Look up “VR” on any search engine and most results will reference gaming, but virtual reality is fast becoming a tool for job preparation and career exploration for K-12 and postsecondary education students. Virtual reality headsets are helping users see what’s possible in varying industries, including skilled trades and forensic science.

Forensic scientists help law enforcement officers investigate crimes by collecting and analyzing evidence found at the crime scene. A bachelors degree is required and the median salary is about $65,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

At Purdue University in Indiana, VR is being used to teach students the fundamentals. Professor Charles Steele says he was never happy with how crime scene training was traditionally taught with students evaluating a scene set up by the teacher. That kind of practice, he says, is needed, but unpredictable.

“These can be good or bad, some are excellent. But it’s all based on the skill of the instructor, and you have limited ability to use it, because the whole class has to use it, and you can’t reset it for each person. There are some professional organizations to do it, but it’s very expensive,” says Steele, who is a visiting instructor of physical science and serves as the forensic science coordinator at Purdue University Northwest.

To maintain the consistency, and evolve the scene as the students learn, Steele developed a program utilizing VR through Purdue Innovates, a Purdue University program that supports startups.

Steele uses VR scenarios as part of his introductory forensic science class. He considers it the next best option for practical experience.

The students can virtually experience surveying and processing the same exact scene as their classmates, with the same kind of virtual tools they would use in a real-life mock scene, such as a camera, ruler, and light source. Students can also virtually tag each piece of evidence, all while their instructor watches and evaluates how they did.

“Our [scene] moves with real physics. So, the light expands like a real light. You’ve actually got to get down on your hands and knees if you’re going to see the differentiation of the footprints, because they’re really at the same physical threshold as the real world.

“More importantly, we were able to bring in some of the latest technologies in crime scene forensics development, so that the simulation actually matches up to an entire semester’s worth of laboratory exercises,” says Steele.

His goal is to offer the technology and programs to other universities and to law enforcement to help standardize and broaden training opportunities in the field.

“The problems in our industry are training materials do not actually have a ‘this is what’s accepted’ across the board. There is the certification for practitioners. The whole forensics industry is still growing and maturing. So, more and more labs now are quality-certified, but there’s no national mandate for them to be so practitioners have sort of faced certification,” he says.

“There are a lot of general education, forensic books out there. It’s a very popular field. But of the hundreds of programs for forensic science, there’s only a few that are accredited by the American Academy of Forensic Sciences; there’s only a few training programs that actually allow you for continuing education credits. Our goal here with this and with some of the other stuff we’re doing is to help set the bar for this is what we can all do and make it accessible.”

Postsecondary Options for Students in Kentucky

While Steele is using VR to help students who are already interested in a chosen industry, the Cliff Hagan Boys & Girls Club in Owensboro, Kentucky is using VR to show students the possibilities they have after graduation. The Club serves 2,000 kids ages six to18. As part of its workforce development programming, teens can use headsets to discover jobs, mostly in the skilled trades.

“We understand that a lot of our kids that we serve are not going to be your traditional four-year college students, many of them come from single parent homes, they may be on the lower income side of things,” says Ryan Bibb, chief operating officer for the Cliff Hagan Boys & Girls Club.

“They haven’t seen mom, they haven’t seen dad, they haven’t seen many people in their family attend a four-year institution. We understand that overcoming that mental hurdle may be a challenge for some of them. So we said, ‘Hey, we’re going to try to meet you where you are,’” says Bibb.

Real life shadowing and introductory options are available for some careers, but the use of VR enables more. There’s no need for permission slips to visit off-site, no transportation, and no additional staffing to organize.

With the support of board members who have strong manufacturing and trade backgrounds, as well as funding from state workforce development and the Boys and Girls Club of America, the Club purchased eight headsets. Thirty-two careers are pre-loaded into them. The most popular are broadband technician, welding, solar construction, and medical assistant.

Students are allowed to use the headsets on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and each career session takes 15 to 20 minutes. They can have experiences like fixing a telephone pole that has fallen, or helping to save someone’s life in the back of an ambulance.

To take the VR program a step further, Bibb says they’re working on partnerships with local community colleges so once students “complete” a career, they may be eligible to attend in-person classes for a certification, apprenticeship, or some next step to make their virtual career a reality.

“Until we can provide something that’s like a tangible benefit to them – like they actually get something out of this that they can show, and they can be proud of – that’s what we’re trying to establish, says Bibb.

“Because otherwise, it’s just cool. It’s just a really cool video game and a really cool building block for them to remember one day. But we really want to say ‘You’ve already invested so much time and energy into this. Don’t take three to four years off from what you’re already interested in. Let’s try to do something now to help you for the future.’”

The careers students can study and practice through VR align with the needs Bibb says the local industry has. Retirements and a workforce shortage have created a growing shortage gap.

He says, “We want to try to mitigate that and say, ‘Listen, if you’re an 18-year-old kid, you can go to school for two years. You can become an electrician, you can become a welder, you can become an HVAC tech.

“Next thing, you know, you’re making 60 to 70 grand and who knows, in a few years, you may run your own business, and you’re almost debt-free. You don’t have four years of student loan debt that you’re trying to pay off.’”