ReviewsCaspian"s Thinking Worlds Enables Award Winning Immersive Simulations
The award-winning military simulation was created in Caspian Learning"s Thinking Worlds and went on to win the Best Game Award at the Elearning Age Awards 2009.
SUNDERLAND, UK, January 24, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The Maritime Warfare School (MWS) at HMS Collingwood is part of the Royal Navy"s Flag Officer Sea Training organisation, and its mission is not to be taken lightly: "To train Officers and Ratings for the Fleet who are ready to fight and win." To achieve this mission, MWS uses a potent strategy: combining theoretical classroom studies with practical work.
To remain true to its purpose, MWS is in a constant state of performance improvement, searching out gaps between training and real life at sea. One of the gaps MWS recognised was new and recent recruits had little or no opportunity to experience day-to-day life on board a ship such as the type 23 frigate and had no understanding of the ship"s layout and how to navigate from one area to another. Consequently, MWS asked Caspian Learning to develop an immersive learning simulation that exposes learners to a type 23 frigate and some of the core daily tasks that new and recent recruits will perform during their first visits out to sea. MWS"s primary objectives for the simulation were to:
* Reduce the "shock" that learners experience during their first days on their assigned ship
* Improve speed-to-acceptable-performance in conducting a Weapons Engineering Health and Safety round on board a type 23 frigate
To meet MWS"s objectives, Caspian Learning developed an high-fidelity, photo-realistic immersive 3D simulation and interactive game titled "Weapons Engineering Round - Immersive Learning Simulation". The game was developed using Caspian"s core Thinking Worlds technology. In the instructor-led mode, trainers present the type 23 frigate simulation, leading learners through many of the ship"s compartments such as the Combined Radar Office and Gyro Room, and they guide learners through a typical round. In the free play mode, learners navigate for themselves, immediately discovering that on board the ship is a saboteur creating faults in the machinery and putting the ship"s crew in danger. Learners must find and fix the errors, locate the saboteur, and disarm his bomb before time runs out. In doing so, learners explore the ship and its cramped noisy compartments, interact with the equipment they will use on the job, and assemble knowledge about the critical importance of the machines.
The game went on to win the Best Game Award at the Elearning Age Awards 2009.