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This paper deals with an ongoing digitalisation process in Swedish police education seen from a teacher perspective. It is based on a one-year study conducted at a police education unit, which has undergone major changes as a result of the implementation of new technology-rich environments. The study is focused on teachers' use of digital technology and their perceptions of its value for teaching, student learning and education quality. In order to describe and analyse the teachers' perceptions of these aspects and whether they changed during a one-year period, data was collected using questionnaires administered in two stages, one 3 months after the implementation and the other after 15 months. The results obtained from the questionnaires show low use of the technology by the teachers, low estimated value for teaching and student learning, and only marginal changes in teacher perceptions during the period. The results indicate that teachers' use of digital technology is highly dependent on the equipment functioning properly, the quality and complexity of the technology, and its ability to support teachers' educational needs. The results are discussed and problematised in the conclusions section of the paper.

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore Swedish police education teachers’ informal workplace learningand its perceived value for their professional development. Two categories of teachers, police teachers and universityteachers,with different professional knowledge and experience, work together at the police education unit.

Design/methodology/approach – The method used was in-depth interviews with teachers working at aSwedish police education unit.

Findings – Informal workplace learning was perceived by both teacher groups to be of great value forgaining knowledge about the local practice and for their professional development. Their learning emerged indiscussions, observations and practically oriented activities in their daily work. Four conclusions: firstly, theteachers’ informal workplace learning was socially and practice-oriented and learning emerged in acollaborative, reciprocal and active process. Secondly, the embodied nature of the learning is evident in theteachers’ joint activities in the teaching practice. Thirdly, it takes time and active involvement in the localpractice to become a professional teacher in this kind of education. Fourthly, an educational structure whereacademic knowledge and experience can be integrated with police knowledge and experience constitutes animportant basis for teachers’ professional development in police education and training.

Originality/value – The study’s focus on police education and the professional development of teachers inthis specific practice contributes to increased knowledge of the social, practice-oriented and embodied natureof informal workplace learning.

Previous research has shown that teachers' informal learning in social networks is of great importance for their professional development. Participation in social networks is often characterised by knowledge exchange between employees with the aim of dealing with work-related challenges or improving the work practice. In this study, attention was focused on teachers at a Swedish police education unit and their participation in work-related social networks. The findings were based on two data collections, logbooks of social networking interactions and follow-up interviews with 23 teachers. The purpose was to explore who they talked to, for what purpose and what means of communication they used, and the analysis included mapping of their interactions in social networks and a qualitative analysis of their narratives. Overall, the study shows that the teachers' participation in social networks was extensive and valuable for their professional development as teachers. Furthermore, the analysis shows that the teachers' interactions in social networks are usually intentional and based on knowledge needs related to pedagogical aspects of teaching, that the composition of course content and teaching teams can affect teachers' readiness to participate in several different networks and that the type of knowledge need affects which means of communication are used.

Enheten för polisutbildning vid Umeå universitet har under 2019 genomfört en studie i samband med vapenutbildning på grundnivå. Bakgrunden till denna studie var att vapenlärarna vid enheten uppmärksammade att många studenter hade problem med avfyrningstekniken. Problemet kan bero på att när avfyrningen med tjänstevapnet (kaliber 9 x 19 mm) sker kan både rekylen och ljudet upplevas som olustig. Detta kan leda till att skytten försöker kontrollera sin reaktion av ljudet från avfyrningsexplosionen genom att själv bestämma när avfyrningen ska ske, dvs rycker av skottet, och påverkar vapnets rörelse i samband med avfyrning. 

Resultatet blir att skytten inte uppnår önskade träffresultat även om förhållandena mellan korn-sikte-mål är idealiska ögonblicket innan avfyringen. En hypotes är att studenten/skytten kan koncentrera sig bättre på ett korrekt utförande i samband med avfyrning av vapnet om de börjar sin träning med en mindre kaliber (kaliber .22 LR), som ger mindre rekyl och ljud än det ordinarie tjänstevapnet. Fokus kan då i högre utsträckning läggas på avfyrningstekniken istället för att fånga upp rekylen och uthärda ljudet. 

