You’re not learning from failure in Virtual Reality (VR). What are the risks?

1 Why failure matters

Failure is inevitable in any learning process, whether it's in VR or in real life. Failure helps you identify your gaps, challenge your assumptions, and improve your performance. However, failure can also be discouraging, frustrating, and demotivating. That's why you need to have a positive mindset and a supportive environment when you fail in VR. Otherwise, you might miss out on valuable lessons, lose confidence, and give up.

2 Common pitfalls

One of the common pitfalls of learning from failure in VR is that you might not even notice that you failed. VR can be so immersive and engaging that you might overlook your errors, especially if they are subtle or not directly related to your goals. For example, you might be playing a VR game and focus on the score, but ignore the feedback on your posture, movement, or accuracy. Another pitfall is that you might not care about your failure, because you think it's not real or relevant. For example, you might be learning a new language in VR and make mistakes, but shrug them off because you think they don't matter in the virtual world.

3 How to improve feedback

To learn from failure in VR, you need to have clear and timely feedback. Feedback is the information that tells you how well you are doing, what you need to improve, and how to do it. Feedback can come from different sources, such as the VR system, the instructor, the peers, or yourself. To improve your feedback loop, you need to do three things: seek feedback, process feedback, and act on feedback. Seek feedback by asking for it, setting specific goals, and choosing challenging tasks. Process feedback by paying attention to it, reflecting on it, and asking questions. Act on feedback by applying it, practicing it, and measuring your progress.

4 Benefits of learning from failure

Learning from failure in VR can have many benefits for your personal and professional growth. By learning from failure, you can develop a growth mindset, which is the belief that you can improve your abilities through effort and feedback. A growth mindset can help you overcome challenges, embrace opportunities, and achieve your goals. Learning from failure can also help you develop resilience, which is the ability to bounce back from adversity and cope with stress. Resilience can help you deal with uncertainty, change, and setbacks. Learning from failure can also help you develop creativity, which is the ability to generate novel and useful ideas. Creativity can help you solve problems, innovate, and adapt.

5 Examples of learning from failure

There are many examples of how people have learned from failure in VR and applied their lessons to real life. For instance, a study found that medical students who practiced surgical procedures in VR and received feedback on their errors improved their performance and confidence more than those who did not. Another example is a VR game called SuperBetter, which was designed by a game developer who suffered a concussion and used VR to recover. The game helps users cope with physical and emotional challenges by setting quests, collecting power-ups, and fighting bad guys. The game has been shown to improve mental health, well-being, and resilience.

6 Your turn

Now that you know why learning from failure in VR is important, what are the risks of not doing it, and how you can do it better, it's your turn to try it out. Find a VR app or game that suits your interests and goals, and challenge yourself to learn something new. Don't be afraid to fail, but be ready to learn from it. And remember, failure is not the end, but the beginning of a new adventure.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?