When we talk about XR trends, we’re covering the whole field of virtual reality, augmented reality and their hybrid called mixed reality. And there’s a lot to cover. Businesses and organizations are seeing more and more how XR technology can deliver results on numerous operations or initiatives. This article will show the latest innovations in XR training.
The Current and the Future State of the XR Training Industry
Numerous figures circulate the internet about the market size of XR. Getting the right information is hard to do. Some figures say hundreds of billions but a report from market research firm Technavio has the global market for XR technology topping $1 trillion in the next decade. And while businesses are always looking at revenue, this article is more about training and the actual technology to help with that.
Extended reality trends for workplace needs and corporate training are looking more towards hardware. They’re also looking at the practical features of that hardware. They also want proof of the practical, results-based potential for XR training itself. But XR devices are something we can hold in our hands, or on our hands or wear on our faces.
Extended reality trends 2025 and into the future show a lot of promise for corporate training in immersive environments. This article explores where XR is heading.
XR Safety Training
The capacity to train in lifelike environments without the actual major physical hazards is a universal benefit of these XR trends (and XR in general).
The trades are increasingly more desirable career options within the marketplace. The need for safety is going to increase. Additionally, the continuously accelerating capabilities of XR make soft skills and communication-based workplace needs more suitable to immersive environments. But in any job, safety is a given and extended reality trends are part of it.
Take Roundtable Learning’s full-scale cargo truck driving simulator, designed for navigating Canada’s challenging urban landscapes. Using an immersive VR headset paired with a desk-mounted steering wheel and responsive pedals, drivers experience the real pressure of maneuvering 40-foot vehicles through tight city streets, adverse weather, and complex delivery scenarios. The brilliance? They gain extensive “behind the wheel” experience mastering critical safety skills before ever touching a real commercial vehicle. When mistakes happen—and they will—they’re learning opportunities, not insurance claims.
Gamified XR Training
One perennial challenge of any workplace training is engagement. Even when an employee knows the value of the training and wants to do it, we all have other stuff going on outside direct-path, production-hours of work; training can feel like extra work even though it usually isn’t. Corporate training, when it adapts by adding gamification, wrestles our attention back to the task at hand in a given lesson.
Points, levels, challenges, trophies and more aren’t some workplace gimmick or hack. Training Journal cites a 2024 LMS-industry survey saying 83% of employees feel more engaged when learning is gamified. Learners understand this is a work-related training, but having a little fun is allowed.
Blended Learning
XR technology doesn’t solve every workplace training need. Immersive learning is big, but non-immersive, semi-immersive or even hybrid learning can deliver too. That hybrid approach is blended learning.
Blended learning is still an essential element in businesses and organizations, and one example is the foundational learning pillar of theory and practice. These knowledge and attitude (the K and A of KSAs) items work well when paired with ILT. Then, the practical application of extended reality XR can take place in smart glasses, a headset, or a full-on haptics suit. Important note: XR trends are big in 2025, but ILT isn’t going anywhere.
If a task involves procedural, spatial, and situational rehearsal–and steady nerves while doing so–blended learning is a great approach.
MicroLearning
Putting on a headset for 90 seconds might not make sense, but microlearning is actually longer than that. Some microlearning experts say it can be up to 15 minutes. (Though the average is five to ten). But XR devices can include a desktop monitor if it has enough CPU power and high definition. More and more, desktop mini-modules of immersive learning through a flat or wraparound monitor can deliver quality corporate training in a snack-sized microlearning module.
The average attention span is going down, even for adults. Just-in-time (JIT) learning and on-demand skills adaptations are not going anywhere. XR industry trends 2025 will see the expansion of XR technology beyond the typical large VR headsets and AR glasses. But even then, five or ten minutes of intense safety training in a headset still leaves an impression on the learner.
Haptic Feedback
Sensory data strongly influences how we perform workplace skills. Did you know the technical definition of skills at the beginning of the L&D world specifically involved the use of movement and fine motor skills, particularly the hands? Even outside of manual labor, almost everyone uses their hands at work in some way. And the journal Advanced Material Technologies wrote about a fingertip haptic device that is 2 millimeters thick and weighs about a of an quarter-ounce (or less than 8 grams). Even wearing one on each finger, this is still at least three times lighter than most consumer immersive gloves that weigh four ounces minimum.
