Mobile training in the real world for community disaster responders

Abstract

This paper describes the design and initial evaluation of a mobile application for training Community Emergency Response Teams. Our goal is to model the kind of remediation and performance support provided in high-end eLearning systems, and provide it during hands-on learning in the real world, using mobile phones and sensors embedded in the environment. Thus far we have designed the learning system and tested it with real users, simulating sensor-based activity recognition using an Android-based Wizard of Oz system that we have developed. Our initial user tests found that users were able to use the system to complete tasks, including some that they had never done before. They had little difficulty understanding the interaction mechanism, and overall reacted positively to the system. Though learner reaction was generally positive, these user tests yielded important feedback about ways we can better manage the division between the real world and the digital world. © 2013 ICST Institute for Computer Science, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering.