{"id":14927,"date":"2020-01-30T18:41:38","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T23:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opsweb.wpengine.com\/?p=14927"},"modified":"2021-07-01T15:29:17","modified_gmt":"2021-07-01T19:29:17","slug":"immersive-technologies-a-future-way-to-train-and-prepare-employees-for-achieving-agency-missions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourpublicservice.org\/blog\/immersive-technologies-a-future-way-to-train-and-prepare-employees-for-achieving-agency-missions\/","title":{"rendered":"Immersive technologies: A future way to train and prepare employees for achieving agency missions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Imagine you are an Army medic at a makeshift battlefield hospital seeking to treat numerous injured soldiers caught in an ambush. You need to quickly stop their bleeding, treat their wounds and stabilize the patients in a matter of minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You start on your first patient and work carefully, but quickly, to check all the boxes as you follow the required protocols. A green checkmark pops up on a device you are using to guide you through the process as you treat one soldier after another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then you remove the goggles that placed you in\nthis virtual reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You are not on the battlefield, but in a training\nroom surrounded by your peers and getting real-time feedback from an instructor\nabout how you responded to the challenges you faced in the virtual world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This example is just one way immersive\ntechnologies could transform how federal employees train and prepare for\nachieving their agency missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immersive technologies are a collection of\ntechnologies that change or enhance our physical environment to different\ndegrees. They include augmented reality, which creates a real-world environment\nwith added digital content, and virtual reality, which completely immerses an\nindividual in a recreated or imaginary environment\u2014such as placing the Army\nmedic in a room full of injured soldiers waiting to be treated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agencies already are benefiting from these\ntechnologies. At a November 19 event co-hosted by the Partnership for Public\nService and Booz Allen Hamilton, Army Lt. Col. Seth Wheeler described how his\nagency has developed immersive technology pilot programs and exploratory\nuse-cases\u2014in partnership with Booz Allen Hamilton\u2014that range from special operations\ntactical skills and medical trauma training to parachute and airborne\noperations training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Kevin Karem from the Centers for Disease\nControl and Prevention said immersive technologies allow trainees to visualize and\nexperience working with dangerous germs and chemicals without being placed in harm\u2019s\nway. Other uses include the Department of Veterans Affairs treating patients with\npost-traumatic stress disorder by\nputting them back in a traumatic moment and allowing them to process that experience\nwith a therapist in real-time. NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration have\nused the technology to build virtual air traffic control towers to test new and\nsafe ways to improve air traffic flow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As more agencies consider how immersive\ntechnologies can help them achieve their missions, experts at the November\nevent noted the following keys to success:<\/p>\n\n\n\n