Diaster 7:55 - Wahi created for the Florida Department of Education

Wahi Media recently completed a production for the Florida Department of Education regarding Incident Command Structure training. This was a really exciting project because it provided new challenges and a new approach in which we’d be using a wahi for scenario based training. Unlike most wahis which are typically designed as linear conversations with targeted branching, the ICS wahi would be used in collaboration with a live facilitator.

Our challenge at Wahi Media was to design an effective, engaging and even entertaining wahi that would not only supplement a live facilitator’s curriculum in a large group setting, but also remain just as effective and engaging to individual trainees accessing it over the web for years to come. So, it had to be both collaborative and stand-alone in design. Also, we had to design the conversation to be relevant to both higher education institutions and K-12.

The kicker was that we only had a couple of weeks to produce the conversation as the training was set and the dates were locked. So, we had a one day cram session with our clients to learn about ICS and develop the concept of the conversation. In that session we had the Chief of Police from Florida State University, the Director of School Safety of Leon County Schools, several officers from the Palm Beach County Schools Police Department, Homeland Security officials from the Florida Department of Education, plenty of coffee and lots of food. It was a party and I must say one of the most productive meetings I’ve had a pleasure of attending.

We discussed anything from the basics of ICS, to the steps each role (Incident Commander, PIO, Logistics, Operations) would be responsible for in an emergency. We discussed and fleshed out different disaster scenarios that a district or university may be faced with and decided how they would unfold in the training. Once that meeting was over and we had those ideas, it was our turn at Wahi Media to turn it into an interactive conversation. Time to build a wahi! A few weeks later (skipping the gory details of our mad rush through production) we had a new, informative and engaging wahi for ICS training up and running. The live trainings held in early June were a huge success. The DOE and regional leads in Leon and Palm Beach Counties received great feedback on the interactivity and usefullness of the wahi and the collaboration between the facilitaors and wahi worked very well. We were able to learn a great deal from this experience and are now planning to enhance this wahi based on feedback and responses to increase its effectiveness in both live and online training situations. Overall, it was a very exciting project and the wahi continues to show its versatility.