Syftet med studien är att undersöka om träning med en mindre kaliber, och därmed hantering av startle reaction-reflexen, förbättrar resultatet på kompetensprovet samt att undersöka vilka andra bakomliggande faktorer som kan påverka skjutresultatet. Studien använder en kvasiexperimentell design som involverar två grupper polisstudenter: 28 i kontroll- och 27 i interventionsgruppen och undersöker faktorer som kan påverka skyttet. Interventionsgruppen fick en justerad version av Sig Sauer-pistolen som konverterats med en växelsats till att skjuta ammunition med kaliber .22 LR, medan kontroll-gruppen genomförde skjututbildningen utan justeringar i ammunition. 

Intervjuer genomfördes för att undersöka vilka tankar studenterna har kring kompetensprovet i relation till de kvantitativa faktorerna. I den totala gruppen (dvs alla deltagare i studien) var 86 % godkända i kompetensprovet vid första tillfället. Det bästa resultatet för skjutprovet under de senaste 15 terminerna. Resultaten av denna studie indikerar dock att kvinnliga studenter med hög kognitiv oro har lägre skyttepoäng än manliga studenter med mindre kognitiv oro. Denna pilotstudie är ett första steg att undersöka området och kommer att ligga till grund för ytterligare studier i området.

Live simulations in which students perform the roles of future professionals or act as confederates (i.e. student actors) are important training activities in different types of vocational education. While previous research has focused on the learning of students who enact a professional, secondary roles in scenario training, such as student observers and confederates, have received inadequate attention. The present study focuses on student observers and confederates in order to examine how these roles can support the learning of other participants in live simulations and to determine how the experience of performing these roles can become a learning experience for the performers. A total of 15 individual interviews and 1 group interview of students attending Swedish police training were conducted. The study findings indicated that the observer role is characterised by distance and detachment, and the confederate role by directness and sensory involvement. Both roles can support as well as inhibit intentional learning for primary participants and offer learning experiences for those playing the roles. The study theorises these roles and lists practical implications for planning live simulations in vocational education and training.

Objective: Despite participating in scenario training, many medical first responders (MFRs) perceive themselves as inadequately prepared to respond to mass casualty incidents (MCIs). The objective of this study was to conduct a comprehensive examination of traditional MCI scenario training methods, focusing on their inherent strengths and limitations. An investigation into the perceptions of MFRs who had participated in MCI scenario training was carried out to identify potential areas for improvement and provide recommendations for refining MCI training protocols.

Design: Qualitative inductive approach using semistructured interviews that took place between October 2021 and February 2022. Data were analysed with qualitative content analysis.

Setting: MCI scenario training involving four organisations (three emergency medical services and one search-and-rescue organisation) tasked with responding to MCIs, collectively representing four European Union countries.

Participants: 27 MFRs (17 emergency medical services personnel and 10 search-and-rescue volunteers) were recruited to participate in the study.

Results: Two categories and seven associated subcategories (shown in parentheses) were identified as influencing the learning outcomes for MFRs: Training in a context mirroring real-world incidents (conducting incident scene risk assessment, realistic representation in casualties, incorporating scenario variety into the curriculum, interagency collaboration, role alignment when training incident site management) and use of a pedagogical framework (allowing for mistakes, the importance of post-training evaluation).

Conclusions: This study reaffirms the value of traditional MCI scenario training and identifies areas for enhancement, advocating for realistic scenarios, interagency collaboration, improved incident site management skills and thorough post-training evaluation. It suggests a shift in MCI training conceptualisation and delivery. The potential of virtual reality technologies as a valuable addition to training methods is explored, with a note on the need for further research to ascertain the long-term effectiveness of these technologies. However, the selection of a training method should consider programme goals, target population and resources.

Context: This study is about the teaching method of simulation exercises and is set in a police education context. Simulation exercises are a central part of Swedish police education, and therefore it is of interest to explore how they are used, and for what purpose, by investigating police teachers' perceptions of this teaching and learning method. Police teachers are police officers who work as teachers at a police education unit on contracts lasting a few years, but which can be extended, and they usually lack any formal pedagogical training. 

Approach: In this study, the exploration of the use of simulation exercises was conducted through an inductive approach which included semi-structured interviews with 12 police teachers. The analysis was carried out in several steps. To promote impartiality in the initial data analysis the researcher first stayed close to the data and connection with the findings of previous studies was only considered in the latter stages of this analytic process. 

