Three Perspectives on Business Simulation
Last week I returned from the ABSEL conference in sunny Pensacola, Florida. While I didn't see any Blue Angels, I had a great time talking with this lively and experienced group of management professors, most of whom have been using business simulations in their classroom for many years.
The mix of participants was unusual as it included both authors and users of simulations. The authors have typically developed sims for their classrooms and licensed them to other professors. The users were mainly other management professors, but also several business students. (In addition to the simulation users, a number of attendees were involved with "experiential learning" activities which include a loose assortment of role-playing and board game simulations).
The best part of the conference was the degree of sharing of ideas that was going on between all attendees. This is in sharp contrast to most conferences I go to which tend to be either developer-oriented or user-oriented, but not both. (The user-oriented conferences often include developers, but they are called "Vendors" and spend much of the time demonstrating their expertise at seminars and staffing exhibition booths).
Paradoxically, the similarities among the participants highlighted the different experiences those I met have had with simulations. In particular, there was a distinct difference in knowledge and concerns among those who were students, those were instructors, and those who were authors. I'd like to reflect for a bit on the difference in perspectives and consider how the various needs can be met.
The Student
Most simulation evangelists have the student in mind when discussing simulation. One of the Forio web pages is headed "Learn through experience without experience's costs". In general, a good simulation experience for the student is:
Ninety percent of the effectiveness of a learning simulation for a student is contained in the design of the specific simulation they are using. For a nice discussion of these issues, see the Four Key Attributes of Successful Training Programs.
The Instructor
Instructors use simulations as a teaching tool to advance their curriculum. The most effective simulations are those that are used as an instructional method rather than as a curriculum in themselves. In other words, simulations should be used as a tool to advance a clear set of learning objectives, rather than as a game or classroom activity that is fun but has little relevance to the larger curriculum. The latter type of simulations are likely to be remembered fondly by students but not repeated by the instructor.
To use a simulation effectively, instructors need a management system that lets them run the simulation and track student progress. Specifically, instructors want a system that is:
- Easy to run (the instructor is too busy to spend much time with the software).
- Reliable (if the simulation breaks down, the instructor is left with a room full of students with nothing to do).
- Allows them to track student results on an individual basis (for grading and evaluative purposes).
- Inexpensive on a per-student basis.
The instructor aspect of simulations is often overlooked. Many simulations are student-only, and contain no instructor functionality. (This is almost always true of desktop simulations).
This has been an active area for R & D by Forio. The professional version of our hosting service, Forio Broadcast Professional, allows instructors to track the student mouse-clicks page by page through the simulation, and to view simulation results both at a detailed and summary level.
The Author
The simulation author's main concerns are split between the technical and the business.
On a technical level, simulation authors need simplified ways of doing:
- development of the simulation model, interface, and technical infrastructure
- modification/enhancements of the software
- distribution, both of the original software and of updates
This has been a strong area of interest for Forio. A good design philosophy is written up in the white paper Building Web Simulations: Divide and Conquer. In many ways, our software and services (most notably Forio Broadcast) have been directly aimed at solving the technical problems of simulation developers.
On a business level, simulation authors look for effective ways of:
- licensing software and collecting revenue (a whole host of issues)
- publishing the software (self-publish, software publisher, or textbook publisher)
- building a relationship with the end user (hard to do without self-publishing)
- providing customer and technical assistance to end users
One of the most interesting sessions at ABSEL was a discussion among simulation authors about distribution and publishing issues. (Nominally a panel discussion, many of the most interesting comments came from the audience). A clear consensus at the session was that serving simulations from the web solved many problems discussed by those distributing via traditional textbook publishers or self-publishing desktop applications.
Conclusion
In order for a simulation or a simulation platform to be widely adopted, each of three perspectives must be considered.
- The simulation must meet the student's needs to be a good learning experience.
- The simulation must support the instructor in their learning objectives and administration in order to be used effectively in a classroom or as part of a training program.
- The simulation must support the developer's technological and business needs in order for it to be developed, distributed, and maintained in a profitable manner.
Posted by Will Glass
