The fast answer: it depends! Here’s how to work out how many headsets you need for your institution.
Will you be running faculty-led or peer-to-peer simulations?
When running simulations, you will need a headset for each individual actively participating in virtual reality. If you are running faculty-led simulations, you’ll only have 1-3 participants total in VR at a time. In peer-to-peer, you can have many learners simultaneously participating: at least 1 in every 2 learners. This scalability is peer-to-peer’s advantage. For more information on peer-to-peer vs faculty led, refer to this article.
How much physical space do you have?
To safely run UbiSim, VR participants need a dedicated 7x7 space clear of any obstacles, and some room beside that for a desk and chair for the facilitator (unless they are joining from another location). If you are running peer-to-peer, calculate how many 7x7+ spaces you can fit in the room/s you have available. Make sure you also leave a little space for trainers/faculty to walk around and observe/provide assistance!
How many learners do you have?
Assuming you have plenty of space, consider your class size. Tutorials do not require a peer facilitator, but all other scenarios do. So most of the time, your learners will work in pairs, with one in VR, and the other facilitating on a computer. Or, up to 3 in VR and one facilitating. Therefore, headsets for half your total class size would maximize scalability.
However, depending on your total number of learners vs trainers/faculty, this may be a large number of simultaneous simulations (each requiring a little oversight and assistance). Feel free to adjust this number down and have 1-2 learners per simulation who are not actively participating or facilitating. They could be observing, or be completing other work. In this case, you would need 1 headset for every 3-4 students, rather than 1 for every 2. At a minimum, we recommend 3 headsets for every 50 learners.
What budget do you have available?
Last but not least, is how much you have to spend on headsets. If budgets are tight, consider purchasing fewer upfront, and then seeking funding for additional headsets. There are also many grants available for simulation technology, which you may be able to apply for. For more on funding including a list of grants, read our article on the topic.
In summary, your number of headsets can be calculated as:
[Number of Learners you want in VR Simultaneously]
X [Amount of Physical Space]
/ [Available Budget]