Augmented and Virtual Reality to Expand Workplace Experience

A common structure of the vocational education and training system in Switzerland is that students learn in schools for one or two days per week with the rest of the week dedicated to apprenticeship at a workplace.

Although this system is effective for developing professional competences, one of the challenges is the diversity of practical experiences obtained by the apprentice. The practical experience gained from a workplace is often limited to the specific situations the apprentices are exposed to and may not cover the whole spectrum of the practical experience related to the profession.

In this project our goal is to expand the experience of the learners in vocational education. Considering digital technologies such as augmented and virtual reality as a means to address this challenge, the research goal is to design and evaluate activities in the expanded digital space that expand the practical experience of the apprentices.