Different approaches towards training for crisis - a presentation of a comparative study

Abstract

Preparedness for crisis has become a focus for Norwegian municipalities. In order to be prepared, one needs to learn about crisis and how to avoid or handle them. Crisis training has been undertaken for many years. The exercises’ undertaken has mostly been response exercises. There is valuable learning from this type of exercises, but there may be even better ways to conduct exercises that will enhance the experienced learning outcome. This study presents two different ways of doing exercises, and where the difference is in the preparation prior to the exercise. This is a pre-study to a larger project and will be undertaken as a comparative study with two comparable groups. Group 1 will be exposed to frequent hints via email regarding the exercise and Group 2 other group will not. The foci will be on how the two groups perform (regarding the same exercise scenario) from an observers view, how the two groups perceived their experienced learning outcome from the exercise, and it is also considered to do a test (multiple choice) that may show what they perceived from the exercise. The theoretical backdrop for this type of exercises will be mainly from experiential learning theory, behavioristic learning theory, and learning theories that embrace participation and engagement. The study will be both inductive and deductive, and the data will mainly be qualitative and consist of interviews, observations and some recordings