Variable uncertainty: scenario design for training adaptive and flexible skills

Motivation -- Today's training systems for crisis management (CM) largely focus on technical and procedural skills. However the dynamic and unpredictable nature of a crisis also requires skills that are flexible, adaptive and creative. Training systems enforce limitations on the freedom of interaction the trainee has compared with the real world, thereby limiting their effectiveness for real world emergencies. Furthermore, the training scenarios are often played out in a linear and rigid manner, limiting the ability to train skills such as adapting to the on-going situation and being flexible in an uncertain and variable environment.
Research approach -- The Variable Uncertainty Framework (VUF) has been developed as part of a European project (CRISIS) developing an interactive simulated Virtual Reality (VR) environment for training CM to address some of the challenges faced in training scenario design today. The principles from software systems design have been compared to those of instructional design to develop a framework that can be applied in this project.
Findings/Design -- The VUF brings together three important dimensions of real-world emergencies that can be manipulated and controlled in virtual training environments: (1) situational complexity, (2) the number of events occurring simultaneously, and (3) the randomness of these events. By controlling these three dimensions in the training environment, an instructor can design scenarios that are either basic drill oriented, or advanced scenarios where events are complex and combined in un-predictable ways.
Take away message -- The VUF is illustrated as a method of achieving the variability and complexity in the training scenario design. It offers an accessible method for instructors to design and adapt training scenarios to optimise the training effectiveness.

Conference: European Conference on Cognitive Ergonomics
Rostock, Germany — August 24 - 26, 2011