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The purpose of this paper is to study how learning within the fire and rescue services may be conceptualized, with special attention paid to tunnel fire safety. Previous studies have developed a model to understand learning in emergency response work. The concept of learning is extended from observed changes in relevant settings to also encompass confirmation of existing knowledge and comprehension of existing practices. We are interested in investigating the properties of the learning model and identifying the mechanisms that influence fire and rescue personnel’s experiences of change, confirmation and/or comprehension.

This study relies on quantitative data obtained from a questionnaire answered by 939 Norwegian fire and rescue personnel. Multivariate methods have been used to identify the measurement model and the structural relations of the factors.

The results confirm the theoretical model and indicate that the outcome of learning is influenced by elements of content, context, commitment, decision-making and response and reflection, and that the influence of content and commitment on the outcome of learning is partially indirect and mediated through reflection.

To date, no systematic analysis has been conducted to investigate the factorial structure, as well as the interactions and relationship between the model’s components. This study makes an important contribution to a detailed understanding of learning within the fire and rescue services.

The purpose of this research is to explore the interaction between organizational policies and daily work practices of paramedics and firefighters within two emergency response organizations.

Data were collected in a case study consisting of interviews, focus groups, and observations. The theoretical grounding for this research is framed by learning in practice through legitimate peripheral participation.

Analysis of the data found that paramedics and firefighters value learning in their daily work above initial qualification training. They learn in practice through increasing collaboration with others, and in the broader context of legitimate peripheral participation. Organizational policies can help in guiding their decision making processes, but learning in practice and relying on experience is most helpful in their daily work.

The notion of situated learning is insufficient to explain the dramatic performance of emergent, creative, and autonomous actions often required of individual emergency personnel in crisis situations.

This study adds to the current literature on communities of practice and legitimate peripheral participation. It applies learning theory to emergency response organizations to demonstrate the need to focus on practice and understandings in workplaces. The research also offers a greater understanding of the unique job of emergency response personnel who must often make instantaneous decisions in critical situations and must therefore understand their practice to ensure positive outcomes.

Multimedia, CD‐ROM, DVD, Internet, Web Sites and e‐mail are all part of a constantly changing, emerging array of the new information technologies which are being utilized in public education and are increasingly being applied to emergency planning and training activities to enhance emergency preparedness. Illustrations are presented which demonstrate the utility of multimedia, CD‐ROM, and Internet applications to this process. These technologies will be applied to demonstrate how emergency planners may more effectively accomplish their mission to educate the larger community on a variety of issues such as the need to adopt proposed mitigation strategies, to respond to disaster warnings and evacuation suggestions. These technologies will also be applied to demonstrate how response and recovery information can be readily disseminated to an impacted area. Applications will also be provided which demonstrate the utility of these technologies in enhancing training activities for emergency personnel as well as extending the opportunity for such training beyond the time and place of the original trainer.

This paper aims to examine the professional learning of rural police officers.

This qualitative case study involved interviews and focus groups with 34 police officers in Northern Scotland. The interviews and focus groups were transcribed and analysed, drawing on practice‐based and sociomaterial learning theories, by members of the research team.

The two key skills for effective rural policing were mobilising available human and material resources in the moment, and learning how to police and live in a rural community. The professional learning of rural police is spatial, emergent, embodied and deeply enmeshed in specificities, and is developed through interactions between human and non‐human actors.

This paper argues that, in order to understand professional learning, it is imperative to examine how work practices are fully entangled in social and material relations.

Applying sociomaterial approaches to issues of professional learning can illuminate previously obscured actors and gives a fuller picture of how professional practice is developed, sustained and modified. Learning is conceived as attuning to available knowledge resources and drawing on the knowledge strategies that are the most productive in the moment. The issues raised in this paper pertain to other professionals working in rural areas, and more generally to the theoretical framing of professional practice.

The purpose of this paper is to incorporate a model of prejudice reduction and cultural identity development theory to assess: the implementation of a diversity case study in a disaster management course; and the cultural competency understanding among the students.

A diversity case study was implemented in an undergraduate Disaster Response and Recovery course (Fall 2013 n=17; Spring 2014 n=21; Fall 2014 n=35). The discussion encouraged students to contemplate how their biases, preconceived notions, and stereotypes affect their future role in emergency management.

Results from Likert scale pre/post tests showed a marked increase in knowledge and a positive change in attitudes (p < 0.05). Open-responses denoted linkages to the prejudice reduction model and cultural identity development theory.

