If you see a gunman on school grounds, your three best options for survival are to flee quickly, hide in a barricaded room or fight the assailant.

That’s the message from an educational video being shown at post-secondary institutions across Alberta.

Shooter on Campus: Know You Can Survive, which screened at SAIT Polytechnic in Calgary Monday, includes a dramatization of a gunman stalking a campus along with onscreen instructions on how students and faculty should respond in an “active shooter” situation.

“Even though these events are rare and the likelihood of ... you being involved in one is very, very slim, there are some keys to ensuring your safety,” said Lee Stanton, a sergeant with the Calgary Police Service.

The video was produced by volunteer group Campus Alberta Risk and Assurance Committee and filmed at the University of Alberta. It will be shown to students and staff at SAIT, the University of Alberta, Mount Royal University and the University of Lethbridge. The University of Calgary has not yet adopted the initiative.

Referencing the HUB Mall shooting at the U of A in 2012, Philip Stack, chair of the Campus Alberta Risk and Assurance Committee, said it’s important to be prepared for the worst-case scenario.

“The HUB mall certainly helped confirm the belief ... that gun violence is a real possibility and although the likelihood is low the consequences are extreme.”

The video was created in consultation with police and other security agencies across North America.

One of its key messages is to be proactive; it encourages those trapped in a room with a shooter to grab improvised weapons and go on the attack.

“Ultimately, doing nothing brings you into the likelihood of becoming a victim,” said Stanton. The video also clears up the misconception that it’s a good idea to pull the fire alarm in this type of scenario, he said.

“That draws people into access routes which the subject may be coming in through and presents more targets to that individual.”

Maureen MacDonald, a spokeswoman for SAIT, said the practical advice “replaces fear of the unknown with facts about what to do.”

But U of C student Mark Cooper, 25, who watched the video online, said it smacked of fear mongering.

“I think the key to those situations is keeping calm and rationally thinking of a way out,” said Cooper. “Instead of promoting that kind of thought process, the video suggested you should panic and run or panic and fight.”

Cooper said he’d rather see individual schools employ their own emergency plans, similar to fire drills, and go over them annually during student orientation.

It’s not clear why the U of C won’t be broadcasting the film. Students’ Union president Jarett Henry, 21, said showing it can’t hurt, but he’s not sure how much it would help either.

“The jury is still out on whether or not it would be effective for helping students prepare, but hopefully we’ll never know whether or not that’s true.”

Shooting drills are much more common in schools and public venues in the U.S. On Friday, a 22-year-old man shot and stabbed six University of California Santa Barbara students to death.