How we work
We use specific design models and methodologies in our solutions, so we can propose and implement solutions that will have a positive impact on your KPIs.
Virtual Reality as a tool for Learning
Virtual reality is an efficient medium for learning and development (L&D). It allows learners to visualize and interact with a virtual, often collaborative environment in real-time.
Learners can practice new skills in scenarios that would be difficult to recreate in real life because of distance, time, cost, or safety. If properly designed and implemented, VR-based L&D can substantially improve the effectiveness of training.
Theoretical Foundations of VR L&D
Our work methods are rooted in the following theoretical learning and development principles:
Constructivist Learning
In educational psychology, constructivist learning means that knowledge is built through a learner’s interaction with the environment. It emphasizes the importance of multiple sensory inputs, existing knowledge, and new information to create meaning and understanding. Learning activities should be active, authentic, cooperative, and reflective.
For our work methods, we follow six principles rooted in constructivist learning:
Learners bring unique knowledge, experience, and beliefs to a learning situation.
Knowledge is constructed uniquely and individually, in several ways, through a variety of authentic tools, resources, experiences, and contexts.
Learning is both an active and a reflective process.
Learning is a developmental process of accommodation, assimilation, or rejection to construct new conceptual structures, meaningful representations, or new mental models.
Social interaction introduces multiple perspectives through reflection, collaboration, negotiation, and shared meaning.
Learning is internally controlled and mediated by the learner.
Cognitive Psychology
We continuously research the different cognitive aspects involved in the learning process. This helps us understand individual differences between learners and the role of those differences in learners.
In turn, this understanding allows us to build the right VR solutions for our clients, tailored to their needs.
Unlike “drill and kill” memorization methods, we study concepts of memory (such as chunking) to help learners both gain a deeper understanding of a subject and retain that knowledge for longer.
Problem-solving helps learners understand the skills they need to solve problems effectively. These are meta-skills, in the sense that they can be applied elsewhere too. Additionally, in our VR solutions, we use multiple design methods based on problem-solving theory, such as subgoal labeling. These further improve a learner’s retention of knowledge.
Attention is a key factor to make a learner feel motivated. Once we have the attention of a learner, he or she will be more willing to invest their time, focus on a topic, and find out more about it.
We’ve studied the relationship between motivation and learning, because motivation plays a crucial role in the learning process. This allows us to create VR solutions where learners can actively learn new things in a fun and exciting way.
Instructional Theory
Instructional theory offers explicit guidance on how to better help people learn and develop. It’s closely tied to Instructional Design, which is the practice of designing, developing, and delivering consistently instructional experiences for effective and engaging learning experiences.
We use the principles of Instructional Theory to create our own model of Instructional Design. It lets us use virtual reality to get to the desired outcome of our clients. Which brings us to the following question: How does OneBonsai work?
How we work
Our way of working is based on our self-developed model of Instructional Design.
1. Define
In the initial phase of any project, we choose who’s going to work on the project. We make sure every team member is fully experienced in instructional design, user experience, interface design, as well as the subject matter at hand. Every team is led by a manager, who has the vital role of coordinating work between team members as well as making sure everyone is communicating effectively.
After we’ve formed a team, we obtain all the information necessary for the project. We identify and detail the instructional challenge of the project, its learning objectives, as well as other issues such as learner skill level. We want to make sure that we focus on knowledge that the learners don’t know about yet (or at least haven’t mastered yet). We also set goals to determine what learners should have learned after completing the course.
As the final part of this phase, we conduct a study to evaluate the feasibility of implementing the challenge in VR. From a technical perspective, this means we look at the hardware and the software that will be needed to achieve the goals of the project.
2. Design
We start the design phase by brainstorming the different aspects of the project. We brainstorm learning content, goals and objectives, lesson planning and structure, roadmaps, feedback methods, evaluation and assessment methods, and so on.
We then create storyboards that simulate the learner’s journey through our training. We begin working on the UI and UX of the project. We also come up with various tools that assist the learner in learning new things, such as related situations, information resources, cognitive tools, and collaboration tools.
Lastly, we develop prototypes where we test whether our virtual environment is easy and intuitive to navigate, whether a learner can easily interact with virtual objects and avatars, and whether there is any motion sickness or discomfort at all. We iterate on all this until we are satisfied with the results.
3. Development
We start implementing everything we came up with during the design phase. This starts by implementing the learning content and the UI/UX assets. We also develop the required materials for registering the learner, as well as a training or tutorial to familiarize them with VR technology.
We then set up one-on-one evaluations between the team members and the learners. We want to gather their feedback on the clarity, completeness, and appropriateness of the training. We want to understand whether the training was easy to navigate, what they thought about the visual, and generally anything that they thought impeded their learning process.
We gather this information in a variety of ways: comments, interviews, observations. Generally, our work involves preparing questions, designing data collection tools, preparing the learner for the sessions, managing the sessions, debriefing the sessions, reviewing the data, revising the environment as appropriate, and repeating all the above until we’re satisfied.
Getting the approval of the project manager means that we have completed our objectives for the technical aspects of the development. Once we have the PM’s approval, we start our last phase: evaluation.
4. Evaluation
This part of the evaluation phase is conducted in an environment similar to the real world. It focuses on the performance data of the learner, which is usually obtained through a properly designed test. Learners who fail to reach the performance we’d expect give us clues to the specific problems of the educational VR environment. We make sure to fix those problems.
We continuously gather additional feedback on various aspects of the training: the amount of time needed to complete a VR session, the clarity of the instructions given to the learners, the need to provide navigation training to the learners before the learning session, etc. Additionally, we also check how reliable the test is in measuring a learner’s performance.
Lastly, we develop prototypes where we test whether our virtual environment is easy and intuitive to navigate, whether a learner can easily interact with virtual objects and avatars, and whether there is any motion sickness or discomfort at all. We iterate on all this until we are satisfied with the results.
Discovery Workshops
Virtual & Augmented Reality
OneBonsai offers custom technology discovery workshops on how VR and AR can help your company compete in your industry.
Design sprint
Based on the famous Google Ventures Design Sprint, we adjusted the format to better match the emerging technologies we work with. In our 3-day workshop, you will go from defining the problem to a working solution (Minimal Viable Product) that you can present to your management!
During this 3-day sprint, we’ll work with you to answer any critical business questions you might have.
Circular economy
We care for the environment and for society. We partner with not-for-profits (health institutions, NGOs, schools) and can help with attractive financing plans. Your project will be financed through a recurring payment plan, and you will receive an upgrade of IT equipment after 3 years. The previous equipment will get a second life in not-for-profit and provide value there!
Our vision
The future is now!
Efficiency of training is a paramount part of your competitive advantage, while lifelong learning has become the norm in the industry. Furthermore, knowledge transfer becomes evermore challenging with our aging population… Using technologies like Virtual Reality we can help reduce complexity and increase efficiency!
Our Clients
We are proud to work with them
