Recently, we have seen a dramatic decline in students entering engineering degrees in the USA, Europe and Australia. For example, there has been nearly a 50 per cent drop in students enrolled in electronic engineering in the UK between 2002 and 2008. A huge percentage of those who choose engineering continue to fail or drop out. Many students feel that the engineering studies are dry and boring.  Simulation games have been shown to be an ideal medium for engaging and active learning. A growing number of educators are considering how to use simulation games to enliven engineering education.

Benefits of Simulation Games in Engineering Education

University engineering curricula and teaching methods based on lecturing do not appeal to Gen Net students. They are interested in experiential learning and careers with social impact. Universities have not been able to excite students about engineering careers and to show how egineering can make the world a better place. Gen Net students are used to learning by doing, interacting and having fun. Research shows that simulation games can be both engaging and effective in education and as such are ideally suited to meet new students’ demands. Simulation games can be effective in developing both specific knowledge and higher order cognitive skills. These are the key skills that can be developed

• Incite interest
• Teach field knowledge
• Develop problem solving skills
• Boost retention in engineering programs
• Increase innovation
• Visualise difficult concepts
• Integrate components into systems
• Teach communication skills
• Develop cooperation

Challenges in Using Simulation Games in Education

Though there is a large volume of research showing the value of simulation games in general education (Randel 1992, Funk 2002, Aldrich 2003, 2004, Johnson 2005), and in particular in engineering education,  there are not enough simulation  games available  to cover various engineering areas and subjects.  Further collaboration between academic researchers, gaming industry and policy makers is needed to develop effective simulation games in education, in particular to demonstrate the role of engineering in solving main global challenges.

Another area for improvement is education of university teachers in pedagogy, education technology, simulation games and instructional design.

How to Effectively Use Simulation Games in Engineering Education

Teachers might face difficulties in finding simulation games that match the course content and learning outcomes. They can customise the off-the-shelf commercial games, virtual labs and develop scenario based learning activities to make them relevant to specific course objectives.  They can be integrated into a variety of teaching approaches as pre-labs, alternatives to textbook homework, and in-class activities for individuals or teams.

Simulation games need to be incorporated into the course and blended with other teaching methods. They can be used as alternatives to in-class activities and homework. Students need to get familiar with new concepts by getting information through reading, listening to lecture or watching a video. Simulation games can be used as pre-labs, to provide motivation, bring theory to life and integrate skills from various subjects.  In many cases simulations and simulation games are followed by project work, involving building circuits and systems. Simulations are useful for getting students trained so that they do not harm themselves and waste too much material in project work. Learning is more effective if students are working in teams, taking different roles and interacting. Tutors need to provide support, feedback and conduct de-briefing sessions after simulations.

Examples of Simulation Games in Engineering Education

Mission Critical Chemistry
In this simulation game, chemistry students from Carnegie Mellon University develop a next-generation fuel for a NASA mission to Mars.

Bionic Arm Design

In this simulation game students virtually design and test a bionic arm.  In the design process they develop skills in electronics, robotics and biotechnology, make arm components and assemble them to recover the functions of a human arm. A bionic arm can improve the lives of millions of people with missing limbs.

Wireless Explorer

This Cisco game engages students in wireless network education. They configure  wireless local area networks (WLANs), structured wireless aware networks (SWANs and learn about  antenna types, repeaters and telecommunication bridges. In the game, students travel in a spacecraft equipped with wireless technologies to planet Berelllius Prime.  They meet aboard a group of alien scientists. As part of an inter-galactic  cultural exchange program, the Berellius Prime scientists are sent to study the latest telecommunication technologies on earth. You mission is to configure open wireless access to the ship’s mainframe correctly for each alien.

SimSE

This is a simulation game for software engineering education. Its aim is to bridge the gap between the theoretical software engineering knowledge presented in lectures and limited opportunities to apply this knowledge in real world projects. SimSE enables students to simulate software engineering processes and through graphical interactions and feedback learn the essential relationships in complex software systems.

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Simulation games have been successful in training armed forces, airline pilots and rescue teams to respond to high risk circumstances. Running a business can be  complex and risky. The best and safest way to learn how to run a business is by actually running a business with simulation games.  The high education value of business simulation games has been recognized by many business and economics schools worldwide. They have been using business simulation games to enhance the core curricula, reinforce learning objectives and provide interactive learning environments.