Healthcare is seeing significant developments in the use of haptic gloves. The ultra-precise calibration of increasingly smaller devices for fine-motor skills goes well with the demanding dexterity of those in the medical field. Surgical training is showing a big interest. In the financial field, one report cites over 900 companies worldwide getting involved in haptics devices and research.
AR Glasses
The Ray-Bans Meta partnership, previously a lagging seller, has tripled in the last year. Once a novelty, lightweight digitally-enhanced spectacles of all brands are seeing more and more use in the workplace and corporate training. According to BrandXR, half of the Fortune 100 jumped into an enterprise trial of Apple’s Vision Pro. And that was only three months in.
These are the type of glasses that you can walk around in and still effectively navigate your surroundings. Using projections of digital symbols or overlays, they can work for things like navigational arrows for a warehouse worker. With the growing industries offering countless goods for home delivery, freight and warehouse needs are going to go up regardless of extended reality XR trends 2025.
As for soft skills, Google has a set of AR glasses that work pretty well when it comes to communication. A tech writer wrote for The Verge about her trying out Samsung’s glasses. The XR device projected text of an English translation across the lenses in real-time as someone spoke to her in Spanish.
Hand and Eye Tracking
Not long ago, VR headsets externally mounted cameras to track human motions. And even then, it was only bigger motions that registered. However, developers are heading in the direction of greater accuracy, and XR trends are following.
Hand and eye tracking are particularly useful for enterprise needs because measuring these movements supplies data. Is the learner actually looking at the machine they’re working on? Did they apply the right amount of hand strength to turn the dial? For safety training, did they touch the door first to see if the structure fire had spread to that room they’re about to enter? All of these steps and motions can be indexed and ranked.
Moving beyond cameras for hand-tracking was an advancement, but a company called Kopin has created AR glasses that can interpret eye movement and reactions. And it can do so without a camera! It’s being explored as a possible aid for surgeons.
AR and VR Training Metrics
It’s not just hand movements and eye movements that can be measured and indexed. Extended reality trends are showing that businesses are definitely interested in XR. Those companies are starting to ask the question: “this looks promising, but can you prove that it works?” That’s where metrics come in.
Extended Reality Trends 2025 and Measurable Workplace Improvement Potential
- Reduced workplace accidents
- Tightening up processes, by time and output
- Quicker onboarding and time-to-competency
Aviation ground crews can track the amount of time they need to run an inspection on aircraft. Metrics and analytics are the next level of evaluation, where workplace decisions are informed by insights from real user behavior rather than after-the-fact testing alone.
Evolution of Headsets
Lighter hardware overall and increased field-of-vision are making immersive learning even more immersive. Better comfort and maneuverability come from decreased size and weight. Being able to detect peripheral objects is also an essential part of any workplace training focused on safety. Improved field of vision helps with that. AR glasses aren’t usually called headsets, but they signal the broader shift in XR trends: smaller, lighter, easier. Smart glasses are new, but headsets have been around for a while. The first ones were about the size of a cinderblock (and probably not much lighter). In 2025, smaller and lighter is where XR technology providers are heading.
The Future of Extended Reality Learning
Extended reality continues to erode the necessarily dangerous and/or costly elements in corporate training. As the technology improves, immersive environments will become more immersive. With that immersion, the fidelity of a simulation will mean much more realistic job, skills and corporate training for all users. Users and business leaders want proof and metrics help with that.
Lighter, smaller and more comfortable devices are also major XR trends in 2025 and beyond. Devices become more and more wearable. The feeling of wearing a device at all becomes less and less. We’re even seeing some technology, like the hydraulic finger haptics and increasingly precise hand-tracking, that require tiny devices or no device at all.
The future of extended reality learning is that it will extend further into its approximation of reality. With that, we can expect increasingly better results for workplaces that take a serious look at XR adoption for their training.
