Abstract:
Enhancing the earthquake behavioral response and post-earthquake evacuation preparedness of building occupants is beneficial to increasing their chances of survival and reducing injured people and casualties after the mainshock of an earthquake. Traditionally, training approaches such as seminars, posters, videos or drills are applied to enhance preparedness. However, they are not highly engaging and have limited sensory capabilities to mimic life-threatening scenarios for the purpose of training. Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) and Serious Games (SGs) as innovative digital technologies can be used to create training tools to overcome these limitations. SGs are an innovative approach devoted to training and educating people in a gaming environment. IVR is a technology to fully immerse users in a computer-generated virtual environment. Recently, increasing attention has been paid to IVR-based SGs for evacuation training to promote cognitive learning with highly credible experience. IVR SGs have been introduced to train individuals in specific building layouts or settings with fixed training objectives. However, the lack of flexibility in existing IVR SG’s frameworks makes it challenging to have widespread uptake as trainees require different training objectives, pedagogical strategies, context, and content. As a result, the effectiveness of IVR SG-based training is jeopardized if the customization ability is limited. In order to address the limitations mentioned above, this research proposes a customization framework for IVR SGs suited to earthquakes and post-earthquake evacuation training. A general framework for the effective development and implementation of IVR SGs suited to evacuation training was constructed based on a systematic literature review. Following that, an experiment taken at Auckland City Hospital was conducted to validate the general framework. Based on the general framework, we establish a customization framework incorporating the concept of adaptive game-based learning. According to this customization framework, trainees can receive earthquake emergency training in context by customizing virtual environments, storylines, and teaching methods.
Two experiments were carried out to provide empirical evidence to validate the customization framework, with one targeting children in a junior secondary school setting and the other targeting adults in an office setting. The usability results from both experiments showed that the customization process was easy to carry out, and the training experience with the customizable IVR SGs was adaptive and easy to follow for optimum learning. The school experiment also investigated the effectiveness of the teaching methods provided in the customization framework. Results suggested that post-game assessment and prior instruction were both effective for children to enhance knowledge and self-efficacy, with the integration of IVR SGs. The office experiment also investigated the effectiveness of the storytelling methods provided in the customization framework. Results revealed that both spiral narratives and linear narratives were effective to deliver the knowledge about behavioral responses in earthquakes and post-earthquake evacuation, with the integration of immediate feedback in IVR SGs.
In conclusion, a customization framework for IVR SGs suited to earthquake emergency training has been proposed and validated by this research, contributing to the knowledge of IVR SGs-based emergency training. Future research is suggested to extend the customization framework to including other types of emergency situations, and system-controlled adaptation (i.e., dynamic adaptation throughout training with the use of artificial intelligence).