“Modern web-based learning technologies offer many benefits: (1) train and educate firefighters, (2) help save lives, (3) deliver consistent outcomes cost effectively without toxic chemicals or pollution. So, (4) they’re also good for the planet”.
Airport fire stations around the world need to regularly train and assess highly skilled fire crews. Thankfully, not too many aircraft disasters take place on a daily basis. While that’s obviously good news and a testament to aircraft safety it does mean that the only way our fire fighters can hone their vitally needed skills is through regular training exercises. And these days that means a rich blend of instructor-led and online content. Therefore, a key ingredient in any Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF) organisation is a Learning Management System (LMS) with a high end training framework and high-quality relevant content.
What is an LMS and how does it relate to ARFF Training?
The learning management system (LMS) is the platform responsible for hosting the firefighter’s curriculum. Most practical training these days requires a mix of Instructor-led and immersive online content. This needs to be practical, easy to use and standardised to allow firefighters the world over, to access the best available courses on offer. The most popular protocol for online Courses is SCORM, which provides an international and standards compliant framework for creating, delivering and assessing online content. When integrated with practical exercises and assessments the LMS delivers a formidable and engaging environment for ongoing training.
The Curriculum
A good training framework is hierarchical in nature. That is, it presents a structured list of performance criteria, grouped in Elements > Competencies and Competency Categories. Not only does this make it easy to search and access valuable content but it also defines a system for describing mastery of the subject matter. The Curriculum component of a good LMS is attuned to this hierarchical structure so it knows how to roll-up skills acquired by measuring performance at a granular level all the way up to entire subject categories. As well as the acquisition of “Formative Skills” the curriculum also encompasses what we call “Summative Skills”, experience gained through practice and exposure to a wide range of contexts and scenarios.
Scheduling
Since the curriculum incorporates both instructor-led and online components, we need the ability to schedule physical resources for the face-to-face components. These typically include drill locations, equipment, training personnel and events. The drill event has a date, as well as an instructor, a scenario and a location. It is the job of the LMS Scheduling component to pull all of these together to create events that firefighters can attend.
Enrolments
In order to participate in critical training events, the LMS must include the ability to enrol firefighters into the events that make it possible for them to practice skills and be assessed. It’s usual for teams to participate in these events, and therefore the LMS must allow for group enrolments. But it also needs to cater to individual training needs and people outside the group, i.e. guest participants.
Training Records and Reports
Evidence of training and competency is awarded with results and certificates. In order to assign firefighters to a crew or shift it is essential that they have the competencies necessary to fulfilll their team roles. Those records need to be stored and made available in reports and visuals in a dashboard.
Immersive Simulation
Simulation enables firefighters to obtain valuable learning through virtual reality simulations. The benefits of simulation are that they are cost effective, highly repeatable, environmentally friendly, and they can be “auto-assessing” since they are digital and therefore programmable. An immersive simulator, fully integrated into the LMS significantly enhances training and assessment options available to any Airport Fire Station.
