Downe House is proud to be the first school to be using VR (Virtual Reality) headsets to help our students become world ready. Our bank of VR headsets are proving to be a big hit with our Sixth Form students who have already started taking advantage of this new technologically advanced addition to their interview preparations.
Almost all leading business surveys, such as the Harvard Business Review, put soft skills, such as leadership, communication, teamwork, and interpersonal awareness, at the top of the list for recruiters. We have offered interview practise sessions for many years and have been looking for ways to extend that one-off experience to give our pupils the opportunity to practise at their own pace. With the emergence of fantastic EdTech training platforms, like Bodyswaps, we are excited to announce the introduction of VR and AI (Artificial Intelligence) to our interview training programme.
The programme now includes training using VR headsets, creating an alternative to the traditional in-person approach with significant advantages. VR and AI support input methods such as speech, gaze and 3D gesture recognition, which enables pupils to practice behaviours in their own time and at their own pace, without the need to meet in person.
Virtual practise can feel safer and less stressful than performing in front of peers and it enables pupils to focus on honing their interview skills at their own pace.
As the world becomes more technologically advanced, we are aware that nurturing human to human interaction is important, now more than ever. The digital training programme concludes with online interviews using Shortlist Me, and personalised feedback with our partner EBP, to complete the whole programme which includes a range of traditional interview preparation activities.