we developed an immersive experience to deliver the required assessment via VR.

“This allowed the college to deliver its qualification assessment up-to-standard with in-person experiences but with the flexibility to deliver anywhere, even offline. This not only increased the number of participants who completed the program but also helped us recognize the tool’s wider application.”

After doing that, eCom decided to combine the knowledge and expertise it had gained about VR and add this to its ability to create eLearning authoring tools to create a VR authoring tool that ‘non-technical’ people could use to create their own VR learning and assessment experiences. The result is a cloud-delivered tool that delivers its output across any device – from headset (for a fully-immersive experience) to smartphone (via a companion app) or even, if required, a YouTube upload.

“Being Cloud-based, there’s no need for designers to download the tool,” said Tanya. “It can work with any SCORM-compliant learning management system – including, of course, eCom’s own LMS:  eNetLearn® and, since it has xAPI capability, it can produce highly granular reports – indeed, to whatever level is required.”

The eNetReality pilot group in the UK includes Liverpool-based Open Awards and education colleges in Fife, West Lothian and Wolverhampton, along with support from the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA). Commenting, the Director of the Faculty of Creative Industries at Fife College, Douglas McMillan, said, “We’re finding that eNetReality offers a great user experience and helps us track the outcome of each student’s assessment.”

eCom is Cyber Essentials Plus certified and its suite of digital learning and assessment products including eNetReality is available via G-Cloud 12 – the UK Government’s framework for cloud-delivered ICT goods and services on the Digital Marketplace.

Currently, the full VR tool is free to access for 14 days. To access the tool, visit: https://enetreality.com/Signup/Register For further details of eNetReality visit: https://enetreality.com/ and https://enetreality.com/Blog/TheJourneyOfeNetReality

eNetReality is a registered trading name of eCom USA Learning Solutions, registered in the state of Georgia, USA, and specialising in providing software-as-a-service (SaaS) cloud solutions for learning and development activities.

eCom (https://www.ecomscotland.com/contact/)  creates innovative learning solutions – aimed at increasing learning engagement and driving productivity – to help organisations achieve their goals. With offices in Dunfermline, Scotland, and Athens, Georgia, in the USA, but with customers from around the world, eCom focuses on the delivery, tracking and reporting of workforce learning and development through innovative technologies. Its products and services address a range of workforce management, development and training challenges, including eLearning, online assessment, blended learning, competency management and accreditation.