Evaluation of Strategic Emergency Response Training on an OLIVE Platform

Virtual worlds provide a new methodological framework for conducting emergency response exercises. The research attempts to evaluate whether the use of virtual worlds avoids recognized weaknesses of traditional emergency response exercises and facilitates further learning outcomes. The objectives of the article include, first, to examine whether the virtual worlds contribute to learning experiences for the emergency response exercises; second, to use a case study to evaluate and synthesize preliminary findings of the strategic flood response exercise; and third, to make recommendations for conducting a larger scale emergency response in an online Virtual Learning Environment. The preliminary findings suggest that the use of virtual worlds could potentially facilitate better learning outcomes and provide as an effective training methodology to the emergency communities. It also identifies the challenges of developing virtual world exercises, for instance, the need for better collaboration and communication between developers, academics, and end users.