Interdisciplinary Distance Learning Workshop for IT Students
Authors: Malyj I. A. , Bulgakov V. V. , Sharabanova I. Yu. , Orlov O. I. 
Published: May 2021

The purpose of the study. The purpose of research is to substantiate and develop a multifunctional training complex for preparing cadets to conduct emergency rescue operations and fire-fighting by the usage of virtual reality technology. The relevance and necessity of developing a training complex are due to the professional activities of fire-fighters, related to the protection and rescue of citizens and the state from fires and the peculiarities of the educational process being implemented. The problem of effective formation of professional competencies in the field of fire-fighting is caused by the limited training ground base of universities, which does not allow training at various residential, social, industrial, transport and other functional facilities, that requires their replacement with virtual analogues. In addition, the limited budget of training time and a large number of cadets studying at the university, who must have the skills and abilities to manage fire and rescue units, organize fire extinguishing and interact with other emergency services, require the introduction of digital technologies to increase the intensification of the educational process and expand its capabilities.

Materials and methods. To perform research tasks, methods of scientific and pedagogical study were used, which included the analysis and synthesis of information in the field of creating and applying digital virtual reality for educational purposes, the activities of fire and rescue units during fire-fighting and the requirements of regulatory legal acts for the performance of their professional tasks. Methods of modeling, contextual, game and reflexive training were used to form methods of preparing fire-fighters in virtual reality, recreating the professional environment.

Results. The research of the activities of professional fire-fighters, the peculiarities of the educational process implemented at the universities of EMERCOM of Russia has revealed deficiencies in the training of cadets for activities in the field of organizing and conducting rescue operations and fire-fighting. According to the investigation of the adaptation and usage of digital learning technologies to improve the professional competencies of graduates in the field of fire-fighting, the application of virtual reality technology was proposed that allows to simulate a professional environment and to organize it in both individual and group practical preparation of cadets to professional tasks on a variety of residential, social, industrial, transport and other functionalities in conditions of simulating various scenarios of the occurrence and development of fires. To organize the training of cadets, the requirements for the specification and technical characteristics of the equipment, the project of the training ground for the organization of virtual learning (which was physically implemented at the Ivanovo Fire and Rescue Academy of State Fire-Fighting Service of EMERCOM of Russia), system and applied software, basic objects, models and scenarios of fire spreading on them, a system for evaluating the tasks performed by the trainees were developed in common with closed joint-stock company “Institute of Telecommunications” (St. Petersburg, Russia).

 Conclusion. The result of the research is the first physical prototype of a multifunctional training complex to prepare cadets for emergency rescue operations and fire-fighting, where it is planned to conduct a pilot operation stage during 2021, expand the list of objects and scenarios for the development of fires and subsequently introduce it into the educational process. The technological and methodological experience gained in the process of designing, implementing and operating a multifunctional training complex is planned to be extended by scaling it to other universities of the EMERCOM of Russia, which will create and unify a single system of practical training of cadets in the field of fire-fighting, using virtual reality technology.