Using Second Life to Help Train Border Patrol Officers
Second Life has been used for a lot of things. It has been used by IBM to hold meetings, or for architectural organizations to create test homes or to sell products or test market products. Now, however, it is being used for another purpose that I must admit, never would have occurred to me: To train Border Guards.
Canada is now using Second Life as a training tool for their border guards. As you can see in this amazing video, they have set-up a simulated border crossing where the guards-in-training ask the person attempting to cross the same kind of questions they would ask in a real-life situation.
So rather than just hearing about it in class and then taking a test based on it, now they get a hands-on look at what it is really like, but without endangering the border by having the trainees at real crossing stations.
So has this been successful? Since implementing this program students taking the “interview skills” portion of the test have shown great improvement. The average score went from 58% on that portion of the test to 86% - a 28% improvement. That is a huge improvement.
Clearly using Second Life as a training tool is working exceptionally well in this case. I am sure that other nations are following this news closely and I have no doubt that others will soon follow down this path.
Once dismissed as something for “geeks” and “just a game”, virtual worlds are again proving their worth in the real world. Now they are even helping to protect our borders.
Note: This was written by me and originally posted at the Rising Tide blog.