 What are Business Simulation Games?

Business leaders need to foresee changes, map out company goals, manage resources and inspire others by example. Business simulation games are tools for building the essential skills for running a business. In most popular games players participate online and compete with many other participants in building and running companies.  The resulting learning experience is highly engaging and interactive. For most effective learning outcomes, simulation games in education should be followed by comprehensive instructor-led discussions in face-to-face or virtual classrooms.

 Business Simulation Games Benefits

Business simulation games provide a range of benefits in business and economics education, including

• Developing business competency
• Building real-world experience
• Showing effects of organisational change in a risk free environment
• Experimenting and testing hypotheses in complex economic systems
• Providing hands-on experience
• Driving improved business results
• Testing a range of business strategies for the best results
• Improving learner motivation
• Developing learner communication and inter-personal skills
• Being cost effective and easy to deploy

Business Simulation Games Learning Objectives

Business simulation games in education are typically used to enhance the core curriculum and illuminate the key concepts. As such, they are used as a supplementary tool in a face-to-face, elearning or blended delivery of business and economics course. The learning objectives that can be reinforced by business simulation games involve

• Developing strategic management skills
• Organizing business communication
• Designing coaching strategies for employees
• Developing business processes
• Building project management skills
• Understanding market competition including micro- and macroeconomic models
• Leading change and innovation
• Understanding product life cycle, economies of scale and corporate accounting
• Motivating and engaging employees

 Selecting Business Simulation Games for Education

Here are some basic guidelines for selecting an appropriate business simulation game for teaching a business or economics course

• Select a simulation game that is relevant for the required learning objectives
• Select a simulation game that has been used by highly regarded universities,  companies or professional associations
• Select a simulation game that is easy to use and teach
• Select a simulation game with good customer support

 Business Simulation Games Case Studies

We present case studies of best business simulation games, used at reputable universities for developing business, finance and economic skills.

The Capstone Business Simulation is used at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business for teaching competitive strategy.  Capstone is a business simulation game developed to teach strategies, competitive analysis and finance for building a successful company.

The main challenge for the players is to develop a strategy to turn around a poor- performing company, while meeting customer demands for improved and more cost effective products.

Marketplace Live  is a family of business simulation games, aimed at specific marketing and business courses. In simulation sessions students create new businesses, select business strategies and tactics, with the aim to maximize the profits. They are able to relate each decision to the company’s financial performance and observe the financial implications of their actions. The simulations help them to gain a perspective on how various business units interconnect and how the overall business operates.

There are a number of built-in assessment tools designed to measure students’ progress and learning during the simulation. The simulation game has been used for undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in many business schools worldwide.

For example, at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, Marketplace simulation has been used as introductory as well as capstone experience for the MBA and EMBA students.

The EIS Simulation is a multimedia learning tool that engages learners in implementing a major change in a corporation. Specifically, participants are challenged to convince a company division’s management team to adopt an important innovation, an Executive Information System (EIS), which provides increased transparency and reporting throughout the corporation.

In the course of the simulation, players use various tactics to persuade the managers to adopt the planned innovation. As soon as they apply a tactic, they obtain feedback regarding the effect of their actions. The simulation goal is to achieve as many adopters as possible, conquering various forms of resistance to change. The simulation game provides training in change management, organizational behaviour, communication, technology management, strategy and teamwork.

The EIS simulation has been used in many universities worldwide, such as Cambridge, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, Columbia etc.

The main drawback of business simulation games is a limited offer and making it difficult for teachers to find games relevant to specific learning objectives.

We invite you to share your experience in using business simulation games in education.

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Today’s net gen students have come to expect interactive and networked environments for learning.  Their demands are echoed by education researchers,  who suggest that students learn best by engaging in real-world environments, while being supported by a community of learners.  Games in the classroom are well placed to meet today’s student expectations and education research demands.

By immersing students in real-world environments, where they need to solve problems, make decisions and interact with other players, simulation games provide opportunities for building professional skills, knowledge and values.

For best learning outcomes, simulation games in education need to be well integrated into courses through careful course design.

Where Are Simulation Games Most Effective?

