Many innovation projects are structured around the concept of co-design, characterised by creative collaboration. Co-design leverages an open innovation process where individuals from diverse backgrounds collaborate to share and merge ideas and knowledge. This will usually involve the inclusion of end-users or customers as active participants in the design process (Steen, 2013). Various co-design processes have been used across projects from a range of industries and sectors, with demonstrated efficacy in creating valuable solutions that optimise impact for end-users and overcome implementation barriers. Examples range from the mobilisation of knowledge to improve management of health conditions (Grindell et al., 2022), to enhancing higher education delivery practices through involving students in curriculum design elements (Bovill, 2020), and producing novel methods of virtual production processes for filmmaking (Bodini et al., 2023).
The value of co-design processes in the development of software solutions is becoming increasingly important in environments where ease of software production prevail. The increasing accessibility and user-friendliness of software development tools and platforms has made it more accessible for a broader range of individuals to create software. While this democratisation brings about innovation and creativity, it also introduces the risk of producing software that may not effectively address real-world needs or make a meaningful societal impact. Incorporating the aspirations of effective co-design principles ensures developed applications are designed with a user-centric approach that addresses the actual needs and/or preferences of target end-users (Lee et al., 2018). One highly notable example of a software solution embracing co-design principles is that of the Android Operating System. Android evolved through a collaborative open-source development process, including developers and device manufacturers, resulting in Android becoming the dominant operating system for mobile devices worldwide (B & Student, 2015).
Co-design processes involving end-users have also demonstrated their contribution to improved project outcomes in digital application design and development projects across multiple education and training settings for child (Hoareau et al., 2020; Toivonen et al., 2020), adolescent (Milis et al., 2015; Thabrew et al., 2018) and adult learners (Harrington et al., 2018; Tay et al., 2021; Zhonggen, 2019). While it has been demonstrated co-design processes are essential for developing digital educational interventions that are user-centred, contextually relevant, inclusive, and effective in meeting the diverse needs of learners and educators, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the potential value of engaging in co-design processes for digital application development in the Defence context.
Defence strategic visions are often written in informal styles, and often formulated through high-level characteristics that may provide a comprehensive overview of visions and/or goals but may not present an operationalised rationale of turning that vision into a system design (Hannay & Gjørven, 2021). For Defence-technical systems, meeting technical requirements alone may not be sufficient to understanding necessary relationships between system design and implementation (Liwång, 2016). This can lead to solutions being developed that may not fit with organisational workflows, and additional costs of adaptations to allow effective integration can be exorbitant (Liwång, 2022). Co-design can alleviate risks associated with the production of technical solutions that are not fit-for-use. This is particularly relevant in the context of Defence-related technology innovation where it has been suggested more applied work is required to test and refine specific activities that could contribute to more effective interaction between technical and social components, including the nexus between industry and academia in the provision of Defence-based technical solutions (Liwång, 2022).
The purpose of this research was to gauge the efficacy of combining a generative co-design framework making use of agile and iterative co-design principles in an applied research and development project seeking to produce an immersive virtual reality (VR) based digital solution in collaboration with Special Operations personnel from the Australian Defence Force (ADF).
1.1 Research context
VR-based simulation training (VRST) has been applied across many professional disciplines. Healthcare, military, mining and metallurgy are some of the main industries experimenting with VRST in recent years (Narciso et al., 2021). The largest field of research with respect to both volume and quality of evidence is the medical and allied health professions with substantial expansion in research yields and technology accessibility in this field (Checa & Bustillo, 2020; Renganayagalu et al., 2021). The capability of VRST resources is constantly advancing; reports of training evaluations using VRST greater than five years of age are likely not leveraging the capabilities of prevailing VRST development software and hardware.
Several benefits of VRST exist for industry including cost reduction, training risk avoidance, repeatable training delivery and reliable collection of skill-based, behavioural and psychological data (Narciso et al., 2021), as well as the ability to delivery targeted training quickly in customisable formats (Naranjo et al., 2020). Further VRST can provide training difficult or impossible to replicate safely or economically, with the capability of increasing the authenticity of such training experiences (Renganayagalu et al., 2021). Generally, VRST is suggested to afford the opportunity to increase authenticity, immersion, consistency, repeatability, and measurability in comparison to more conventional professional training methods.
Early attempts of VR enhanced military parachute training suffered from limitations associated with inadequate visual and forced-feedback fidelity. Recent developments in VR technology related to enhanced visualisation capability, more intuitive interaction capability and improved accessibility, now provide an opportunity to make VR-enhanced parachute training simulations far more authentic and applied. Most of the literature exploring VRST for parachute training is limited to technical, feasibility or descriptive work (Aygun et al., 2019; Dhammika et al., 2015; Wang & Li, 2021). However, aligning with data from other sectors and industries employing VRST through VR head-mounted-display (HMD) units that demonstrate training enhancement and efficacy, VRST parachute training applications in the USA, the UK, Turkey and Australia have been shown to effectively recreate open-canopy experiences (i.e., parachute deployment) suitable for general Army training with evaluative data speaking to the efficacy of these training solutions (Butavicius et al., 2012; Hogue et al., 2012; Ying-liang et al., 2011).
While this background is encouraging, and also noting that public forum dissemination of much Defence-related technological innovation can be challenging given sensitivity considerations (Liwång, 2022), a significant gap yet to be addressed in VRST targeting Defence-related parachuting capability is the lack of ecological validity and practicality. Specifically, presently available solutions fail to incorporate Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs) for advanced tactical training, with solutions tending to target novice trainees and exclude high-risk mission elements. The ParaVerse project reported here sought to design and develop a contemporary immersive VRST application for targeted education and training use for Special Operations Command (SOCOMD) Army within the ADF.
SOCOMD was established in 2003, formed to enhance Australia’s capacity to use non-traditional war-fighting methods to counter the threat of terrorism. SOCOMD reflects the equivalent commands in the USA and UK military services (Trust, 2023). Due to their specialist skills and training, SOCOMD soldiers are often called to operate on the front line to conduct and/or reinforce special operations. The job they perform is treacherous and challenging, requiring mastery of high-level TTPs, oftentimes including (amongst many others) advanced parachuting skills.