Findings: The findings show that the police teachers perceive that the overall purpose of simulation exercises is for students to apply specific content taught in courses, both physical techniques and methods, and more theoretical knowledge, in the fluid context of scenarios relevant to police work. The results also show that the teachers are aware that the purpose of the exercises is stated in the planning documents, but because they inherit the designs from previous teachers, they may not be aware of the underlying details of it or what is to be achieved in the scenario. The findings also demonstrate that the teachers learn the craft of designing and performing simulation exercises and develop their roles as teachers through an informal workplace learning process that involves tacit knowledge developed through working together, and by talking to and observing each other. 

Conclusion: The paper contributes to the field of simulation exercises in vocational (higher) education in that the findings can provide educated arguments for the need for scholarly discussions on simulation exercises as a pedagogical tool that supports student learning, as well as arguments for why formal pedagogically-oriented continuing education on the design and implementation of simulation exercises where learning is in the foreground may be needed to support police teachers' professional development. 

This thesis is about simulations in professional education and what they mean for developing professional knowing. When educating new police officers, using simulations is an integral part of the educational program. A starting point for the studies in this thesis was that not only the scenario but also the preparation and the debriefing, i.e. the situated activities, must be included. Another starting point was that activities and the individuals cannot be studied separately; both have to be included in the analyses. Two simulations, which were part of the Swedish police education program were studied. The approach was explorative and the methods used to collect data were observations, video-observations, interviews and surveys. The unit of analysis focused how students acted in and how they made sense of the simulation activities. The analytical process was influenced by a sociocultural and dialogical framework, in which learning is seen as a social activity. The thesis showed that using simulation in professional education is a complex endeavor in which the social aspects of simulating have to be acknowledged. The analyses showed that the situated activities of the simulation have to be linked to each other in way that enables the participants to; first, produce a situation with authenticity and second, to use previous experiences and coordinate them with new ones from the simulation in order to create good conditions for learning. This means acknowledging that the stance of a simulation needs to be longer than just the actual simulation. How they are embedded in the education program and how gaps in students knowing are to be bridged after the simulation, need to be considered. The main implication of the results is that the use of simulations in professional education require a specific simulation pedagogy. Some foundations of this are outlined and include; the fact that a simulated situation is a hybrid and never a mirror of a professional situation and also includes creating simulation competence among both teachers and students. This includes learning the “gaming rules” of simulating such as how to act in different roles, how to produce authenticity, what is to be included and what is to be ignored in order to make the scenario work. Simulation pedagogy also has to acknowledge that focus needs to be on how to support the participants’ learning and not assume that there is a direct connection between participation and learning. If all of these issues are considered in the design, the potential of simulations for developing professional knowing can be utilized. To conclude, this thesis shows that in the detailed study of scenarios, preparation and follow-up are important and draw attention to aspects that are central for understanding the conditions for learning in simulations. 

Vocational education should prepare students for the professional demands of the work. In police education, one way to accomplish this is to simulate specific situations so that students may develop professional knowledge. This article aims to increase the understanding of how simulations support learning of knowledge and skills by investigating how participants make sense of the critical incident they are involved in. To accomplish this, in this study, we have focused on the actions and utterances of the participants. We also used video analysis to analyse the actions of a student police patrol in a simulated critical incident. The participants’ passive actions did not fully mimic a critical incident suggesting that they defined the situation as a passive educational situation. The results demonstrated that simulation-based exercises’ possibilities for supporting vocational learning depend on such factors as authenticity, role-playing and ‘simulation competency’.

In the literature, informal learning is considered to be of great importance to employees' development of workplace learning. The aim of this study, which involves respondents from a Swedish police education unit, was to contribute knowledge about Swedish police education teachers' informal learning as regards conditions for learning, learning activities and learning experiences resulting from their engagement in these activities. The results of the study are based on daily digital logbook notes made by 25 police and university teachers during one month and subsequent interviews with these teachers. The main conclusions can be summarised as follows: 1) The culture, structure and materials of the workplace are important parts of teachers' conditions for informal learning. 2) The teachers' informal learning activities are characterised by intentional learning, where supporting interactions with colleagues in their own teams and other, more knowledgeable, colleagues are highly valued. Furthermore, the most common triggers for teachers' informal learning are issues relating to pedagogy and digital technology, and face-to-face contacts with colleagues are preferred. 3) The police teachers describe their learning experiences made in the course of informal learning activities as a transition from an instructor-based to a teaching-oriented approach, while the learning of the university teachers is focused on contextualisation of their teaching by integrating academic knowledge into the police practice. The article concludes with a brief discussion about the possibilities and limitations of informal learning.

