FAS Publishes National Survey of First Responder Training

Three years and $8 billion after the call for increased funding for emergency preparedness, there is little documentation on progress our nation has made to address this call, particularly in the area of training first responders. Numerous new federal training programs are being funded or are under active consideration, but absent better coordination and approaches to the dissemination of training materials, much of the investment is likely to be wasted and decades could pass before our first responders' training needs are met.

FAS is advocating a coherent national approach to mass casualty incident responder training to ensure training materials are peer-reviewed and certified and that investments stimulate development of affordable training systems that transfer into high levels of performance in an actual emergency. In February, FAS' Learning Federation (LF) published a survey of technology-enabled learning systems, or TELS, for first responder training. TELS include multi-media computer-based training (CBT), web-based training (WBT), and newer training technologies, including intelligent, individualized coaching, computer-based simulations, performance assessment, and feedback capabilities that have been demonstrated to help trainees build expertise that can be used quickly and efficiently in the case of a real emergency. Emergency Training Systems - A Survey, by LF Research Assistant Becky Sullivan, examines the features typical of current training products to assess progress in implementing these advanced approaches to training.

	Source: Emergency Training Systems – A Survey, Becky Sullivan, FAS Learning Federation

According to William O. Jenkins, Jr., Director of the Homeland Security and Justice Issues at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), "The federal government has allocated between $6 and $8 billion since 9-11 to enhance emergency preparedness nationwide… But the GAO does not know how much has gone for planning, training, and exercises. And GAO does not know how much has gone specifically to train first responders because the largest grants, such as the State Homeland Security Grants, can generally be used for planning, equipment purchases, training, and exercises, at the discretion of the grant recipient."

For our survey, we first identified several hundred emergency training products through Internet searches. From this initial set of training products, we selected 54 for further study based on descriptions of training features, the product release date (we selected those with the most recent release dates), and the target markets (we selected products targeted at first responders to mass casualty incidents).

Who is developing emergency responder TELS? Private companies developed 73% of the TELS surveyed. Which user groups are targeted? We found 19% are aimed specifically at hospital personnel, while 8% are focused on firefighters. We found 63% of the TELS surveyed aim to meet the need of multiple audiences.

What features characterize these TELS? The survey looked at the following areas: assessment, question asking and answering, motivational strategies, interactivity and standards to promote certification and re-use.

Sophisticated assessments can be used to tailor instruction to the needs of individual learners and evaluate the capabilities and preparation of individuals, teams, and units. Yet, for more than half of the TELS sampled we were unable to determine the method of assessment. We found 20% of the TELs surveyed provide evaluative feedback at the end of the training session and only 19% assess performance after each learning objective.

Use of simulations in training can immerse trainees in situations like the ones for which they are being prepared, using techniques ranging from simulated equipment operation to role playing. Our survey found that only 31% of the TELS sample employ simulation capabilities and only 6% utilize virtual reality technology. Motivation has been found to have a direct effect on learning outcomes, affecting the amount of time people are willing to devote to learning and practice, yet only 25% of the TELS surveyed use motivational strategies.

The survey illustrates that very few of today's training systems implement training methods that have been demonstrated to produce substantial improvements in instructional effectiveness. This is alarming because our MCI first responder training needs are dramatically larger in scope and more complex than anything the nation has faced before. This conclusion echoes the DHS's ODP. The ODP office issued voluntary guidelines to guide developers of these training products. It also stated that "a more distributed and flexible model is needed to guide future efforts. The training model must be agile enough to address dynamic requirements quickly."iii However, these voluntary guidelines are insufficient. Given the importance of ensuring well-trained first responders, DHS should include learning science and technology R&D as a critical component of its S&T portfolio.

The FAS Learning Federation supports these goals. We continue to research how to make TELS more engaging, effective and accessible to many kinds of learners, including emergency responders. These TELS can be cost effective for emergency response training by being reusable; they can also be quickly modified to reflect new information or threats. Our Learning Science and Technology R&D Roadmaps show how future TELS can help the nation achieve key education and training needs.

Adam Burrowbridge is Learning Technologies Research Assistant at FAS.