Workplace Communication

Tutor Notes

Developed with Hertfordshire & South-East Midlands colleges
Estimated module duration: 50 minutes

Imagine if every student could receive personal coaching from business leaders and entrepreneurs… 

In this unique VR experience, learners participate in a virtual once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to compete in You’ve Been Hired!, a virtual business-styled reality game show that gives up-and-coming talent a way to gain work experience, while showcasing their skills. 

Learners join forces with virtual teammates to compete with a rival team on a series of challenges. For their team to win a challenge, the learner must demonstrate mastery of a key communication skill (non-verbal communication, communicating with clarity, active listening, and influencing).

About this resource

This document provides an overview of each of the learning activities featured in this programme, including:
Key learner outcome and goals
Purpose of the activities
Estimated duration
Characters
Environments
Video walkthroughs
Journal entries

Key learner outcome and goals

Learning Outcome

Build effective communication skills for personal and professional relationships and information exchange.

Learning Goals

  • Use non-verbal signals to enhance their message
  • Communicate with clarity, concision and confidence
  • Demonstrate active listening to build trust
  • Influence decisions using a basic argument structure

A word about terminology

As a medium, Virtual Reality is not best suited to didactic teaching methods. 

However, our intention is that all Bodyswaps modules follow a student-centred constructivist pedagogy. This means creating rich experiences in which learners can explore key concepts and ideas and reach their own conclusions. 

This is why our documents speak in terms of learning goals and outcomes, rather than measurable ‘learning objectives’ (a la Bloom’s Taxonomy) per se. 

Module structure

The complete journey takes the learner through 4 interactive mini-modules, each containing a different challenge, followed by a final challenge in the form of the season finale. The module also includes ancillary activities such as onboarding, self-reflection questions, and the exit survey.

We recommend that learners fully interact with each activity to get the full benefit, and that learners take a short break after every 10-15 minutes in the headset.

The default route through this module is a linear experience, but learners can complete the four challenges in any order. It is estimated that each topic will take the learner approximately 5-10 minutes to complete, although completion times vary depending on whether the learner chooses to repeat topics to explore different options (encouraged) or fine-tune their freeform responses. 

Each challenge begins with a Likert-scale self-reflection question to indicate how confident they feel in the key area of communication that they’ll be learning about. The same question is repeated at the end to assess how the learner’s confidence levels have changed.

Once all four mini-modules are complete, the learner progresses to the season finale, where they’ll put all their communication skills to the test in one last challenge.

Learner Journey

Onboarding
Next topic
Introduction
Next topic
Louder than words
  • Experiments 3x
  • Freeform
Next topic
Say it like you mean it!
Freeform (3 attempts)
Next topic
Are you listening?
  • Observation
  • Freeform
Next topic
Go on, persuade me
Scaffolded conversation
Next topic
The season finale
Freeform
Next topic
Exit survey
Next topic

Characters

The Judges

Character Harry, a brown-skinned male dressed in a dark navy shirt, and tan trousers.
Harry
Celebrity judge
Character Ali with short, straight brown hair, wearing a maroon sweater, and dark brown jeans.
Ali
Entrepreneur

Your teammates

The Blue Team
Character Shayla, a female wearing a light blue hijab, blue blazer, and cream-coloured shirt.
Shayla
Blue Team coach
Character Jamal with medium skin tone, taper fade dark hair, wearing a maroon suit and white button up shirt.
Jamal
Character Suki with straight, light brown hair wearing a cream-colored blazer, white top, and light beige pants.
Suki

Your Rivals

The Red Team
Character Leo, a brown skinned male with short shaved hair, wearing white shirt, and dark gray pants.
Leo
Red Team coach
Astrid, a character with light brown, medium-length hair, in a fuchsia blazer and pants with a white shirt.
Astrid
Character Nia with light brown skin and light brown or blonde hair, wearing a yellow blouse, and black pinstriped trousers.
Nia
Character James with brown hair, black glasses, a dark grey blazer, a green shirt, and beige pants.
James

Learning Environments

Environment, coaching room with blue chairs, black coffee table, and artworks on brick and blue walls. Text on TV: “Bodyswaps.”

Blue Team base/coaching room

The Blue Team’s base/dressing room where they learn from their coach, Shayla
Environment, modern auditorium with rows of grey chairs, a wooden floor, a mural, and a laptop displaying "Bodyswaps."

Auditorium

Presentation space where the learner practices speaking with clarity, concision and confidence
Environment, recording studio with wooden floors and walls, blue couch, desk with computer, and equipment. Large screen showing "Bodyswaps" logo.

Recording studio

A hi-tech studio where the learner practices their non-verbal communication with Shayla

Practice environments

Environment breakout room with 3 blue chairs, round table, bar counter with stools, kitchen area, plants and hexagonal wall art.

Breakout room

Breakout / cafeteria space where the learner meets with their teammate to try and patch up a misunderstanding on the team
Tech startup meeting room

Tech startup meeting room

Meeting room where the learner meets with an entrepreneur to find out his requirements for an exciting new project
Environment, small boardroom with a wooden table, six black chairs, and a sign reading "Bodyswaps" on the back wall. Large windows show a wooded area outside.

Boardroom

Corporate boardroom where the Blue Team works on a group project