Simulation games are becoming increasingly popular in many disciplines in education. They mimic real-world environments, but unlike real systems, allow students to learn new skills by doing and making  mistakes, without any harm to people or surroundings.

Simulation games have been particularly beneficial in teaching economics, business, math, science and engineering. Teaching languages can also be improved through simulations, because students can hear sounds and get immersed in a foreign language and culture.

There are numerous business, government management and social sciences simulation games, used in university education.

How to Integrate Simulation Games Into Courses?

 If applied properly, simulation games can be a great educational tool. They help students fully experience a complex system rather than just hear about it in lectures.

In the course design simulation games need to be selected to match the content, learning objectives and target audience.  It is important to note that they are most effective in reinforcing conventional instructional methods rather then replacing them.

Depending on their nature and complexity, simulation games can be applied as

• pre-instructional activities to provide motivation
• co-instructional tools within lectures for developing learning objectives and providing context
•  post-instructional assignments for practicing relevant skills.

Learning objectives are strengthened by mixing simulation games with instructor-led discussion and feedback. By blending simulation technology and classroom discussions students have opportunities to actively practice a range of skills and gain understanding from discussion and reflection.

Note that integrating simulation games into the classroom might need more planning and preparation than face-to-face teaching. However, the benefits are higher student motivation, satisfaction and learning outcomes.

What Learning Outcomes Can Be Achieved by Simulation Games?

These are some typical learning outcomes, which can be achieved through simulation games

• Build real-world experience
• Learn ethics and values
• Gain hands-on experienceDevelop managerial skills and knowledge
• Build strategy skills
• Master systems and understand their underlying principles
• Develop response skills to emergency situations
• Test hypotheses
• Improve performance.

Best Simulation Games 

Virtonomics is a multiplayer simulation game for learning the basics of business and economics. It simulates a large company, where the player acts as a manager and competes with other players to make a successful business. Students can develop managerial knowledge and skills, learn to make multiple-factor business decisions, organize business communication and develop business processes.

Colonization is an example of a strategy game,  in which players set out to discover and explore the New World. The final goal is to achieve independence from Europe. There are many challenges to be overcome by balancing various aspects of the game, such as exploration, immigration, production, trade, foreign and domestic relations and of course warfare. The players can learn strategic thinking, resource management, political and economic policies, negotiation skills etc.

SimEarth  is game that can be used by physics and astronomy students to simulate and learn about  geological and biological evolution of the earth and other planets. The player can vary a planet’s atmosphere, temperature, landmass etc, place various forms of life on the planet and watch it evolve.

Adventures in Fugawiland: A Computer Simulation in Archaeology  introduces undergraduate archaeology students to the fundamentals of archaeological research by simulating fieldwork experiences. In the simulation, students see a map of hypothetical prehistoric sites, choose sites to excavate on-screen, examine what they find and answer questions about their findings. The simulation game

Simulation games engage students with the content and with each other, making learning fun and more effective than conventional teaching.  If you are interested in using or developing simulation games in education, we would be delighted to hear from you.

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Early university elearning initiatives in late nineties fell short of expectations. Students found online courses dry, boring and lacking the social aspect of classroom learning.  Education is too complex to rely on only one mode of learning. In the last decade, faced with technology advances and student demands for self- paced learning, traditional universities started to introduce blended learning as a combination of classroom and online teaching. Presently, the prevailing view in academia is that blended learning can deliver the best of both worlds: self paced elearning and social interaction of a classroom.

What is Blended Learning?

Though initially the term blended learning referred to a combined face-to-face and online instruction, its meaning has broadened to include a mixture of various methods of instruction and its delivery. For example, blended learning can include

• combining face-to-face and elearning
• combining face-to-face and social media learning
• combining asynchronous and synchronous virtual classroom
• combining classroom lectures and podcasts
• combining online learning with access to a tutor
  combining simulation games  with structured courses

Benefits of Blended Learning

Education theory and practice have shown that using various teaching methods and delivery modes gives best learning outcomes.  Blended learning has emerged as a superior learning method. Specific blended learning benefits are

• Improved retention of knowledge compared to classroom and online learning (Sitzmann, Ely, 2009).
• Reduced drop-out rate
• Social support and interaction

How to Use Blended Learning in Course Delivery?

