Simulations and homeland security training

A recent article in BusinessWeek talks about simulation software and its use in homeland security training. The article notes that in the past, drama students have been used in counterterrorism exercises but that the costs were prohibitive and the exercises took a lot of time.

But new simulation and modeling software will help in homeland security training without the huge investments of time and money. This is what I was talking about in my April 30th blog entry on augmented reality. Although the BusinessWeek article talks mainly about simulations in which the person must be in front of a computer, I predict the next wave will be augmented reality-type simulations, which will expand the benefits of simulations even further.

The article does touch on some virtual reality uses. VR and augmented reality will really make simulations take off, I think. When people aren't tied down to a computer to access a simulation, simulations will have their day in the sun. Maybe homeland security training will provide the push for development of some really cool solutions.

In the meantime, if I were an e-learning supplier, I'd jump on this simulations and homeland security thing. This is going to be big.