Collaboration is essential for successful emergency event management. Live exercises are one method to prepare for such emergencies. In this paper, we present and evaluate an exercise model for multi-agency collaboration between first responders that focuses on learning collaboration. The model design emphasises preparation, the learning climate, scenarios that support learning, and reflection. The model is underpinned by a practice perspective on learning and structured reflection. Data were collected from three collaboration exercises using questionnaires in conjunction with the exercise and interviews at a later time after the exercise. The analysis showed that the participants developed a knowledge of collaboration and improved their ability to collaborate in real emergency events. The main contribution of the paper is the validation of a small-scale exercise model that places learning of the subject matter in the foreground, which is shown to be a successful method for developing relevant knowledge. It is concluded that this live exercise model both complements the more commonly used large-scale collaboration exercise model and strengthens emergency preparedness.

The purpose of the study is to explore the relationship between video-supported debriefing and student police officers’ performance in realistic scenario training? Two groups conducted two weapon-scenario sessions. One group used video-based debriefing in addition to the regular debriefing and one did not. The result showed that the students that used video increased their reflection regarding possible solutions to the scenario. The video group also increased their motivation to train the skills involved in the scenario. The expert assessment made by the weapon instructor showed that the video group improved their performance in the second scenario session, which was not the case for the traditionally debriefed group.

Scenario training is a common and integral part of police education, where students act as police officers in a variety of situations.  When conducting scenario training and in the research on learning via scenario training, a predominant focus has been on the students acting as police officers. However, students may also partake as actors with more periphery tasks as for instance crowd following a scene, but they can also take direct action towards the police for instance as rioters or as perpetrators of violence.  In the research literature, the learning potential of these secondary roles of students in scenario training has been largely overlooked. In this paper we report on a study of police students experiences of acting in scenario training in other roles than as police officers. The approach of the study was explorative using observations of scenario training, a questionnaire and semi structured interviews with police students at Umeå University. Overall the results show that the students value acting in scenarios in other roles than as police officers as an important tool for developing professional knowing. Hence the results have implications both for educational practitioners and for further research on learning in scenario training.

Context: Learning through scenario training and live simulation in vocational education is generally regarded as an effective tool for developing professional knowledge. However, previous research has largely overlooked the learning of students in secondary roles in scenario training. The objective of this study is to explore learning for students who act in secondary roles during scenario training in vocational educational settings. 

Method: The studied case entails scenario training for police students in a Swedish police education programme. A case study design, which included both participant observation and a questionnaire, was used. The analytic lens applied was inspired by practice theory and focused on how structural and situational arrangements of the training activity affect learning. 

Results: Our findings show that students who act in secondary roles learn from their scenario training experiences, but this learning often is overlooked in the design of training activities. Due to the structural arrangements of training activities, learning emerged as students in secondary roles were tasked to support the primary participants in relation to their learning objectives. In addition, it emerged in how students in secondary roles used previous scenario training experiences in relation to the current scenario and its learning objectives. Examples of learning from situational arrangements emerged as students in secondary roles formulated and provided feedback to primary participants and through informal discussions and reflection processes. Learning also emerged as students in secondary roles embodied the “other” during scenario training, something that provided the students with new perspectives on police encounters. 

Conclusions: We theorize and extract three dimensions for how learning emerges in this case for secondary participants. It emerges through embodying the “other”, in students’ sensory experiences, and through reconstruction of knowledge through repetition. However, our findings also show that learning for students in secondary roles can be improved through mindful set-up and design. Based on the findings, our article provides a discussion and suggestions on how scenario training can be planned and set-up to develop professional knowledge for students in secondary roles.

This article examines simulations of critical incidents in police education by investigating how activities in the preparation phase influence participants’ actions and thus the conditions for learning professional knowledge. The study is based on interviews in two stages (traditional and stimulated recall interviews) with six selected students and video analysis of one student police patrol’s short-term preparation. The results showed that simulation and associated activities informed the students of their responsibilities and pre-determined tasks without effectively helping them to cope with the situation. The analysis suggests that an understanding of the social and interactional requirements for producing the kind of situation that the students were to be trained for and learn from were not mediated. Thus our conclusion is that good conditions for learning in and through simulations require a simulation competence among the participants and that it is a responsibility of the instructors to consider how this competence is to be developed.

