Project Overview
PROJECT DELIVERABLE
To promote career exploration by jobseekers and students through innovation, the LEPC will work with employers to create virtual reality workplace tours.
Project Timeline
October 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020
Project Status – Completed
Our virtual reality workplace tour library, including the 4 new 360 videos and 4 new Google Expeditions tours that the Local Employment Council created, was launched on February 25, 2020. The Local Employment Planning Council is now conducting outreach to demonstrate how to use the tours with service providers, educators, jobseekers, and students.
To view the virtual reality workplace tour library, click below:
Project Rationale:
To address the skills shortage in Windsor-Essex by fostering the development of a workforce that is ready to fill future vacancies in various industries, Workforce WindsorEssex has promoted first-hand experience between students and workplaces through successful tours. Through involvement in Manufacturing Day and Take a Walk in My Shoes, we have received positive feedback from the community and have made advancements towards our mandate to facilitate regional workforce development. However, physical tours have their limits: employers and tour facilitators are limited in their capacity to host and organize workplace tours, and tour groups often cannot access workplaces that are hazardous or unsafe. Certain workplaces are also limited in their ability to host large groups.
To leverage advancements in the affordability and accessibility of virtual reality technology, and to make local workplaces accessible through virtual experiences, we will create virtual reality workplace tours that immerse users in workplace working conditions. The LEPC will identify a suitable technology for the tours, then select at least three workplaces that would be suitable to showcase. A virtual reality tour developer will plan and shoot footage, and produce virtual reality experiences that will connect students and jobseekers to workplaces. The LEPC will share these VR experiences online and broadly in the community.
Project Contact:
Julian Villafuerte, Project Coordinator and Researcher
226-674-3220 ext. 850
