Experience-based learning in virtual reality – areas of potential and challenges

Digital media including simulations and virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) are increasingly being used in initial and continuing vocational education and training. Although occupational learning in virtual spaces offers new possibilities, specific limits are faced compared to learning via an analogue object. In this article, a research and development project for the piloting of a virtual learning environment in the construction and maintenance of industrial cranes serves as a basis for a systematic investigation into which learning contents can be more or less effectively taught within virtual reality and into the requirements for VR tools which can be derived. The article concludes with a debate on the extent to which the findings can be generalised for (occupational) learning in digital spaces.