An effective use of blended learning could be combining synchronous and asynchronous delivery modes.

As students learn best in a social setting, a course might start with synchronous sessions.  By communicating in real time, students will get to know each other, form a community and feel less isolated. As the course progresses towards more complex content and activities, it will be beneficial to switch to asynchronous sessions. They will give students enough time for reflection, creative and analytical work. Switching between the two delivery modes will also add variety and dynamics to the course and make students more engaged. Most importantly, students will be able to learn in their own time, which is typically the main reason for selecting e-learning in the first place.

In collaborative projects, there is also a need for a blended approach. In project planning, students need to exchange some relatively simple information and get a quick response. The work on project tasks, which requires critical thinking and deep understanding, is best tackled by asynchronous media, such as blogs or wikis.

 Blended Learning Examples

Stanford University offers undergraduate mathematics elearning courses for self-motivated students who want the flexibility and self-paced learning.

The courses consist of synchronous multimedia lectures, in which narration is combined with text and graphics. In the asynchronous part, students are asked to study from traditional textbooks and to do exercises. Instructors provide support by email or phone. As courses are self-paced, a student can complete them in a shorter time than the standard period of eight weeks.

In another example from Stanford University, self-paced asynchronous programs used to be offered for gifted youth. The program faced difficulties as about 50% of students dropped out. A research study found a mismatch between the delivery mode and students’ preferred learning styles of interactive, social and mentored supported learning. The introduction of synchronous e-learning improved the program completion rate to 94%.

The University of Tennessee’s Physician Executive MBA (PEMBA) program for mid-career doctors is offered as a mix of synchronous e-learning, self-paced instruction and traditional classroom delivery. A research study showed that the program achieved an overall 10% higher learning outcome than face-to-face learning format.

Ericsson Education Ireland implemented blended synchronous and asynchronous elearning to deliver telecommunications courses for students from all over the world.

The first course component consisted of various asynchronous elearning forms, including web based elearning material, discussion boards, email queries, phone support, group work, assessments, tutorials etc. The second component consisted of a combination of instructor led training and synchronous elearning delivered by the virtual classroom software Centra. 

Stanford, MIT, Oxford and University College London provide blended learning  by combining mobile learning in the form of audio and video files, or podcasts, with traditional classrooms. The courses are stored in the iTunes University, a free education area within the Apple iTunes online music and video store. Thus students can study and review lectures at their own pace, anytime, anywhere.

If applied successfully, blended learning offers exciting learning opportunities for self-paced learning, with meaningful social interactions, focused on developing critical and deep thinking skills. Do you have experience in designing blended learning. We invite you to share your views and welcome your contribution to this post.

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Virtual classroom is an online environment enabling interaction between teachers and students. This interaction may occur over diverse instruction media. An instruction medium can connect participants either at the same time, such as video conferencing, or at different times, such as email.  Each media type has its own benefits and limitations. Teachers need to understand when, why and how to use each of them, to achieve the best learning outcomes.

Synchronous eLearning

Synchronous elearning enables learners and teachers, who are separated in space, to connect at the same time. Through web conferencing, instant messaging, online chat or videoconferencing, participants communicate in real time, ask questions and receive immediate responses.

Students can see each other, observe facial expressions, body language and communicate as in a traditional class. They have opportunities to participate in discussions and do not feel isolated.

Synchronous delivery is best suited for sessions aimed at getting to know each other, building social support, planning collaborative projects and performing less complex tasks.

Asynchronous eLearning

Asynchronous elearning allows students and teachers to interact with each other according to their own schedules at different times. Communication takes place via email, discussion boards, podcasts, web based training, blogs or DVDs.

The key benefit of asynchronous delivery is in supporting self-paced elearning. Students who have to fit in studies with work or family life can download study material, work on learning tasks and communicate with teachers and peers at their own time. Gifted students have opportunities to complete learning programs fast.

The asynchronous media are suitable for work on complex tasks, as students get more time to process information and submit their responses, compared to synchronous communications.

On the other hand, this media type does not support social interaction and some students find it challenging to keep self-motivation and manage their time.

