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Contextual Support for Emergency Management Training: Challenges for Simulation and Serious Games

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Modeling and Using Context (CONTEXT 2017)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 10257))

Abstract

Training collaboration and work in various Emergency Management (EM) can be supported by different technologies, in particular simulations and serious games (SSGs). This paper is based on an investigation of why the promising SSG technologies can be difficult to use, even a long time after their procurement by the user organizations. The focus is on firefighter training. It is based on interviews and observations with major stakeholders from procuring organizations, SSG developers and researchers from seven countries. The results confirm the possible benefits of SSGs, but also highlight an urgent need for new approaches to better integrate these technologies into educational practices in local organizations. To experience meaningful training, there is a need to determine relevant training situations, define recognizable contexts, learning goals and user values. Only when this is done they might successfully be illustrated via the available SSGs.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://www.xvrsim.com/?t=gb (retrieved March 1, 2017).

  2. 2.

    http://vstepsimulation.com/product/rescuesim/ (retrieved March 1, 2017).

  3. 3.

    http://www.digitalcombustion.com/ (retrieved March 1, 2017).

  4. 4.

    VectorCommand, and VSTEP, integrated products 2014.

  5. 5.

    https://www.msb.se/en/?ResetTargetNavigation=true (retrieved March 1, 2017).

  6. 6.

    http://www.seriousgames.dk/.

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency for making it possible to carry out this study, Cecilia Hammar Wijkmark, Lena Pareto for much help and comments, and the responders who allocated time and attention for the interviews or helped with the observations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, 5020, Bergen, Norway

    Ilona Heldal

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  1. Ilona Heldal
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Correspondence to Ilona Heldal .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Pierre and Marie Curie University , Paris, France

    Patrick Brézillon

  2. University of Maine , Orono, Maine, USA

    Roy Turner

  3. University of Genoa , Genoa, Italy

    Carlo Penco

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Heldal, I. (2017). Contextual Support for Emergency Management Training: Challenges for Simulation and Serious Games. In: Brézillon, P., Turner, R., Penco, C. (eds) Modeling and Using Context. CONTEXT 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10257. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57837-8_40

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57837-8_40

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-57836-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-57837-8

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