Kornwestheim. How is the shelf moved and how is it arranged correctly? What products do you put in? What paths does the customer take? These are important questions for retail and sales interns. In vocational school, this learning content can usually be taught theoretically only through books. Building your own supermarket for practical training or building other rooms simply isn’t possible.
The management and teaching team at the Erich Bracher School (EBS) in Patonville welcomes a pilot project launched on Wednesday: University President Oliver Schmider and Tobias Ladwig of the Bad Mergentheim-based Würth Industrie Service signed a cooperation agreement at the school in the afternoon. According to the agreement, virtual reality (VR) will be used in EBS’s professional training.
The technology aims to help the trainees in the retail sector, i.e. sales representatives and retail sales representatives, to learn more hands-on and thus more sustainably. With virtual reality glasses, they immerse themselves in a computer-generated digital reality, in a 3D environment in which they can practice what their professions have to offer – like store setting, product placement, and shelving. The teacher can also send students to separate rooms in the virtual lesson with a lively feel, and can mute the participants, get them and control the group. The virtual practice room can be reproduced often so that all students can participate and no one has to be put aside or excluded from the digital exercises. According to the company, the program called VR Toolbox works on any device, so what is happening can also be monitored on multiple screens.
The potential of this technology is “incredible”, Schmider said. With the use of virtual reality in your vocational school, you are opening new horizons, “this is a new type of training”, and “real-life based” learning. There is a “big difference” between lessons theory and the practical application of knowledge.
In addition, the project will bring business schools and vocational schools together, which will benefit both sides, says Schmider. Ladewig emphasized that the collaboration could benefit the company as well – if the Würth Industrie Service hires employees who already know VR technology from the vocational school: “These people have an advantage.”
The school authority, Ludwigsburg County, pays a low five-figure fee to the company at the project stage – for licensing fees, school and staff related development costs, and technology provision. For example, developers had to digitally design the main entrance and foyer of EBS, and even think of real drink machines. Anyone who moves in virtual reality not only passes through these machines in this 3D space, but also enters the school in advance, goes through the hallway, and goes up the stairs – all this is realistically designed with the help of digital images. The version looks very similar to the real school.
In this way, the shops, shelves, products, and customers can also be recreated for the trainees. This is especially important for trainees in small businesses who work at gas stations or cell phone stores, for example – in other words, where training structures are not as professional as they are in large retail chains.
Ladewig says the amount paid by the school authorities roughly covers the company’s costs. “We gain nothing from that.” The University of Konstanz is also involved in the project – the Head of Business Education provides scientific support. The Würth Group is already using virtual reality technology all over the world, for example in courses and lectures. The school sector was specifically contacted through Sven Kaufman. The EBS teacher emphasizes the importance of hands-on experience and learning for sustainable learning by the trainees: initial experiences are better than secondary experiences.
Small groups of EBS students will soon try this technique, and one or two trial classes will learn from it in the next academic year. The project is tentatively scheduled to run for one year, and in July 2022 the school and company will set up: “We are excited about the results,” says Schmider, “We expect a lot from them.”
