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VR DEI training at Google
A peer-reviewed case study co-authored by three Google researchers and PTR co-founder Leonie Sanderson, describing four VR scenarios that Google's DEI program trialled with employee volunteers in 2023.
Built with Equal Reality, a subsidiary of People Tech Revolution
Equal Reality's stated role, from the paper's acknowledgements, was to help Google's team "design and build the virtual reality environments" used in the training.
PTR co-designed the scenarios with Google's employee volunteers; co-founder Leonie Sanderson led the work, drawing each scene from a real incident Google employees had shared.
Each scene, from two points of view
The paper reports the scenarios were developed between 2021 and 2023 by 13 Google employee volunteers from the company's DEI program. Each one lets a trainee experience the same difficult workplace moment from two different characters' points of view.
Call it out, call it in, or ignore it
In each scenario, trainees choose how to respond, then discuss the choice with a facilitator afterwards.
The paper states that a live, facilitated group debrief after each scenario, rather than a scripted in-app discussion, was a deliberate design choice.
A QA phase, then a first cohort
Development followed a QA phase of 7 testing sessions and 20 volunteer testers, who reported over 100 issues, before a first cohort of Google employees used the training in September 2023.
32 invited, 26 accepted
32 members of Google's security team senior staff were invited to an optional session; 26 accepted, of whom 23 used Meta Quest 2 headsets and 3 used a desktop version.
Feedback came through optional, anonymous surveys after both the QA sessions and the training sessions.
What the paper reports
Two separate surveys: one after the QA phase, one after the first training cohort.
of the 11 QA testers who responded said the scenarios felt real to them
of the same 11 testers rated the post-VR group discussion useful or very useful
average satisfaction (4.7 out of 5) among the 7 trainees who returned the survey
agreement (4.1 out of 5) the training was better than Google's standard DEI training
A further 82% (4.1 out of 5), from 7 of 8 responses to that item, agreed the training was useful for understanding DEI issues. Participants described the change of viewpoint as making "microaggressions felt more real."
Limitations the authors note
The authors describe the findings as preliminary and self-reported, from one company, with no comparison or control group, and they raise five open concerns of their own.
The paper also raises limited visual fidelity of avatars and environments, and participants wanting more agency in how scenarios unfold.
It draws on and cites earlier VR empathy and DEI-training research, including Herrera et al. (2018) on long-term empathy effects of VR perspective-taking, and Mason (2022) on VR-based DEI training.
"We could see how powerful VR is at giving people 'a-ha moments' and wanted to create training that has an impact on people's behaviours."
Leonie Sanderson
Co-founder, People Tech Revolution. Startup Spotlight, Aerospace Xelerated, 2023
Want to talk through what this study means for your own program?
Sources
Full citation, DOI and the paper itself.
Leveraging Virtual Reality to Enhance Diversity and Inclusion training at Google
A case study, co-authored by three Google researchers and Leonie Sanderson of Equal Reality; findings described by the authors as preliminary.
Google Research publication page · CHI 2024 conference program listing
