SBIR-STTR Award

Skilled Support Personnel (SSP), such as demolition and utility workers, played critical roles in the Oklahoma City, Pentagon, and WTC terrorist incidence responses. Yet several reports (Lippy & Murray, 2002; NIEHS WETP 2002) have found that our nation's SSPs are inadequately trained to respond to incidents involving weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The governing OSHA standard does not adequately address the training and protection of our essential workforce in destructive terrorist incidences involving WMD and biological agents. The extensive nature of large-scale emergency response operations calls for a broader definition of "emergency responder" that includes skilled support personnel such as construction/demolition workers, transit workers, and utility service workers. Thus, there is a pressing need for the OSHA HAZWOPER 40-hour general site worker course to be required for SSP's and for it to be supplemented with trade specific training for responding to acts of terrorism. This Phase I effort seeks to address this critical training need of our nation's SSP's. We propose to develop an innovative, effective, and extensible solution that uses uniquely designed computer-based micro-games (also known as mini-games) to provide awareness level WMD training. These would be incorporated into the 40-hour HAZWOPER training for SSPS and could also be made available on the Web for trainers and SSPs to access as part of a refresher course. Micro-games are immersive video games that are easy to access, take 5 to 20 minutes to play, and generally focus on a small number of learning elements (Aldrich, 2007). . Typically developed using Adobe Flash, they are engaging and low in development costs as compared with larger scale games. The goal of a micro-game is to cognitively engage trainees with critical content in an engaging and effective manner. Trainees can learn, explore, and test out various actions and decisions in a no-risk environment. Micro-games are also extensible in that they can be designed so that information relevant to a specific incident can be modified as needed to reflect the use of agents at specific worksites. This ability to specialize in content that supports trainees in effectively responding to a various types of WMD incident is critical and cost effective. The proposed effort will focus on examining feasibility in two areas: (1) can a micro-games approach facilitate effective awareness level WMD training for SSPs, and (2) can we create an innovative web-enabled micro-game training platform that enables instructors to quickly and easily develop and administer micro games that respond directly to their learner's specific needs?

Public Health Relevance:
This Public Health Relevance is not available.

Thesaurus Terms:
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This Phase II SBIR project, Game FACTS (Fun, Adaptable-Content Trainer Suite): The Use of Microgames as a Supplemental Learning Tool for Worker Health & Safety Training builds upon the work of the previously funded Phase I SBIR project Micro-games for WMD Training for Skilled Support Personnel. Phase I focused on the development of microgame (i.e., short-duration game) prototypes for worker health and safety training. The ultimate goals of Phase I and Phase II are to support interactive e- teaching in safety and health training in order to improve trainers'ability to provide engaging, effective instruction, and to increase worker motivation to learn (and subsequently, efficacy) in these important topics. In doing so, WisdomTools hopes to ultimately improve both worker and public safety and health. Based on the lessons learned in Phase I, Phase II will enhance the already strong commercialization potential of the games by addressing the need for trainers to be able to create, update, and alter instructional content to ensure its relevance for their own learners and worksites, simplified controls, more sophisticated support for learning game play, additional game types to suit different learning styles, and normalization of content for use in different game formats. Phase II of this project will focus on training to increase understanding and awareness of several worker health and safety topics that are the subject of frequent refresher training, including: 1) use of Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs), 2) types and selection of respiratory protection and filters, and 3) signs, symptoms, prevention, and first aid for heat-related illnesses. In addition, it will revisit the content areas selected for Phase I, which inclued: 1) Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), 2) air contaminant detection equipment, and 3) the Incident Command System. In Phase II, WisdomTools will design, develop and test Game FACTS, a suite of advanced training technologies that includes three main components: 1) a series of six different microgame formats, 2) question and feedback content on the topics described above, including succinct and relevant information resources suitable for download or printing, and 3) an authoring tool for trainers that will allow them to update, adapt, or replace game resources, questions, and feedback with content of their own choosing to meet course needs. Through user participatory design, semi-structured interviews, usability testing, pilot testing, and learning gains/attitudinal change analysis, this Phase II effort will examine questions related to the implementation of Game FACTS, including determining: 1) the features and functionalities that are needed to support trainers in customizing game content to meet learning goals;2) the worker health and safety content that is most suitable and critical for repeated practice and, 3) whether the use of a game and skill-drill based learning approach produce a net positive increase in learner knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) as compared with KSAs before the training course.

Public Health Relevance:
Narrative By designing and developing Game FACTS (Fun, Adaptable-Content Trainer Suite): The Use of Microgames as a Supplemental Learning Tool for Worker Health &Safety Training, this Phase II SBIR project will improve worker knowledge of safe work practices across a variety of topics and improve the ability of health and safety trainers to provide learners with effective, engaging, and customized content, thus improving both worker and public health and safety. Game FACTS is an innovative game-based training suite that includes an authoring tool which allows trainers to edit, replace, and otherwise customize the content that appears inside the games to best meet the needs of their training course. This Phase II effort will build on the Phase I effort by improving existing game designs, creating new game designs, and creating the trainer authoring tool. The resulting product will improve the overall effectiveness of training that helps, for example, to prevent the spillage of toxic substances into the environment.