Design patterns for Immersive Tech

Immersive Training patterns

Instruction panels & checklists

Description

During training a new user may often need to refer to the instructions or steps to complete the task they are simulating. It’s important the user can access these easily without having to take off the VR headset and break the immersion. There are various ways they can receive instruction from within the VR simulation. It can be via an audio voiceover, directly from listening to the trainer who may or may not be in the VR environment with them or via some kind of instruction panel or checklist in the VR experience. Here we will focus on the panels and checklists that present the instructions visually.

Examples

This is the simplest example where the checklist resembles the way a real world instructions poster would look.

 

Here, the instructions appear at the start of the task rather than being show during it. This makes it clear what the user needs to accomplish, but they need to remember the information.

 

When a step is completed the user goes back to the instructions panel to see the next step highlighted. One issue with this design is that the instructions are not easily accessible during the task. The user needs to keep returning to the panel or hold the information in memory, which is a good approach later on in the learning process, although the location and distance of the panel from where the task is done is important to consider.




 

Here, the user needs to check if they have the correct item for the task. They refer to the instructions panel to see if the item matches what is needed.

 

This one shows specific notes and reminders based on the specific step the user is currently on. As they progress, the notes will update for each step.

 

The checklist panels can be fully interactive, just like any other interactive menu panel in VR. Here, the user can push up or down arrows in order to scroll the list of steps.

 

In this one, the important checklist items appear as simple text overlay, as the user reaches a particular checkpoint.

 

Here, the user can refer to a visual booklet/ worksheet that includes a checklist of questions to complete the exercise. The user can also use this to practice the task and enter the hazards on the right hand side. The virtual worksheet needs to match the one they would use in the real world.


 

Here, the checklist appears as an icon next to the object being operated on. Having the instruction in the FOV allows the user to refer to them easily as they complete the task. In this example the colour of each step changes as the user completes it correctly and progresses.