Students to benefit from state-of-the-art training suites

Vantec Europe Limited (VEU) has won a contract with East College Durham to deliver two immersive classrooms, at its campuses at Peterlee, and Houghall, County Durham.

This is the first commercial contract win following the development of Vantec Interactive Experience (VIE), an in-house function, developing all systems, software, programming and content creation for immersive suites and training.

VIE uses gamification and the latest in 3D, immersive and simulation technology, to provide unique and intuitive training solutions, replicating real-life environments and scenarios.

Vantec started developing immersive training as part of its stringent priorities around health and safety, which is the organisation's number one priority. Its aim is that every one of its employees, contractors or visitors Think Safe, Work Safe and go Home Safe. With 800 drivers and more than 300 pieces of material handling equipment including various forklift trucks, a major challenge was carrying out practical training due to the many potential hazards on the shop floor making it extremely difficult to train people in a safe and hazard-free environment.

The immersive suites use state-of-the-art 360-degree and 270-degree interactive technology to provide multi-sensory learning. A forklift truck chassis simulator situated within a fully replicated 3D warehouse, with the learner stepping into a virtual warehouse where every detail is fully replicated to deliver safe tuition and provide drivers with accurate simulation of machine stability during manoeuvres and load handling operations.

Every detail is fully replicated to provide multi-sensory safe tuition, this method has proven more effective than a traditional classroom environment, in both engagement and information retention.

Vantec is also installing the groundbreaking immersive suites across the majority of its sites around the UK, as well as shipping them to sites in Japan. They are also liaising with other partners and organisations interested in the technology.

Martin Kendall, Managing Director of Vantec Europe Limited, said: “We’re delighted to be working with East Durham College to deliver two immersive suites that will enhance the educational experience of learners.

“This is a key milestone for VEU as it delivers its first external, commercial install. It’s a testament to the hard work and skill of our in-house team who have created all the software, systems bespoke content and individually tailored training packages needed for the immersive training.

“We restructured the business a few years ago to have a specific engineering and digital transformation (DX) department, including employing our programmers and 3D artists, which has had a huge impact on training our staff.

“But over time we have realised that there is a real commercial demand for this intuitive training facility and it’s offering us the chance to diversify the type of work we do. We have proven this method of training to be more effective than a traditional classroom environment, in terms of both engagement and information retention.”

East Durham College has over 6,000 students across its two sites at Peterlee and Houghall, near Durham City.

The immersive classrooms will create additional learning environments where students studying a range of programmes, including T Level and vocational subjects, can learn in interactive and realistic environments.

Students will benefit from hands-on experiences in scenarios that mirror real-life situations, helping develop critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making skills, and promoting a deeper understanding; all of which help to prepare students for the world of work.

Any scenario can be repeated as many times as a student requires in order to master the skill or learning objective – this eliminates the fear of making a mistake and creates a safe learning experience.

Employees will benefit too as the room will also be utilised for staff training.

Jackie Lanagan, Assistant Principal at East Durham College, said: “We are thrilled to be working with Vantec, their product offered something unique that we felt our students and staff would benefit from.

“Vantec being a local supplier was also an advantage, sustainability is important to us and our students and choosing a local firm has helped reduce our carbon footprint, delivery time and costs. The service has been excellent too, every interaction we have had with Vantec has been a positive one.

"We were extremely impressed with the software that is used to support the immersive rooms, it is so intuitive, that teachers can produce content very easily.”

Martin added: “We are a company that prides itself on developing its people and providing opportunities for our staff to grow and realise their ambitions with us.

“We know from our own digitally immersive training, that we have developed, how much more engaged our employees are and how much more they get from the training.

“I’m sure this will have a transformative effect on the students who get to learn in the new suites. I can’t wait to see the impact it will have.”

Over 60 VIE training packages and scenarios have been developed in-house, including HR systems and decision-making, onboarding, site familiarisation, Health and Safety monthly themes and walkthroughs for new starters.

Its DX Team is also leading widespread digitalisation through data and digital competencies, internet of things (IoT), process mining and data factory analysis, with key performance indicators focusing on delivering engineered bespoke solutions for the business and client partners.

For more information about Vantec Interactive Experience and the services it offers, follow them on LinkedIn, Facebook or X or contact [email protected].