In the 21st century, it is highly desirable that employees and trainees are able to reflect on and develop their personal, social, and learning to learn competencies in order to unleash their dynamic potential, self-regulate their emotions, thoughts, and behaviours, and build a meaningful (personal and work) life. All these competencies are essential in today’s working context and are central to the LIFEx project’s training experience.

The LIFEx Project, funded by the Erasmus+ programme, is using virtual reality to create a suite of new learning experiences benchmarked against the LifeComp Framework of the EU. The immersive learning experiences will support the development of nine essential life skills, that everyone can hone through formal and non-formal education to build a meaningful life and cope with complexity. These nine skills are:

1. Personal (Self-regulation, Flexibility and Wellbeing) 
2. Social (Empathy, Communication and Collaboration) 
3. Learning to Learn (Growth Mindset, Critical Thinking and Managing Learning) 

Intentionally promoting these competences through education boosts learners’ academic success, life satisfaction and employability. 

As we know, immersive learning techniques (ILx) are becoming more popular as a means of teaching and learning in education, training, and workplace settings. The ability to immerse oneself in an entirely digitally created world has several benefits for learners and tutors. For many learners providing engaging and interactive content offers a more inclusive and accessible learning experience, especially for those that are predisposed to a visual and kinaesthetic style of learning.

For the LIFEx project, we have chosen to use Virtual Reality (VR) as our primary immersive learning tool for participants. We feel that learners will get the most out of our training programme through a VR method as it will allow them to not only be fully focussed and engaged in the course, but also to take part through physical movement, immersing them fully in the learning experience. Technological advances in the last few years have also impacted on our choice to use VR, as headsets have become more affordable, and when combined with the increasing functionality of mobile technology we are seeing immersive technologies moving from niche to mainstream.

While immersive learning cannot replace traditional learning techniques, it can significantly contribute to make learning more engaging and impactful which goes to the heart of the LIFEx Project.

To find out more about LIFEx, please visit our website www.life-x.eu