ACTIVE SHOOTER TRAINING
Scenario-Based eLearning
This is an active shooter training for educational and/or organizational settings using the ALICE procedures.
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Role: Instructional Designer, Video Production, and eLearning Development
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Target Audience: Adult Learners
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Technology Used: Articulate Rise, Mindmeister, and Screencast-O-Matic
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Year: 2021
Objective
The task for this project was to create a training course for a high-risk situation where training in a real-world context is either unavailable and/or dangerous. The challenge for this project was to replicate a real-life scenario to prepare learners for a potential high-risk event.
The active shooter safety training was developed to train employees how to problem-solve and think critically through an active shooter event. Given the multitude of active shooter incidents in the United States, preparing for unpredictable events is on the rise.
The settings at highest risk of mass active shooter incidents are educational institutions and organizations. Since this is a high-risk training with catastrophic consequences, safety compliance training using a scenario-based learning approach will better equip employees to deal with potentially high-stress situations.
Design Process
The design process implemented:
Embedded Learning Objectives
Trigger Events
Scenario Data
Branching Map
Guidance and instruction
Feedback
Reflection
Michael Allen's Magic Keys
Multimedia Learning Principles
Learning Objectives: The learning objectives were not explicitly stated in the training, rather embedded into the task deliverables and training. The actions and scenarios implicitly embed the learning objectives into the scenarios. The rationale in using implicit learning objectives was to make the learning experience feel more realistic.
Trigger Events: Trigger events were used to provide pretraining and background information. The purpose was to draw an emotional appeal and response to develop the event as realistic within the learners' psyche. The trigger events utilized firsthand account videos and statistics to invoke an emotional response to intrinsically motivate the learner.
Scenario Data: A navigation panel was used to allow learners to navigate back to relevant information as needed. Learners navigated through the course using a continue button. A forced continue was omitted to provide learners' navigational control. An accordion feature was used to provide key information.
Branching Map: To design the course, a mind map tool, Mindmeister was used to develop the branching scenarios.
Guidance and Instruction: An infographic outlining procedures was utilized to assist learners in the decision making process. Learners were provided guidance throughout the scenarios when making decisions. If the learner makes a wrong decision, they are prompted with open-ended questions (hints) to help recall a procedure or think through a possible solution. If learners choose a correct path, they are often encountered with various possible scenarios that may occur during a potential active shooter event. This provided the learner with an appropriate level of scaffolding support as they progress through the course.
Feedback: Intrinsic feedback was utilized to provide leaners a realistic experience. As learners made choices in the scenario, an emotional cue along with another possibility that might occur if that decision was chosen was provided. The correct feedback was delayed till the learner made it through the scenario path. Once learners made all the correct sequence of choices, they were provided with feedback. The feedback reinforces the procedure for retention. Placing the procedure at the end of the correct solution rather than the wrong solution was an intentional design to reinforce the correct safety procedures and protocols. If learners choose a wrong choice, they are provided open-ended guidance and feedback to reconsider their options or may be prompted to “try again”.
Reflection: To promote post scenario reflective thinking, learners were presented with open-ended questions. The purpose for using open-ended reflective questions was to prevent any cognitive memory loss that might occur between learning episodes and application. The reflective questions promote deeper retention for long term memory to retrieve the procedures in order to quickly recall and react in the event a learner may find themselves in a similar situation.
Magic Keys: Michael Allen's Magic Key's were implemented within the training. The three magic keys used within the active shooter safety training are appeal, intrinsic feedback, and delayed judgement.
An Appealing Context: The training uses a problem-based approach to immerse the learner in an active shooter situation. It stimulates learners by using suspense (immersive videos, audio, and task - save the sixth-grade class) and dramatic emotions (Ms. Ann’s reactions to learners’ responses in the scenario). To promote transfer, the training incorporates simulated feedback, reflection, an unreal world, simulated training procedures, and psychological cues.
Intrinsic Feedback: A form of delayed feedback was used whereby learners were not told whether they were right or wrong. The purpose was to promote critical thinking to a deeper level.
Delayed Judgement: Using delayed feedback allows the learner to discern whether their decision making and judgement is accurate. This was done through the use of a mentor. In the training, Ms. Ann acts as the mentor. She allows learners to make mistakes and helps them understand why the mistakes occurred with accompanying consequences.
Multimedia Learning Principles: The multimedia learning principles utilized in the training follow Richard Mayer’s research-based Multimedia Principles for Instructional Design.
The Coherent Principle
The Redundancy Principle
The Spatial Contiguity Principle
The Segmenting Principle
The Pre-Training Principle
The Modality Principle
The Personalization Principle