Virtual Classroom Systems

Web conferencing connects virtual class participants over the Internet, with the use of webcam video cameras and computers. Typically, web conferencing software have rich collaboration options, such as

• Multi-point audio and video communication between presenters and learners
• File and application sharing
• Whiteboards where users can write an draw in real time
• Breakout rooms for group work
• Polling
• Quizzing
• Hand raising and emotion responses
• Slides and media
• Website tours
• Public/private text-chat
• Visual attention indicator

Examples of commercial web conferencing software are Citrix Go ToMeeting, Adobe Connect, Beam Your Screen, Cisco WebEx Meeting Centre and Saba Centra. Recenlty, Blackborad brought together two leading web conferencing solutions Elluminate and Wimba and created a virtual classroom system Blackboard Collaborate. This software integrates seamlessly with a variety of LMS, such as Blackboard, Angel, Desire2Learn, Moodle and Sakai.

Video conferencing is used to hold group meetings or live presentations over IP broadband communication networks, with video cameras and High Definition (HD) TV/LCD screens.  A leading video conferencing commercial system is Cisco Telepresence. This type of video conferencing provides much better resolution and experience for the participants than web conferencing, but it is more expensive and requires larger bandwidth than web conferencing.

Podcast or webcast is used for broadcasting multimedia files over the Internet. It requires only a computer and software for creating multimedia files.  Podcasts can be automatically distributed to the participants through RSS feeds and/or posted on a blog, website or YouTube.

Virtual Classroom Examples

Salmon Kahn, from the Kahn Academy,  teaches pre-college math and physics with low-tech podcasts. In the podcast tutorials, he is thinking aloud about math and science problems and showing how to solve them in a conversational way. He goes step-by-step through a solution, writing the math expressions and drawing graphs on an electronic blackboard, while at the same time talking about them. He created more than 2000 tutorials, posted on the Kahn Academy YouTube Channel and website, where students can do exercises and track their progress.  The tutorials have been a great success, attracting more than two million unique students on YouTube.

Stanford University is offering an introductory artificial intelligence course to the worldwide audience for free. The response has been enormous, with 145,000 students enrolled.

On campus students take face-to-face classes, while online students join a virtual classroom via web conferencing.  As lectures are recorded, students can study at their own pace. Online students are expected to complete assignments, quizzes and take exam, but not to get credit for the course.

New media offer exciting learning opportunities for self-paced learning, with meaningful social interactions, focused on developing critical and deep thinking skills. Do you have experience in designing e-learning  programs?  We invite you to share your views and welcome your contribution to this post.

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One of the main reasons for unsuccessful early elearning initiatives was poor e-learning course design, which failed to engage learners. When considering elearning course design at higher education, some of  the key steps should be

• Getting to know students
• Getting to know employers’ needs
• Articulating learning objectives
• Designing course content and its  presentation
• Designing course interaction
• Getting course feedback
• Doing course evaluation

Getting to Know Students

 Any elearning course design needs to draw on the knowledge about the students who will use it. Who are they? What is their background? What type of skills and knowledge they already have? What are their learning preferences? From market research and studies, identify the answers to these questions. This will assist you in selecting teaching styles, technology and learning paths, tailored to each individual student.

 Getting to Know Employers’ Needs

 In designing a new course, it is essential to research what are the knowledge, skills and attitudes that employers need. The information can be gathered from surveys with key employer companies. For example, if you are designing a course in programming, it is worthwhile to investigate programming needs of major software companies.

 Learning Objectives 

 A learning objective is a clear statement of achievement at the end of the course session. It needs to be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-framed. You can  start writing a learning objective with a phrase “At the end of the course session the students should be able to …” Then add an active verb that describes what students should be able to do, in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes, as per Bloom’s Taxonomy (1956).

Articulate 3-4 learning objectives for each university course.

Course Content – Design and Presentation

The content needs to meet the learning objectives, draw on learners’ previous experience, be relevant, up to date, engaging, challenging and fun. Beside the main body of content, the teaching material could include references for additional learning, glossaries, file attachments, FAQs, education simulation games and quizzes.

In selecting the content information a good starting point might be research and state-of-the art surveys of the course subject. The content should present a good balance between fundamental principles and applications.

To be an effective and active learning tool, an elearning module must go beyond a standard power point or pdf presentation. The empirical research on teaching and learning (Clark & Mayer, 2008) has come up with the recommendation to use multimedia in e-learning course design, as it is engaging, encreases retention of information and caters for multiple learning styles. Furthermore, following suggestions for effective elearning multimedia content presentation are provided.