Bias can be attributed to the instructor and facilitator, and contextual limitations including a lack of: previous conversations and courses on diversity-related topics and participation motivation.

By developing cultural competency, managers initiate intergroup contact reducing negative perceptions and increasing empathy for those deemed different. Integrating cultural competency into emergency management academic programs allows students to identify how their biases, stereotypes, and preconceived notions affect their performance.

This study contributes to the literature by focussing on implementing a diversity case study to explore cultural competency, which is lacking in emergency management higher education. The diversity case study and instructional design could be adopted in disaster management courses.

This paper aims to explore the relationship between learning and the social networks employed within the context of emergency management. It hypothesises, using social network theory as a framework for analysis, that changes to interconnectedness between actors are implicated in the potential for those actors to learn and improvise in dynamically changing and emergent conditions.

To test the hypotheses, survey data were investigated which were collected as part of a research study with the support of the Australian Bushfire Co‐operative Research Centre (CRC). This survey was completed by experienced personnel reflecting on a number of indicators in an emergency event.

Results show that increases in actors’ involvement within the social emergency management network influences the ability of those actors to engage in learning‐related work activity. The paper infers that by developing learning related resources within the context of their social interactions these emergency personnel are better able to adapt and improvise in complex emergency events.

As an area of further research, it would be useful to apply the existing theoretical model to the context of another domain, preferably one that shares characteristics of uncertainty and unstable environments.

Most existing studies of learning theory in human networks have focused on learning in situations requiring stable working relationships with no environmental uncertainties. In this paper, it is argued that the designs of existing models are useful as a building block, yet flawed for application within the context of disaster management. By presenting a model of learning‐related work activity, as an ongoing aspect of network connectedness, personnel within emergency services organisations can strengthen their capacity to be flexible and adaptable.

This is a case study of a Canadian man with a learning disability who visited emergency departments more than 50 times in a 10‐year period, in times of stress. During these visits he gave false reports of his current symptoms and psychiatric history, sometimes gaining hospital admission. The case illustrates how such behaviour can develop over time, and how a general health services model (rather than a specialised learning disability service) can fail to meet the needs of independent clients with learning disabilities. It offers some suggestions for how better to meet the needs of such clients in the future.

This study aims to examine the use of data visualization as a tool to support practitioner-led organizational learning within the emergency services. The authors investigate how data visualization can support visual communication and the analysis of emergency response data to promote system improvement.

The authors investigate if communication data, presented as node-link diagrams, can be understood and evaluated by firefighters. Objective understanding of the communication network is measured quantitatively, while subject judgement of the emergency response system is measured qualitatively and compared to prior system evaluation outcomes. The authors compare different data visualization layouts and assess their value in supporting practitioner evaluation of emergency response systems.

The authors find that while firefighters are largely unfamiliar with their use, data visualizations function as a tool for visual communication and analysis. The authors identify the importance of visualization design and the difficulty in representing characteristics of a dynamic network within static diagrams. The authors also find some correlation between layout design and how respondents interpret visual data.

Results demonstrate the value of data visualization to support practitioner-led organizational learning and suggest future work to support the development of emergency response management.

Emergency remote teaching is not the same as a systematic, carefully thought out, and designed online learning system. Emergency remote teaching is best perceived as merely a first step towards migrating into a fully fledged, and carefully designed, virtual or online mode of study. Notwithstanding, this chapter provides a theoretical explanation that justifies the relevance and importance of emergency remote teaching in higher education practice, in light of the global COVID-19 pandemic and related discontinuities. It asserts that emergency related teaching is justified by the urgent need to maintain continuity of teaching and learning and to avoid knowledge and skills decay. A systematic approach to evaluate the effectiveness of emergency remote teaching involves measuring variables across four dimensions; that is, context, input, process, and outcomes. Weighting these dimensions is necessary to ensure that context, input, and process are prioritised above outcomes because the essence of the teaching model, when implemented, is to get it in place swiftly in order for teaching and learning to continue. The effectiveness of emergency remote teaching is best assessed on the basis of its speedy set-up and implementation to maintain continuity of teaching, not on student outcomes. The chapter investigated the approach that a sample of colleges and universities have followed to evaluate their model of emergency remote teaching and contrast it with theory. The approach found in practice was not aligned to best practice. Based on the evidence, the chapter proposes an evaluation framework that institutions can adopt specifically for evaluating emergency remote teaching practice.