First Person Innovation

First-person gaming – that in which the player “sees” the virtual world as though they were standing in it (as opposed to manipulating a character or avatar) is very popular for entertainment (see HALO or Call of Duty). Many of these games are labeled as first-person “shooter” because they focus on the simulated combat.

There is more to simulation, however, than war-games. In fact, Fox Valley Technical College’s Criminal Justice program and our Learning Innovations Team are building first-person policing simulations for law enforcement training. Beginning in January, fourth semester students in the Criminal Justice program will become sworn patrol officers in “Fox City.” As officers, they will keep the city safe by advancing through various scenarios in which they interact with digital victims, suspects, and fellow officers to appropriately handle a variety of situations. The short clip below shows just a snippet of what that interaction is like.

I get chills just watching it. Scenarios, even simulated ones, really do bring learning to life.  During the interviews, a series of questions pop up asking the officers to make a decision on the next steps. Choose correctly and the scenario continues, choose incorrectly, and feedback is given about good policing practice, adherence to department policy, and reference to the appropriate law or statute. Students can practice these scenarios multiple times and each ends with the student officers’ submission of the necessary departmental and case file reports to build the virtual case file.

How do you use (or could you use) simulation in your programs?  What learning objects or simulations could enhance the learning of your students.  Please leave me your comments.  I’d love to hear more about how you have been an innovator for your students.

Stay tuned for upcoming posts on more innovation in law enforcement training and how the Horticulture program’s tissue culture lab is “growing” in a new way!