11 June 2020 

TAFE NSW has been awarded an internationally recognised Learning Impact Award by IMS Global Learning Consortium for gaming, simulation and immersive learning. The Platinum Medal is one of eight medals awarded for outstanding applications of technology that address the most significant challenges facing global education. 

Australia’s largest training provider took out the highest accolade for the research, development and implementation of virtual and augmented reality training components into practical training to overcome educational safety challenges and to evaluate the impact on learning outcomes.  

 TAFE NSW Head of Digital Learning Lab, Greg Higgins, said that the organisation acknowledges that emerging technologies can dramatically improve and optimise the teaching and learning experiences of students.  

“Our research has revealed that students who completed training in virtual reality were more successful, with combined learning outcome improvement of 64% on completing their practical assessment tasks in comparison to a traditional learning cohort.  

“When considering emerging technologies in this context, virtual reality is a ‘stand-out’ technology that shows the greatest promise in terms of scaling high-quality and safe immersive learning-by-doing training at TAFE NSW.”  

The research also revealed that those engaged in VR learning scored 88% higher engagement with their learning materials than cohorts using traditional learning material. 

The TAFE Digital Learning Lab developed eight prototype augmented and virtual reality learning experiences with a view to overcoming safety-related challenges of delivering training to new and inexperienced students enrolled in building and construction, plumbing, welding and science-based qualifications.  

Some of the prototypes have afforded the ‘impossible’ learning experience for students such as the Virtual Canine Anatomy VR experience for veterinary science students and the Eye Anatomy AR experience for health students, where students can explore detailed 3D anatomical and physiological structures.  

By implementing Virtual Reality as a training tool, plumbing students can learn to recognise potential risk from return electrical current via copper pipes into a residence, which can cause serious, even fatal, electric shock, in a safe and protected environment. Welding students were able to identify and solve potentially hazardous scenarios when preparing for welding work. 

The expert judging panel consisted of representatives from some of the United States’ leading universities including (but not limited to) Arizona State University, University of California, Davis and the University of Florida. Other IMS Global Learning Impact Award nominees included EdTech companies and other educational institutions from the United States, Canada, China, Mexico, Japan and Spain. 

A full summary of the project undertaken by TAFE Digital will be featured in IMS Global’s ‘Learning Impact Report’ for 2020.  

Media contact: Bonny Gunn, TAFE Digital Media & Communications Business Partner. 

Mobile: 0417 134 048