Crisis Simulation for Teaching Next Generation of Leaders

Barrie & Worthington
in ACSS Control Room, CC-BY 29/8/2023

Greetings from the Control Room of the Australian Crisis Simulation Summit at the Australian National University in Canberra. There is a team of ten students sitting at computers, in a horseshoe shaped room running through the scenarios. Next week, 100 students in teams around Australia and the USA will respond to these in real time. It is not quite as high-tech as the control room in the Hunger Games, but works much the same way. 

The game-masters are using Conducttr crisis simulation software, coordinating the release of made up news reports, and social media posts about a fictional future crisis. While all the teams participating share the same simulated world view, they have different scenarios to respond to. These involve cyber and kinetic (stuff blowing up) attacks, and the participants need to work out what to do. There are then scripted events to keep the participants busy.

I have the role of a mentor, pro diving advice to the game-masters and participants. This is a new experience. I have participated in a paper based version of a simulation at what is now Australian War College (AWC), but on a much smaller scale. Next to me providing advice is the patron for the ACSS, Professor Admiral Chris Barrie.

The scenarios the students have prepared are set about a decade in the future. Even so they reflect current events, to the extent when someone mentioned a Chinese submarine may be missing, I had to ask "Is this real world or exercise?". 

I am mentoring, for ACSS, using my experience from working at DoD. But also I would like to see how such exercises can be incorporated as part of student's formal learning and assessment. I talked about  "Projects & internships for student employability" at EduTECH, Australia last week. Simulations can provide a form of quicker, work relevant learning.