• Information should be packaged in short segments of 3-5 minutes.
• Words and relevant graphics should be used together.
• Related graphics and words should be placed next to each other.
• On screen text should be replaced with narration to avoid visual overload.
• When narrating text, the same onscreen text should be omitted.
• Showing unrelated material, though interesting, needs to be avoided, as it interferes with learning.
• Using conversational style and virtual coaches improves learning.

In this resource, you can find some principles of e-learning course design, with practical instructions on how to use the  myUduty tool  for designing your own course.

Course Interaction

The key to effective elearning is to engage the students through activities.

The activities should be matched to individual student background skills and knowledge. For example, if the student has little or no knowledge of the subject, an interactive quiz, focusing on content recall, might be appropriate, to reinforce learning by repetition.

For more advanced students, you can present a problem, set it in a real life scenario and ask them to come up with a solution. The best scenarios are provided by simulation games, which help students to think deeply about the subject, immerse it in a realistic context and make learning memorable.

It has been demonstrated that learning is improved through virtual teamwork. Activities should be designed to engage students in online collaboration projects with fellow learners, by using Web 2.0 tools, such as wikis.

Course Feedback

Feedback forms can range from personal responses through email, post or skype, shared comments in online forums and blogs to automated responses to student activities and assignments. In most cases feedback provides formative assessment, which helps students to track their performance. Assessment needs to encourage learning rather than to measure its outcomes.

Timeliness of feedback is important and it is helped by automation. Thoughtful feedback can make a difference between effective elearning and broadcasting content.

Course Evaluation

Course evaluation is done through student surveys. It should provide feedback on the student experience, course content, teaching activities and environment, to the teacher and the course development team. The findings should be used in the next course design iteration.

An Example of e-Learning Professional Development for Academic Staff

In this example of professional development for academic staff at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), various aspects of elearning course design are considered.

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Simulation games in education are regarded by a growing number of educators as the future in learning. However, as they are still in the infancy stage, there is widespread confusion about what should be the next step in introducing them into outdated learning environments at schools and universities.

 What Are Simulation Games?

Games can be used in education to explain new concepts as well as to enhance student motivation and engagement.  Another education tool, simulation, mimics real life environments and uses them as context for learning.  An example of simulation tools is a flight simulator for training pilots. Simulation games bring together game features, such as competition, cooperation and role playing, with real life relevance of simulations.  Learning with simulation games is active, experiential and fun. It is an ideal learning tool for digital natives, accustomed to video games and demanding to be entertained in the classroom.

Effectiveness of Simulation Games in Education

With simulation games students gain deeper understanding,  retain the knowledge and the ability to apply it longer than when taught in traditional ways. Numerous studies have shown that students retain about 5% of information from lectures, but 75% if they learn by doing.

More specifically,  in a paper on the education value of an MIT developed game, called Supercharged, it was shown that the understanding of the electromagnetic forces of the tested group playing the game, was significantly higher than that of the control group, receiving interactive lectures.

Simulation Game Benefits for Students

• Enhanced learning through experience
• Improving motivation by engaging with vivid virtual environments
• Challenging players by gradually adding complexity
• Taking risks and exploring in a safe environment
• Learning to solve problems
• Learning to strategize
• Getting immediate feedback
• Practicing new skills
• Having fun while learning
• Retaining information for a long time

Simulation Games Benefits for Educators

• Satisfaction from teaching engaged and motivated students
• Assessments can be built around tracking student actions in playing simulation games
• Can be used for both classroom and distance learning
• Students become responsible for their own learning
• Dealing with frustration in the class
• Create a context for better interactions with peers and the teacher
• Student mistakes in manipulating simulated environments do not cause loss

Where Are Simulation Games Used?

Simulations can effectively model complex systems and are used for industry and military training. By interacting with the simulation software, students gain understanding of the simulated system and the impact of changing its variables. This is particularly significant in learning about hazardous environments.

Simulation games can engage players through role playing, stimulate them to create new ideas, encourage collaboration with others and teach cooperative learning skills.

They can be used to attract students to less popular disciplines, such as math, science, engineering and economics.

