Games and Simulations

The last session I went to on Saturday was about running a simulation within a course management system. With the advent of Second Life, we tend to think of simulations as taking place in fancy 3-D environments or employing pre-programmed branching scenarios. Dorothy Fuller of Black Hills State University takes a different approach that mixes more traditional case-based learning with a course management system. I think it is a great idea.

For an online graduate class in education administration, the semester-long assignment was for groups of students to evaluate interactive whiteboard products and recommend one for purchase to the "superintendent." The client superintendent (played by a friend of Fuller's) was introduced via a video clip to the groups. Within the course management system, Fuller set up discussion rooms, e-mail, and a synchronous meeting area for the groups. Communication with the superintendent was handled via e-mail. A group writing tool, similar to Google Docs, was also used. A progress report was due at mid-term, with the final recommendation report due at the end of the semester. Fuller told us that at first students treated it like a class exercise, but by the end of the course were referring to the superindentent as if she were a real client.

A lot of planning goes into an exercise like this, but setting it up would be relatively simple and wouldn't require special programming.

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The last session I attended on Sunday, by Jeff Borden, was on "Serious Games for Education." This one is a bit hard to describe. Basically, what he does is create a mystery, with clues across various Internet sites. The only thing I had heard of similar prior to the session was the guerilla marketing mystery for the TV show Lost. He went so far as to set up real Facebook profiles for some of his characters. Clues are embedded in video interview of characters, on blogs, etc . . . a lot of planning and work would go into something like this, and it definitely isn't for everyone. But it was an entertaining session and a high-energy session that kept participants engaged despite having overloaded brains by that point!