Canadian Border Crossing Simulation
From Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education
This session describes the use of Second Life for Border Crossing Agents. The following is background information.
The Second Life application at Loyalist College is a realistic and unscripted scenario based teaching tool that draws upon its attractiveness to students to promote learning. Its features are such that it allows the facilitator to react to prevailing circumstances within the scenario so that learners are presented with workplace situations that are virtually real. In the case of this application, Second Life is used in relation to Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) duties. Learners are presented with situations and dilemmas that a CBSA officer might reasonably expect at a Port of Entry. The use of Second Life allows the learner to deal with these situations in a ‘real-to-life’ environment.
Paper Main Section 1.1. Background Prior to 9-11, Canada Border Services Agency (then Canada Customs) participated in a program whereby students involved in Customs related studies at Loyalist College experienced field placement opportunities at frontier customs ports. This arrangement allowed learners to gain first hand knowledge on the customs function and operations at points of entry into Canada. Following 9-11, the need to revisit security related matters at our points of entry resulted in the termination of placement programs. This being the case, learners within the Customs Program at Loyalist lost the opportunity to experience the operations at ports of entry.
In order to address these circumstances and to ensure a continuance of this value added experience, Loyalist College undertook to explore other available options and teaching strategies that would provide the same benefits to the learner. Among these were strategies where the learner was provided with written scenarios that required them to address customs related issues and take action to address these matters. Other strategies included role plays where learners actually acted out scenarios and thereby developed competency in handling matters that could potentially arise at a port of entry. Although these strategies were useful in some ways, it was apparent that they were somewhat deficient largely because they lacked the element of realism. In short, learning through ‘scripted strategies’ failed to meet the goal of providing the learner with the advantages of the pre 9-11 model.
In February 2008, as a result of the continuing effort to reinstate the ‘realism’ component into customs studies, a plan to incorporate Second Life into the curriculum emerged. As this plan developed, an entire Second Life Customs Port took shape. The resultant product was a real to life port that would allow the student user group not only to observe (as was the case pre 9-11) but to actually become involved in every aspect of travel processing. With Second Life, learners were no longer just observers. Rather, they were virtual border service officers who were expected to handle all of the duties of both primary and secondary officers and to deal with emergent issues that could reasonably be expected at a port of entry. In effect, the discovery of the Second Life customs application took student learning beyond what it had been before 9-11.
1.2. Instructional Design Three key groups were identified to participate in border simulation Active Student Learners – This group includes Border Service Officers (BSO) who work in the primary inspection lane as well as those working on secondary/search duties. Among the significant Second Life benefits is one that is provided to individuals on secondary/search duties in these scenarios. In these cases, the learner encounters situations where contraband is concealed in vehicles arriving at the port for admission into Canada. This requires that, the learner must recognize the situation and interpret the circumstances. Following these steps, the learner must develop, implement and assess the effectiveness of an appropriate strategy and make adjustments to that strategy when circumstances so dictate. What adds to the process and what reinstates the element of realism is that the event and all of its related circumstances occur in real time. Passive Student Learners – This group includes those in an observation role for a particular scenario. For this group, the Second Life application reinstates the benefits of the pre 9-11 model where observation was the primary function of the placement student. Perhaps more importantly however is the fact that Second Life allows these learners the opportunity to discuss decisions made by the active learner and to do so in a ‘safe environment’. In this environment, their comments can be freely offered and often spark discussion among other learners. Invariably, these discussions lead to further and deeper learning. As a final note on this topic, it is important to point out that these discussions often lead to matters not necessarily on the agenda for a particular session. This emergent curriculum that often spawns from Second Life is seen as a value added learning experience that would otherwise be lost. Volunteer Traveler Participants – Those who play the traveler roles. It is important to point out that these individuals are completely unaware of the questions they will be asked by the active participants. It is this circumstance that once again adds realism to the learning experience because the possibility of scenario-scripting is totally eliminated. What results is a more realistic encounter that provides both active and passive learners with learning opportunities that are sound and that promote retention of information.
It is important to point out that the reported statistics are based on the two most current years. Certainly, the significance of the reported statistics would be greater if in fact it also included data for years less current. This being the case, the following can be said in relation to the data reported: In any given semester, learners participate in courses where Second Life is not a factor as well as the course where it is. In those where Second Life is not used, grades showed very little difference from one year to another. In the course where Second Life is used, grades improved by 28%. For the years reported in the statistics, there was no apparent difference detected in learner intelligence or academic intellect. From this, one might reasonably conclude that the learner population in 2007 compared equally with that of 2008. The Border Services Program application of Second Life at Loyalist has evolved to a point that it is now beyond the classroom. Currently, CBSA and Loyalist College are in the process of developing an agreement whereby CBSA will use the Second Life expertise at Loyalist College in the training of new Border Services Officers at the CBSA College in Rigaud, Quebec.
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