Simulation games can be incorporated into the curriculum in both traditional and distance learning.  They are particularly attractive for distance learning, by enhancing interactivity and engagement and providing access to virtual laboratories.

Simulation Games in Education – Case Studies

An example of learning with simulations is a web based system that uses the software LabVIEW to run electrical engineering experiments in a virtual laboratory at Fisk University in the USA.

In another example of learning with simulation games, in the New York City’s Quest to Learn school, learning is organized around games and other 21st century literacies. In this experimental public secondary school, students play video games, use them for intellectual exploration, record and edit podcasts, films, videos and communicate via blogs.

Anti-Phishing Phil  is an interactive game, developed at Carnegie Mellon University to teach users how to distinguish between legitimate and fraudulent web sites.

Supercharged is a simulation game for teaching introductory physics, developed in the MIT’s Comparative Media Studies program.  It is a competitive game, designed to give its players an intuitive understanding of the interaction of electromagnetic forces with charged particles.

Beat the Market is an interactive commercial software program designed to help students learn economics by competing against firms in a simulated market.

Scientists have been trying unsuccessfully for 15 years to figure out the structure of a protein causing AIDS. Players of a simulation game Foldit,  developed by the University of Washington, were able to crack the protein structure in three weeks and provide new insights for the design of drugs to block them. This is the first time that gamers made an important scientific discovery, which was  published in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.

If you are interested in simulation games or have been using them in education, we invite you to share your views and experience.

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New generations of students universally ditch desktop and laptop computers in favor of cell phones, as less restrictive. It is imperative for educators to understand new students’ technology usage preferences and tap into a vast potential of mlearning – mobile technology in education. The mobility and easy access to information, from anywhere, anytime, make mobile devices perfectly matched for education. By connecting to the Internet and learner networks, students can tap into a rich pool of resources, enhancing their skills and knowledge. Smart phones carry hundreds of thousands applications, generally known as ‘apps’, which have great benefits in learning.

Mobile Phone Features

Today’s smart phones and tablets provide many functions that make them valuable learning aids. Some of these constantly evolving functions are

• Audio phone
• Text messaging
• Camera phone
• Computing
• Mobile broadband connectivity
• Web browser
• Graphic displays
• Digital camera
• Video camera
• Storage
• High resolution multi-touch screen
• Global positioning system

Use of Mobile Phones in Education

Mobile devices can be applied for various education purposes, as for example

• Virtual classroom - university and schools can broadcast live lectures to students watching them on mobile devices
• Podcast downloading and listening – educational institutions post pre-recorded lectures on the web, which students can download via mobile devices
• Creation of learning material
• Student collaboration on projects
• Assessment of student work
• Student support
• Creation of video or audio libraries of lectures, presentations and seminars
• Note taking

Benefits of m-Learning

The results of Qualcomm supported  Project K-Nect, showed that  high school students, who received additional algebra problem sets via smartphones consistently achieved significantly higher performance in their final exams compared to a traditional class.

The better performance is attributed to

• Multi-media teaching material which is more engaging and fun than traditional teaching
• Personalized content where students cannot compare numerical answers but solutions instead
• Collaborative learning environment with students recording their solutions on a shared blog and forming a learning community
• Shy students tend to be more active in a virtual than in a traditional classroom

Another research report showed that university students who listen to podcast lectures achieve substantially higher exam results than those who attend the classroom lectures, providing that they take notes.

The main challenge in m-learning is small size of mobile devices, making it difficult to show big amounts of text. This is typically compensated by replacing text with multimedia presentations.

mLearning Technology

mLearning technology refers to various handheld devices, software tools, platforms and networks  used for learning.  Examples of portable m-learning devices are

• Mobile phones
• Smart phones
• Tablet PCs such as iPads
• Personal digital assistants (PDAs)
• Media players such as iPods and MP3s
• Handheld game consoles

There are numerous smartphone applications and mobile phone software, suitable for education purposes, including

• Smartphone applications stores, as for example Apple’s AppStore or Google’s Android Market have many education applications, such as iMobile Care  app,  showing how to deliver aid in accidents and critical situations.
• Flickr – Web 2.0 for uploading photographs from mobile phones
• Mobile LMS, such as Moodle for Mobiles and Meridian Anywhere Mobile LMS
• Tools for blogging from mobile phones, such as Blogger.com or Microsoft Live Spaces

Mobile devices are connected to the web via wireless networks, including 3G, WiFi, GPRS, WiMAX and emerging LTE techology.

mLearning Case Studies

mLearning has  applications at universities, workplace and schools.

