Emergency Preparedness Training Using Virtual Reality Games: Allowing Knowledge Transfer in the Digital Age

When unexpected incidents occur, such as fire outbreaks or floods, individuals who lack knowledge on how to handle such events are often shocked and unable to act efficiently. Virtual Reality (VR) technology promises to compensate for the lack of traditional teaching environments by immersing users in virtual learning environments with real-life relevance for many emergency scenarios. The primary objective of this paper is to provide a better understanding of how to raise awareness of emergencies and learn to manage unforeseen situations using VR games. Based on a theoretical background examining available literature on Knowledge Transfer (KT), VR and learning theories, we illustrate a case depicting how to handle a fire emergency at a school building. The case describes a VR game to inform students about the necessary steps for preparedness and discuss its utilization as an educational module in a course. Based on this, an Inclusive VR for KT (IVR-KT) framework is proposed that contributes to increasing the understanding of planning and assessing emergency preparedness training in education. The games included in IVR-KT will be developed using retrieved real-time and historical data with a special emphasis on inclusivity aspects by addressing a wide range of users regardless of their personal limitations and constraints. By presenting the framework and providing examples of its key components, the paper introduces new ways of considering KT for emergency preparedness training in education for handling unforeseen incidents.