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DHS, Army to Give Virtual Incident Training to Schools, First Responders
The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) and the U.S. Army Simulation and Training Technology Center (STTC) will demonstrate the latest Enhanced Dynamic Geo-Social Environment (EDGE) virtual training platform on Tuesday, October 30 at the Cole Engineering Services, Inc. training center in Orlando, Florida. EDGE allows teachers, school staff, law enforcement officer and others tasked with school security to create and practice response plans for a wide range of critical incidents.
EDGE allows first responders and educators to role-play complex scenarios in a virtual environment, improving and reinforcing coordination, communication and critical decision-making skills. Although EDGE is built on the Unreal 4 gaming engine, which powers popular video games like Fortnite and Dragon Quest XI, it is not a traditional video game. Users control avatars representing their real-life roles—teachers, administrators, school resource officers, law enforcement and more—to execute training scenarios of their own creation. The EDGE environment can be used to train for any critical incident, such as potential bomb threats, parental custody disputes or an active shooter on campus.
S&T and STTC will announce the availability of the technology at no cost to first responder agencies and educational institutions. Attendees will hear from key partners involved in EDGE research and development, engage with first responder and school safety stakeholders, and have a hands-on opportunity to navigate training scenarios in the EDGE environment.
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
12:00 p.m. ET
Demonstration of EDGE virtual training platform in simulated critical incident scenarios with representatives from the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, the U.S. Army Simulation and Training Technology Center, Cole Engineering Services, Inc. and the Educator’s School Safety Network
Suite 100
Orlando, FL