Att öva för att lära sig att hantera polisiära situationer utgör ett viktigt inslag i polisstudenters utbildning. Lärandet sker genom praktiska övningar t.ex. drillövningar och övningar av specifika momentmen även via simuleringar där studenter agerar som polis imera komplexa situationer. Simuleringar ärinte unika för polisutbildningutan utgör ett vanligt inslag i professionsutbildninggenom sin koppling till ”verkliga” situationer (Peters & Vissers, 2004; Lederman, 1984). Under de senaste årtiondena har simuleringar använts för utbildning inom så skilda professionsfält som medicin och hälsovård, flyg och blåljusverksamhet. Simuleringar kan vara av skiftande karaktär t.ex. fysiska i form av rollspel men även datorbaserade. Simuleringar kan syfta till att utveckla en specifik färdighet (se t.ex. Windsor, 2009; Stefanidis, Acker, & Heniford, 2008; Wallin, Meurling, Hedman, Hedengård, & Felländer-Tsai,2007),som t ex att lära sig hur man avläser röntgenbilder (se t.ex. Söderström, Häll, Nilsson, & Ahlqvist2012) eller till att lära hur man ska agera i komplexa situationer (Andersson, Carlström, & Berlin, 2013; Bauman, Gohm & Bonner,2011), t.ex. vid svåra olyckshändelser med många personer inblandade (se t.ex. McConnell & Drennan, 2006). Simuleringar av komplexa situationer med många inblandade brukar benämnas som fullskaliga(se t.ex. Andersson, Carlström, & Berlin, 2013). Simuleringar antas träna och utveckla professionell kunskap genom att förbereda studenter på att hantera komplexa och ibland farliga situationer som de kan komma att ställas inför i enkommande yrkespraktik. Användningen av simuleringar i utbildningarbygger således på ett antagande om överföring av erfarenheter och kunskaper från ett sammanhang till ett annat(se t.ex. Söderström, Åström, Anderson & Bowles, 2014). I denhär artikeln utgår vi från simulering som en utbildningsresurs där deltagarna interagerar med varandra och miljön (situationen) på ett målorienterat sätt i syfte att lära sig polisära kunskaper

En vanlig undervisningsmetod för att underlätta för polisstudenter att omsätta teoretiska kunskaper i praktisk handling är simuleringar. Genom att delta i ett scenario som efterliknar möjliga händelser i en kommande yrkespraktik eller aspekter av den förväntas studenten utveckla professionell kunskap. I tidigare forskning har man uppmärksammat att inte bara vad som sker i simuleringen har betydelse för vad studenten lär sig utan också vad som görs i efterbearbetningen. I den här artikeln fokuseras tre fullskaliga simuleringar där polisstudenter agerar som första patrull på vid tre olycksplatser. Studiens övergripande syfte är att förstå om och på vilket sätt avslutningssamtalet i en simuleringsbaserad övning i polisutbildning fungerar som ett redskap för lärande av professionella kunskaper hos de deltagande polisstudenterna. Studien baseras på djupintervjuer med sex studenter samt enkäter till de 50 polisstudenter som deltog i simuleringen. Vid intervjuerna har videoupptagningar av hur studenterna faktiskt agerade använts för att stimulera tankar kring vad som skedde i scenariot och för video-baserad debriefing. Resultaten visar att studenterna fick förståelse för andra deltagande myndigheters uppgifter men att för de sex studenter som var första patrull på plats bidrog det avslutningssamtal som samtliga studenter deltog i inte i tillräcklig utsträckning till att utveckla professionell kunskap kring hur de ska lösa sina arbetsuppgifter i situationen. Enligt studenterna var avslutningssamtalet allt för allmängiltigt och oprecist för att bidra till deras lärande. Däremot visade det sig att den video-baserade debriefingen fungerade som ett redskap för att identifiera och överbrygga luckor hos studenterna och utgjorde på detta sätt ett stöd för att mer precist och meningsfullt efterbearbeta simuleringen. En slutsats som dras är att videoupptagningar kan öka möjligheten till en djupare efterbearbetning och att utformning av efterbearbetning av simuleringar därför är viktigt att beakta om målet är att utveckla professionell kunskap.

