The goal of this output is to identify a list of requirements that will lead to the development of an innovative collaborative virtual reality platform for distant training simulating a physical class where the trainer and the trainees will be interacting represented by their avatars. It will also define the requirements for the respective supporting training material that will help
teachers to bear with Virtual Reality technologies. Virtual reality training is used for both individual training as for team-based scenarios in all disciplines and sectors including healthcare, sports, retail, logistics and many more. Aside from personal development and improvement, VR training provides great benefits to collaborative actions and communication.
Most of the multiplayer VR training tools are built for the military (VSTS), medicine where surgeons and nurses can work together in the same operating room (Precision OS) and construction industry but with most products concentrating only on improving the single person experience, aiming to make sense of facilities. There are also several apps for VR meetings like MeetinVR, Glue, FrameVR, Mozilla Hubs, VirtualSpeech, ENGAGE which are easy to use from participants but with a steep learning curve to prepare them (for trainers).
Only in ENGAGE the user is represented by a complete digital body while in most of the other apps the user’s avatar lacks arms and lower body. The CoViR platform will identify the best practices from existing VR applications and will focus on the replication of physical training methodologies as eye contact and body language (nonverbal communication) adequate for “Communication skills” course that is considered a difficult subject to teach online. It will be also easy to use and content sharing will be possible for the trainees also.
Avatar selection and customization, whiteboards, flipcharts, post it notes, hand raising, facial expressions selection, selection of predefined body motions, polls, role playing tools and  other collaborative tools will be selected to compose the CoViR platform. The selection of these tools will take place with the help of focus groups that will be organized in each country.
The analysis of requirements will be a mixture of research such as (a) literature review of current evidence on the use of VR for distance training and (b) qualitative research into trainers needs and trainees’ expectations (including the needs for supporting training materials relevant to VR and distance training). The overall goal will be to strengthen teachers’competences to be able to offer distance learning through the creation of engaging experiences.