Immersion for Excellence: How the University of Picardie Jules Verne is Reinventing HSE Training with Virtual Reality

The University of Picardie Jules Verne and the BUT QLIO. 

The University of Picardie Jules Verne has embarked on a pedagogical innovation approach by integrating Virtual Reality (VR) into its training programs, particularly for the BUT QLIO (Bachelor Universitaire de Technologie in Quality, Industrial Logistics, and Organization). This curriculum aims to train professionals capable of:

• Ensuring the quality of products and services.
• Managing the logistics chain and industrial flows.
• Improving processes and preventing risks.
• Integrating responsible and sustainable practices.

The testimony of a professor from the University of Picardie Jules Verne highlights the adoption of Immersive Factory's SafetyBox VR© solution for modules related to Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE).

Discovering Immersive Factory

Faced with the need for tools to effectively train their students in occupational risk prevention in the workplace, the teaching team sought a concrete solution. The search naturally gravitated toward specific tools, and the solution proposed by Immersive Factory, with its SafetyBox VR©, quickly emerged as a relevant option.

The Advantages of Choosing the SafetyBox VR©

The adoption of the SafetyBox VR© was justified by several key factors that meet the university's constraints and educational objectives:

• Easy Budgetary Integration: The commercial proposal for the SafetyBox VR was able to fit within the institution's budgetary capacity.
• Concrete Internship Preparation: The tool is mainly used to prepare first-year students for their first company internship, which takes place as early as December or January. Virtual immersion allows them to familiarize themselves with occupational risks before being on-site.
• Illustration of Theoretical Courses: VR serves as an illustration tool for courses on occupational risk prevention and accident analysis. It allows students to experience concrete situations, making the theory more vivid and understandable.
• Active and Modern Learning: VR offers an immersive, realistic, and stimulating learning method, which is more engaging for the new generation of students, many of whom are already familiar with this type of technology.

The Added Value of Virtual Reality for HSE Training

Virtual Reality, serving HSE training, brings distinct benefits:

• Variety and Realism of Scenarios: The solution offers a wide range of realistic scenarios close to situations encountered in the field, including situations that might seem "caricatural" but which, according to the professor, are genuinely encountered in companies.
• Student Engagement: The modern and technological aspect of VR ensures increased student engagement, who use the tool very quickly and with enthusiasm.
• Immersive Experience: The experience is immersive, realistic, and promotes better memorization of safety procedures and reflexes.

A Unique Pedagogical Tool

The professor points out that it is difficult to establish a precise comparison of the observed changes because the university did not previously have equivalent pedagogical tools (such as games or simulations) for this training. Nevertheless, the integration of VR allows for better preparation of students, particularly those in work-study programs, who thus acquire knowledge and reflexes that otherwise would have had to be acquired solely in the field, potentially in a less structured and less safe manner.

The University of Picardie Jules Verne highly recommends the SafetyBox VR©, describing it as a very favorable and very interesting tool for training.