The main principle in International and Swedish crisis management is collaboration between emergency services (police, fire brigade and ambulance service). Collaboration is a complex concept and a number of studies show that many practical problems during crisis management can be attributed to problems related to how the collaboration is organized and implemented. One way to train how critical events should be handled is through live simulation exercises. The authors have developed a validated live simulation model to improve collaboration between emergency services. The live simulation model is developed within the framework of the project Safety and Security Test Arena in Sweden. The model focusses on learning for the participants and is based on theories on learning, previous research on collaboration and live simulation together with professional experience from conducting live simulation. The model includes preparation, acting in scenarios and structured reflection seminars. In this paper, the preparation phase is in focus. A digital preparation material has been developed to support learning before and during the live simulation. The preparation aims to develop knowledge about equipment, tasks and needs of the other services as well as knowledge on functional collaboration. The preparation also aims to create a good learning climate and better conditions for learning from participating in the scenarios of the live simulation. The digital material is an interactive material, which includes instructional films from each emergency services, structured reflective questions, short lectures from researchers on collaboration and live simulation knowledge. The digital preparation material has been tested, evaluated and further developed in two collaboration live simulations. After each live simulation focus group interviews were conducted with both participants and instructors. The result showed a need to increase the interactive elements of the digital preparation material in order to stimulate active discussion and reflection, which are central theoretical bases for the model.

When educating new police officers, using scenario training is an integral part of the educational program including a variety of practical exercises where students´ should act as police officers. The aim of this paper is to provide a holistic analysis of empirical data on preparation, implementation and debriefing of a critical incident in the Swedish police education program and conditions provided for developing professional knowing through scenario training. The approach was explorative and the methods used to collect data were observations, video-observations, interviews and surveys. The unit of analysis focused how students acted in and how they made sense of the activities. The analyses were influenced by a sociocultural and dialogical framework, in which learning is seen as a social activity. The results showed that using scenario training in professional education is a complex endeavor in which the social aspects of simulating have to be acknowledged. The analyses showed that the situated activities i.e. preparation, implementation and debriefing have to be linked to each other in way that enables the participants to; first, produce a situation with authenticity and second, to use previous experiences and coordinate them with new ones from the training in order to create good conditions for learning. With the support of and communication with others can students through scenario training, borrow, reshape and gradually develop professional knowing. It is about applying predetermined knowledge and skills but also about "... learning to perform and cope when encountering something for which one does not feel fully prepared" (Hopwood et al., 2014, p. 9). One conclusion is that students need to be challenged, but also get support for coordinating experiences from the situated activities with previous experiences to develop professional knowing. This means acknowledging that the stance of scenario training needs to be longer than just the actual scenario. How situated activities are embedded in the education program and how gaps in students knowing are to be bridged after the scenario training, need to be considered. The main implication of the results is that the use of scenario training in professional education require a specific pedagogy. Aspects that need to be taken into consideration is for example the fact that a simulated situation as scenario training is a hybrid and never a mirror of a professional situation and that creating simulation competence among both teachers and students is important in order to make the scenario work (i.e. how to act in different roles, how to produce authenticity, what is to be included and what is to be ignored). The pedagogy also has to acknowledge that focus needs to be on how to support the participants’ learning and not assume that there is a direct connection between participation and learning. To conclude, the detailed study of scenarios, preparation and debriefing draw attention to how they are linked together and build on each other which is central for understanding the conditions for learning through scenario training in police education.

This article examines how a virtual case that prepares students for practical scenario training affects police students' performance in a practical scenario training. This study included 69 Swedish police students at the Basic Training Programme for Police Officers – 35 assigned to a virtual police case (VCASE) and 34 assigned to a conventional teacher-led (CON) lesson. A questionnaire captured how students experience training conditions and a blind assessment by police officers evaluated the students' performance in the practical scenario training. The results show that both the VCASE and CON participants thought that the training they received before the practical training was meaningful and motivating. However, to a significantly higher degree than the CON students, the VCASE students thought that their preparation helped them during the practical training. The expert assessment of one practical scenario (stopping a suspected stolen car) showed that the VCASE participants performed better than the CON participants in three out of five criteria. In conclusion, the VCASE and the CON training had different effects on the students' performance in the practical scenario: compared to the CON training, the VCASE training seemed to more effectively help the police students solve the situations presented in the practical scenario training.

