INSA Toulouse

INSA Toulouse is a leading public engineering school and a member of the INSA Group and the University of Toulouse. Every year, more than 3,000 students are trained there within a framework of technical excellence, social inclusivity and educational innovation.At the heart of this strategy, Katja Auffret, director of the Centre for Innovation and Educational Engineering, has a clear vision: to experiment with active, accessible and useful methods for all audiences — engineering students, care assistants, nurses, etc.

As part of the FURII DEM@TER call for projects – Skills and Professions of the Future (Digital Health), INSA is collaborating with WiDiD, Paul Sabatier University and CNRS LAAS to design immersive simulators incorporating professional posture, AI and virtual reality. The aim is to make training more engaging, more accessible and more realistic.

From soft skills to virtual reality

At INSA Toulouse, soft skills have been an integral part of the educational approach for years. Virtual reality, being tested here as part of the DEMOS project (2020–2025), represents a natural evolution of this approach: it enhances emotional engagement, aids memorisation and stimulates active learning.

Quick and easy to get started

Thanks to the no-code authoring tool provided by WiDiD, trainers were able to create their own immersive scenarios without any technical expertise. Engineering trainees even helped their colleagues at the nursing college to get to grips with the tools, demonstrating just how user-friendly they are.

For this trial, the modules were used on PCs rather than with VR headsets in order to accommodate logistical constraints and broaden access, particularly for trainee care assistants and nurses.

Tangible and measurable results

• 93% of respondents rated the modules as “very useful” or “extremely useful”
• 63% say they have ‘learnt a great deal’
• 65% would like to use them again to improve their digital skills in healthcare
  

(Data from a questionnaire designed by Anne Segond and completed by 47 learners)

A smooth and long-lasting partnership

The roll-out went smoothly thanks to the open licences and the support provided by WiDiD. Today, the Castres Nursing School uses the modules independently as part of its training programme for nursing assistants.

For Katja Auffret, the issue goes beyond mere technical innovation. It is about preparing students to interact with technologies such as artificial intelligence whilst ensuring that human support remains a key part of the process:

This approach underpins the experiments carried out at INSA Toulouse: immersive tools to enhance professional skills, simulators for risk-free experimentation, and flexible modules designed to suit all profiles.