VIPC Expands Extended Reality Career Opportunities in Virginia
Role Play poised to become impactful profession in the Immersive Economy
The Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC) is leading the advancement of extended reality (XR) workforce-related technologies in partnership with business, educational, and governmental thought leaders, pioneering the expansion of immersive jobs – like role play – for citizens across the Commonwealth and the nation.
XR is a comprehensive term that includes Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR), and everything in between. Role players when combined with XR technologies serve as the ‘talent' for learning scenarios, helping trainees to make decisions under stressful or potentially dangerous circumstances without the risk of real-life consequences.
Role players can provide authentic human interactions such as serving as simulation patients (SPs) for medical practitioners, as victims for first-responder emergency preparedness, as civilians for military tactical training, and more.
Sally Anderson, manager of role play and simulation at AccessVR, says role play often attracts trained actors as a way to supplement their incomes, but not all role play requires acting expertise. It also attracts individuals from various professional backgrounds – retired military personnel, nurses, medical doctors, healthcare educators.
“Role play attracts individuals from various professional backgrounds who want to give back to those who dedicate their lives to helping others.”
— Sally Anderson
According to AccessVR Chief Immersive Officer, Executive Vice President, and Founder J.J. Ruscella, role play is becoming a significant career option in the immersive economy.
“The idea of having real people represent diverse demographic backgrounds (i.e., age, gender identity, ethnicity, or disability) is at the core of immersive learning, he said. “So, whether we simulate a nurse dealing with a dementia patient in a clinical or home-health setting, or train police officers to interact with individuals in communities with deep ethnic or cultural differences, they can do so within a safe, repeatable, and productive immersive environment.”
—J.J. Ruscella
In February 2022, VIPC sponsored a Workforce Development Grant providing technology to entry-level role players. More than 50 percent of those technology recipients included retired individuals supplementing their incomes. Since then, AccessVR has hired 54 role players to serve as standardized patients (SPs) for the GW School of Nursing among others.'
“We love AccessVR’s role players!” said Crystel L. Farina, Ph,D., (c), RN, CNE, CHSE, director of simulation and experiential Learning at GW School of Nursing. “We use them in our graduate simulations for objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs), for our [undergraduate] simulation scenarios, and in 360-video learning scenarios. We could not do what we do in nursing education without them.”
And, as the immersive marketplace grows, the need for role players will continue to expand.
“Immersive experiences are helping to empower and train the mainstream workforce. They are also helping to create opportunities for those among us who are most vulnerable, including individuals with disabilities, retirees, veterans suffering from PTSD, or anyone better served by working remotely.”
— David Ihrie, VIPC Chief Technology Officer
“VIPC is establishing Virginia as a leader in the immersive economy by creating opportunities for technologists and citizens. By providing the opportunity to put these technologies and immersive tools in the hands of local Virginians, we are being positioned to be an innovation leader. It’s a grassroots initiative, led by Virginia with Virginia-based companies serving as ‘boots on the ground’ and making it happen.”
—J.J.Ruscella
When asked what he would say to anyone aspiring to try this new career, role player Hugh Ghiringhelli said, “I can assure them it will be one of the most personally rewarding, life-enriching side gigs they can possibly have.”
Engage role players in your learning scenarios.
AccessVR is the premier source for professional role players for virtual training simulation throughout the Washington, D.C., Maryland, Northern Virginia region, and beyond.
