(Page 8 of 41) - Gaming and Simulation Using Microsoft Excel authored by Jackson, Steven.

SB46

ACKSON

XCEL

IMULATIONS

AGE

the consequences of those choices may be. Which is the correct answer? What will
happen if I choose the third alternative? Will the consequence be immediately apparent,
or will it show up later? If I make certain choices now will it preclude future alternatives?
Can I finish in time? Is there a single right set of choices? These are the sorts of
questions that should be running through the learners’ minds when they interact with the
simulation. Uncertainty can be achieved in a number of ways. First, the choice
alternatives in an incident may not be immediately obvious which ones are correct or
proper. Second, the incidents may be uncertain in their order or their appearance from
one iteration of the simulation to the next. Third, they may be random elements in the
simulation that make some choices correct in one iteration and incorrect in another.
Finally, there may be opportunities for different simulation strategies to emerge, in which
the learner approaches the simulation less as a lesson in right or wrong choices but rather
in a lesson in right choices for a particular approach.

Incidents/Scenes: The heart of a simulation is an incident or scene, a problem or

question that the learner must react to and choose between alternatives. The results of
these decisions have feedback and consequences, right or wrong, better or worse, or more
suitable for one simulation strategy than another. The set-up of the incident is the
problem or question, which should then ask the learner to take some sort of action or
make some sort of choice. The question needs to be a fairly realistic yet simple problem,
and enough information should be offered that the learner would have a reasonable
opportunity to make a sensible choice. As with all simulations, this is usually a text-
intensive part of the simulation. A number of questions should considered. Are the
incidents dependent or independent of each other? That is, must the incidents flow in a
set order? Does information offered either in the question or the feedback in one incident
inform the learner about later incidents’ questions or choices? If earlier questions help
inform later questions or alternative choices, then a sense of building on previous
knowledge helps integrate the simulation and allows for more detailed information in
later questions. On the other hand, if key information is only revealed by the feedback on
a correct answer, then learners may be stuck in the simulation until they get that answer
correct (this may be a part of the design, but authors should be aware of the potential
frustration this may entail). It is possible to design incidents so that the problem or
question depends on the answers to previous incidents, a conditional question. These are
arguably the most authentic incidents in a simulation, since the choices one makes early
in any social situation helps determine the later situations we face. There is, however, a
danger to conditional incidents in that they can multiply very quickly as the permutations
expand. For more on these issues, see “Putting the Incidents Together: Types of
Simulation Flows” below.

The choices are laid out as alternatives, and can be any of a variety of learner

inputs. In a binary decision, there are only two alternatives, yes or no, do something or
do nothing. Binary alternatives are easy to construct, but a good simulation would need a
large number of incidents with binary alternatives to get its point across. More common
are multiple alternatives, sometimes allowing a range of response, including (for
example), a choice between immediate decisions based upon the information offered,
non-decision (defer until later), or the effort to seek more information. Still another basic
construction in simulations (and games) are resources to allocate: the learner begins with
so many units of different items, and must choose where to expend them. Finally,