Virtual Skill-Up

Virtual Skill-Up is an Immersive Learning smartphone app that lets you practice your communication skills in real-life situations to build your confidence. Whether you want to practice Interviewing, Public Speaking or Pitching – this app is a safe place for you to learn, providing you with helpful tips and pointers along the way.

To learn how to use the app in Virtual Reality (VR) or in 360°, we’ve created a useful Demo to help you out. We suggest you try this before attempting your first Scenario. You can find the Demo in the app’s settings screen. You should also look out for our information pop-ups in each screen or visit our Hub to read our guides.

If you’re using the app in VR mode, you’ll need a VR headset. This will allow you to see the environment around you in 3 Dimensions (3D). It’ll be fully immersive which means that you’ll be able to interact with the Scenario and the people in it – as if you’re there in real life! If you have been directed here from a partner organization, you might be able to borrow a VR headset from them. If you don’t have a headset – don’t worry! You can still access the app using our 360° mode.

Depending on your country, the app offers up to three types of Experiences: Interview, Public Speaking and Pitching. Within each of these Experiences you can attempt different Scenarios depending on what skill or setting you’re interested in. For more details, you can check out our Experiences and Scenarios Guide.

Strong communication skills are essential in a variety of situations - in the workplace, in the classroom and at social events. No matter what situation you find yourself in, the ability to communicate will help you achieve success. From being hired, to presenting ideas to your boss or serving customers - the ability to convey a message, tell a story and engage the audience is one of the most important skillsets that you can have.

Improving your communications skills requires continual practice. In real-life situations, you don’t always have the opportunity to press pause and try again. A key part of the learning process is receiving feedback to make you aware of your strengths and areas for improvement. By practicing in our immersive Scenarios, you can get feedback, learn from it and repeat the process until you feel confident and ready to face real-world situations.

You’ll receive feedback on your:

• pace (the speed you’re speaking at);
• certainty (how many fillers (e.g. "like", "I guess", etc.) you used); and
• eye contact (with your audience).

This feedback will be shared via Live Feedback (if turned on) during a Scenario. With Live Feedback, you’ll know on the spot how you are doing and can refine your speech and eye contact as you go. Then, once the session is complete, you’ll receive more detailed feedback through our Scenario Feedback and Feedback Card (emailed PDF). This will include information about which fillers you were using and how often you paused. To find out what your feedback will actually look like and the types of feedback you can expect to receive, you can check out our Feedback Guide.

The Hub is Virtual Skill-Up’s website. You can access additional support materials, guides and contact details that can’t be found within the app. This information will help with installations, using the app, troubleshooting, data deletion requests and much more.

The VR/360° toggle allows you to switch modes between Virtual Reality (VR) and 360°. It can be found on the Scenario screen in the top right corner. VR mode is represented by a VR headset icon and 360° mode is represented by a 360° icon.

In order to receive your Feedback for all 3 scores (Pace, Certainty & Eye Contact), make sure you’re online and have enabled all permissions on your mobile device (e.g. microphone). Besides that, don’t forget your Live Feedback updates every 15 seconds, so be patient and your scores should update in time. If you’re still having problems, there might be some issues with your partner organization’s Google Services.

In Offline Mode, you can continue to use the app without internet connection as long as you’re using scenarios that you’ve already downloaded.

• Only your eye contact scores will be analysed and stored. Once internet connection is re-established, your offline scores will be sent to the Virtual Skill-Up database.

• You will not receive a Feedback Card via email; however, you’ll be able to access the tips & feedback for your eye contact scores through the My Latest Feedback screen.

Workshop mode is perfect for this situation. To turn it on, use the Workshop Mode toggle on the Login or Settings screen. When this mode is on, all of your data on the device is removed when you log out and pass the device to a friend. Logout can also be triggered automatically when:

• the app is sent to the background AND you don’t resume using it within 10 minutes; OR

• the smartphone is locked AND you don’t resume using the app within 10 minutes.

When using the app, Virtual Skill-Up collects the following personal data from you:

• Email address
• Age range
• Gender
• Employment Status
• Language
• Voice
• Scoring Data

You can remove your scoring data by logging out of the app. This data will be deleted on logout automatically if workshop mode is on. If workshop mode is off, you’ll need to manually select a checkbox to delete your data when logging out.

• If you’d like to remove the remaining data which has been collected and stored on the Virtual Skill-Up servers, please fill in the Contact Us form with your email address and state that you would like to have your data removed from our servers. Our Support Team will then provide you with further instructions.

• If you’d like to review your rights around your personal data, please read our Virtual Skill-Up Privacy Statement.

You can download the app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store by searching Virtual Skill-Up.

In order for this app to work, you’ll need a smartphone with the correct sensors (a gyroscope and accelerometer sensor). The best way to check this is by watching a 360° video on your smartphone (e.g. like this YouTube video). If your smartphone does have the correct sensors, your point of view in the video should move when you move your phone around. If your smartphone does not have the correct sensors, you can still play the Scenarios in 360° mode but you can only change your point of view in the video by swiping across the screen with your finger.

If you have been referred here by one of our Partners, you will receive a 10-digit alphanumeric code (e.g. STC12VN345) which you should use when logging in. If you have further questions, please contact your Partner organization.