Immersive technologies hold great promise in the development of cutting-edge training and performance support for military application and have therefore been a justifiable and enduring interest among the Department of Defense services and industry. An ever-increasing array of immersive tools – including head-mounted displays and virtual simulation environments – enables warfighters to understand and operate complex military systems to great tactical advantage. While aligning its education and learning strategies closely with the evolution of warfare technologies, the Department of the Navy has also prioritized the development of superior leaders to ensure tactical and operational advancement. Strategic and inclusive leadership is a key tenet of the Navy’s educational strategy: "[L]eaders generate success and achieve unparalleled performance when they tap into the energy and capability of an actively inclusive team… to improve warfighting capacity and readiness (Vision and Guidance for Ready Relevant Learning, 2017).” To foster superior inclusive leadership skillsets, and consequently psychological safety for personnel throughout the organization, immersive technologies can be used to train Navy leaders in a realistic, interactive, context-sensitive manner that allows for the effective transfer of learned practices to the field environment; this paper will investigate the application of immersive learning technologies, and specifically the use of head-mounted displays in conjunction with immersive storytelling techniques, to achieve that dynamic with specific regard to diversity & inclusion concepts. Through virtual narratives with targeted leadership themes, learners can access these profoundly important, far-reaching concepts that often fall to the fringes of the learning experience due to their abstract, non-technical nature. Adding to existing knowledge and research on how immersive storytelling fosters spatio-temporal recall, empathy, and increased awareness, the researchers will explore how shifting leadership training away from the traditional and theoretical toward simulated experiences accelerates warfighter leadership competencies and cultivates skillsets more closely aligned with Naval education strategy.
Education
VR Story-Experiencing: Vivifying Diversity & Inclusion Training for Military Leaders
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