A new virtual reality workforce program giving White County residents a hands-on look at dozens of career fields.
RIVET Coordinator Kora Sloan said the mobile initiative uses MetaQuest headsets to put participants inside immersive, 360-degree virtual views of real-world job locations during a two-day event at Motlow State Community College.
“If they’re practicing to be an EMT or EMS or anything in the medical field we can give them some virtual reality simulations that mimic say a car wreck, and then bringing them to the emergency room after and going through step by step of what that looks like,” Sloan said. “So it’s hands-on experience without the liability.”
Sloan said the career exploration simulations are five to seven minutes long and place users directly at a scene where they look up, down, and all around to get their bearings. Participants use controllers to interact with their environment, practicing tasks like holding a victim’s head to stabilize their neck or crouching down to lift heavy equipment.
Sloan said the simulations also help residents realize if they are not a good fit for a career before investing time and money into training, such as discovering a fear of heights or a negative reaction to medical environments.
“With this program what you can do is actually try the job before you apply or go to school for it,” Sloan said.
Sloan said the program operates using a $1.48 million regional grant to deliver mobile workforce resources directly to 14 counties across the Upper Cumberland. The specialized equipment allows the team to bypass traditional travel and financial barriers by bringing training tools directly to local communities.
Sloan said the software includes 68 different career options, including veterinary technicians, irrigation specialists, and dental assistants. Longer technical training modules are also available for fields like electronics and mechatronics, allowing participants to earn certificates upon completion.
“A lot of people take off the headset and are like, ‘Wow that really is real, it wasn’t what I was expecting, I figured it to be more like a video game than it was real life,’” Sloan said.