Acquisition International - Influential Businesswoman Awards 2022 5 Most Innovative Virtual Learning Businesswoman 2022: Christine Janssen, PhD unrelenting energy and vision for what education can and should be. What is clear is that Edstutia has allowed her to really stretch her wings. In addition to spending over a decade in higher education, Christine has garnered a wealth of business experience in many different sectors. She began her career as a marketer in different industries such as consumer goods, financial services and technology, but her love of learning kept bringing her back to university. Her passion for learning and education are evident. Such a breadth of knowledge has put her in good stead for fulfilling her vision through Edstutia. The growth of the company to date reflects the immense ambition at the heart of Christine’s approach to business. This has accelerated significantly since the company first opened its doors. “I started working on Edstutia in the summer of 2020 and officially registered in December 2020,” Christine explains. “Since that time, the company and the VR industry have both evolved at warp speed, and we’ve been doing a lot of building over the last year and a half. It is super exciting!” When we asked Christine to narrow down what Edstutia is offering and why, the breadth of her reply truly surprised us: “Our initial focus was on consumer programs, and the goal is to offer an affordable, accessible and relevant educational experience in lieu of a traditional college degree program,” she tells us. “We have done our homework and asked hiring managers from various industries what they are looking for in new hires - from soft skills to tech skills - so we are laser focused on helping people prepare for jobs in fast-growing industries and fields such as Cybersecurity, XR, Data Science, and Analytics. At the end of the day, we are focused on addressing the enormous skills gap to serve both learners and employers.” The skills gap is one which affects every industry so Edstutia has also been consulting others from industries such as automotive and transportation, management consulting, and financial services, in roles such as DEI Managers, Heads of Onboarding, L&D Managers, as well as instructional designers and coaches. The opportunity here is to integrate immersive technologies to existing training programs for a more engaging, participatory experience for a globally-dispersed workforce. Why is this such a big deal? Dr. Janssen was delighted to tell us: “Combining custom learning simulations and environments in VR and immersing learners in situations to ‘learn by doing’ is nothing short of magical. There is a true sense of presence and engagement because the metaverse allows for people from every corner of the world to meet in a new dimension where they can collaborate and learn together.” Learners are able to brainstorm on white boards, escape to far away places in 360 videos enhanced with just-in-time knowledge assessments, build and deliver team projects, practise challenging scenarios in AI-powered simulations, and so much more. For those still sceptical of the value of immersive learning, it’s worth pointing out that individuals and managers have access to a high powered dashboard that presents a myriad of learning metrics to prove progress, levels of engagement, and learner retention. “What we’re building on the Edstutia platform leapfrogs what most companies and educational institutions are delivering today,” Christine explains. “We design everything with the learner in mind to ensure the experiences and output are fun, engaging and have long-term impact.” A big opportunity that resulted in a major pivot for Edstutia was the public introduction of the metaverse in the fall of 2021. Along with that announcement came the list of early-adopter organisations that were already investing in the technology and related resources to be ‘meta ready.’ Companies like Accenture subsequently announced that they had purchased 60,000 Oculus Quest headsets to onboard new employees since a significant portion of their global workforce works remotely. Dr. Janssen instantly knew there was huge potential to deliver enterprise solutions using this new technology. Through corporate relationships, she intends to strengthen her forthcoming consumer offerings with apprenticeship programs and an open conversation to ensure Edstutia is teaching the skills that employers are seeking. “As the metaverse becomes a household term and leading organisations want to be in the game, there’s a bit of a race in the XR world to offer more services to larger audiences, but it also requires service providers to educate their audiences,” she tells us. Alongside the rapid rise of her new venture, she notes that she has spent an enormous amount of time listening to client concerns as they try to understand this new virtual space, web3, and VR headsets. “We’ve had to do a lot with respect to educating our target markets on the value of and opportunities with the metaverse, particularly through a learning lens. There’s definitely a big buzz on the street and those in the know are very well aware that the metaverse is creating opportunities even greater than we experienced with the explosion of the Internet. One of my favourite phrases these days is ‘Ready or not, here it comes!’” This keen eye for future opportunities has always pushed Christine forward, and she has seen immense potential in VR technology since her first experience in a VR headset. She was one of the first faculty members to experiment with this technology at Fordham. “During my time in academia, I’ve received several awards for my efforts in challenging the status quo,” she tells us, “but honestly, my greatest achievement was making the decision to launch Edstutia. I ‘The Edstutia Team’
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