Decision-Making in Crisis Situations

3 Improving Crisis Exercises and Managers’ Skills through the Development of Scenario Design

In this chapter, we will discuss the ways of improving the scripting phase of an exercise conception in order to improve crisis management training and experiential learning.

Attention should be given to the elaboration of scenarios, which is based on the scenario’s central role in implementing, developing and even maintaining skills. More generally, it mainly contributes to the participants’ immersion and involvement in the proposed exercise.

Thus, the scenario is both the heart and the skeleton of the exercise. It is therefore necessary to devote research and analysis to the development of the scenario, making it possible to ensure a rigorous and effective construction (ADPSA 2016), in agreement with the learning expectations and objectives of the participants.

3.1. What is a pedagogical scenario for a crisis exercise?

A scenario is a sequence of events that meets the training objectives. It corresponds to the planned sequence of events of the exercise. Scriptwriting is the method of developing and organizing the stimuli that will compose the scenario.

The main purpose of an educational scenario is to develop the learners’ skills in an optimal way. Thus, a learning situation must be set up and structured so that scriptwriting becomes pedagogical (Villiot-Leclercq 2006).

Regardless of the field using the exercise simulation for training (digital, military, medical, etc.), four main ...