Police students must learn skills to manage different complex situations. Students must master both specific practical techniques and the thinking and decision-making required to use these techniques effectively. This is normally learned through a variety of practical exercises such as drill exercises and practical scenario training where students´ should act as police officers (Söderström, et al, 2014). Practical scenario training, which is in focus in this article, is usually arranged in such a way that students are prepared for the training through a teacher-led lesson before the actual scenario training. However, since practical training generally requires large investments, limiting opportunities for sufficient training, there is a need to raise the students' level of knowing for increasing possibilities to learn through scenario training. Therefore a virtual case was developed that allow students to practice tactical skills, decision making and receive feedback on their actions based on the national basic police tactics manual (Polishögskolan, 2005). This study compares the influence of two learning conditions – a virtual police case and conventional teacher led lesson – that prepare police students for the upcoming practical scenario training. The study focused on a) how the students´ experienced the different learning conditions and how it prepared them for the scenario training and b) how the different learning conditions influenced their task completion in the practical scenarios. The sample consisted of 66 participants and used a comparative group design with 35 participants assigned to a virtual case training group (VCASE) or conventional-training group (CON) with 5-6 students in each group. The VCASE group worked 1.5 hour with a virtual police case to perform two exercises (a stolen car incident and observation of a house with suspects). The CON group had a teacher led lesson with the same content. This was followed by practical scenario training. The objectives with the practical scenario training was that the students should learn to perform various police tasks and acquire an understanding of these tasks based on the national basic police tactics manual (Polishögskolan, 2005). A questionnaire was used to collect the students´ experiences of the both the preparation and practical scenario training. A blind expert assessment, by police officers, was used to collect students´ performance in the practical scenario training. The results showed that a majority of the students in both groups believed that the task they did before the practical training was meaningful and motivating. However, the results showed (independent t-test) that the VCASE group in significantly higher extent thought that the preparation helped them when they conducted the practical training (e.g. confident how to act, sufficient knowledge to solve the situation, a feeling of being sufficiently prepared). The expert assessment of a stolen car incident during practical training showed (independent t-test) that the VCASE group performed better according to three out of five base tactics measurements (stop the car and approach the suspects, reporting and treatment of the arrested). To conclude, the different learning conditions produced different results with respect to how they prepared for practical scenario training.

This study compares the influence of two learning conditions - a virtual police case and conventional teacher led lesson - that prepare police students for a practical scenario training. The study focused on how the students' experience the different learning conditions and a) how they prepare them for the scenario training and b) how they influence their task completion in the practical scenarios. The sample consisted of 66 participants and used a comparative group design with 35 participants assigned to a virtual case training group (VCASE) and 31 participants to a conventional-training group (CON) with 5-6 students in each group. The VCASE group worked two hours with a virtual police case to perform two exercises. The CON group had a two hour teacher led lesson with the same content. This was followed by practical scenario training. A questionnaire was used to collect the students' experiences of both the preparation and practical scenario training. A blind expert assessment, carried out by police officers, was used to collect the students' performance in the practical scenario training. The results showed that a majority of the students in both groups believed that the task they did before the practical training was meaningful and motivating. However, the results showed (independent t-test) that the VCASE group in significantly higher extent thought that the preparation helped them when they conducted the practical training (e.g. confident how to act, sufficient knowledge to solve the situation and a feeling of being sufficiently prepared). The expert assessment of a stolen car incident during practical training showed (independent t-test) that the VCASE group performed better according to three out of five base tactics measurements. To conclude, the different learning conditions produced different results with respect to how they prepared for practical scenario training.

Mixed reality (MR) technology has the potential to enhance the disaster preparedness of medical first responders in mass-casualty incidents through new training methods. In this manuscript, we present an MR training solution based on requirements collected from experienced medical first responders and technical experts, regular end-user feedback received through the iterative design process used to develop a prototype and feedback from two initial field trials. We discuss key features essential for an effective MR training system, including flexible scenario design, added realism through patient simulator manikins and objective performance assessment. Current technological challenges such as the responsiveness of avatars and the complexity of smart scenario control are also addressed, along with the future potential for integrating artificial intelligence. Furthermore, an advanced analytics and statistics tool that incorporates complex data integration, machine learning for data analysis and visualization techniques for performance evaluation is presented.