HazCommand: HazMat Incident Command Training

描述（由申请人提供）：HazCommand是HazMat领域的一种新的多用户软件培训环境，能够进行急需的指挥和控制练习，这是决定应急响应成败的最重要因素之一。紫水晶研究提出建立一个软件产品的基础上现有的研究原型，并评估其对培训计划的影响在费城消防局。教师登录网络软件并选择一个场景。参与者登录虚拟会话并查看场景的视觉和动画表示，并且可以在场景中独立导航以完成给定的任务。灵活的架构，基于Macromedia Flash，允许所有技能水平的培训师快速创建逼真的场景。第一阶段的假设是，学习发生在一个基于计算机的演习，转移到性能的改进，在一个真人演习。挑战在于进行一个合适的实验，以显示参与计算机模拟演习的小组是否比只经历真人演习的对照组表现更好。 目标是：1）完成产品的通用基础设施; 2）使用该技术开发一个基于真人演习场景的HazMat场景; 3）使用真人演习和使用基于计算机的演习进行实验，然后进行真人演习，以及4）比较这些实验之间的学习者表现结果。如果这一假设被证明是正确的，第二阶段的研究将实现最终目标，即证明这项技术可以降低培训成本和时间，从而允许更频繁的培训，提高真人演习和真实的生活事件中的表现，并在现场环境中对指挥技能进行可靠的评估。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): HazCommand is a new multi-user software training environment for the HazMat domain that enables much needed practice for command and control, one of the most important elements in determining the success or failure of emergency response. Amethyst Research proposes to build a software product based on an existing research prototype, and to evaluate its impact on training programs within the Philadelphia Fire Department. Instructors log into the web software and select a scenario. Participants log into the virtual session and see visual and animated representations of the scene, and can navigate independently around the scene to accomplish the given tasks. The flexible architecture, based on Macromedia Flash, allows trainers of all skill levels to rapidly create realistic scenarios. The Phase I hypothesis is that learning occurs during a computer-based drill that transfers to performance improvement in a live-action drill. The challenge is to conduct a suitable experiment that shows whether or not a group that participates in a computer-simulated drill followed by the live-action drill will perform better than a control group that experiences only the live-action drill. The objectives are to, 1) complete the generalized infrastructure of the product; 2) use the technology to develop one HazMat scenario based on alive-action drill scenario; 3) conduct experiments using the live-action drill and using the computer-based drill followed by the live-action drill, and 4) compare learner performance results between those experiments. If the hypothesis is proven true, research in Phase II will tackle the ultimate goals of demonstrating that this technology reduces training costs and time, so as to allow for more frequent training, improve performance in live-action drills and, by extension, real life incidents, and enable reliable evaluation of command skills in scenarios that otherwise would be impossible to conduct in a live setting.