For example, mobile phones have been used as a flash card tool to help students learn organic chemistry at Georgia Gwinnett College.

In a Merrill Lynch  m-learning initiative, three mandated courses were offered to a class of investment bankers both via MLU (Merrill Lynch University) and via the BlackBerry over a seven week period. The outcome showed that higher scores are obtained in half the time with mobile learning.

In collaboration with Apple, Duke University is distributing lectures via  iTunes and iPods.

My Sports Pulse is a program set up to develop student proficiency and interest in science and math by using sports themes and celebrity athlete participation. In a  joint initiative of the University of Central Florida and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the program is delivered to middle and high school students via mobile phones.

An example of applying mobiles in teaching is Pool Anywhere,  which turns mobile into a personal response system, enabling teachers to quiz students and assess their learning.

University of Phoenix offers its students an iPhone app for participating in the online classroom, completing assignments and sending grades.

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Web 2.0 has a range of social software tools, such as wikis, blogs and podcasts, connecting groups of people and allowing them to collaborate in virtual environment.  Wikis in education work particularly well, by providing powerful tools for student group projects, sharing and creating new knowledge.

What is Wiki?

A wiki is a website that can be modified by visitors.  It facilitates online group work, collaborative learning, writing and creation of knowledge. The best known wiki network is Wikipedia, a free collaboratively developed encyclopaedia with more than 3.7 million articles in English.

Wiki Benefits

• Wikis are easy to set, use and maintain
• They provide easy and flexible access by allowing both public and selected use of the website
• Visitors can create content independently and collaboratively
• Wikis keep document history, allowing to track its changes
• Wiki software is mostly free

Wikis in Education

The main benefit of wikis in education is in facilitating collaborative learning, which has been shown to perform significantly better in developing critical thinking skills than individual learning.

Wiki is a natural tool in educating the Z generation students, born into the digital era. Students may use wikis to work on a group project, gather information or display the outcomes of their research. Similarly, lecturers may use the wiki to co-author the curriculum and teaching material for a course.

In education wikis can be applied for

• Project based learning
• Collaborative knowledge creation
• Collaborative writing
• Creating on-line textbooks
• Display of student work
• Student portfolios
• Collaboration between teachers

Making Wiki Effective in the Classroom

Wikis transform the classroom dynamics and redefine the teacher and student positions. Collaborative learning with wikis changes the role of teachers from authoritative instructors into mediated facilitators. Wiki based learning requires students to be active participants in knowledge construction, in contrast to traditional learning, where the student is a passive recipient of information.

Wiki Engines

The best known wiki engine is Wikimedia, the software platform upon which Wikipedia has been developed. It is a license free open source wiki software, as are TWiki, PmWiki, DokuWiki, TiddlyWiki, MoinMoinWiki etc. There are proprietary wiki engines, such as Confluence, Wikispaces, Wiki Server etc, which restrict the source code modification.

Case Studies of Wiki in the Classroom

At Boston College a wiki has been used in the Computers in Management course,  by Jerry Kane, Assistant Professor of Information Systems.  The wiki provides all teaching material for the course and replaces textbook. The students have an active role in developing the syllabus, course content generation and peer review. They extend the course information by adding exam questions and news clips from sources such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Business Week.

At National Singapore University a wiki has been used in the Computing & Society course  for a collaborative writing project.

The Flat Classroom Project  is a collaborative project that connects high school students around the world.  The project was co-founded by Vicki Davis and Julie  Lindsey at Westwood Schools. It uses a wiki as a platform, to develop  global collaboration, Web 2.0 technology skills and appreciation of other cultures.

If you have experience and interesting ideas on using wikis in the classroom, we invite you to contribute to this post.

What is LMS?

A Learning Management System (LMS) is a software platform for creating, administering and delivering courses. It is used by students, administrators and lecturers. Universities, corporations and schools all need LMS. Each of these organisations has their specific needs.  In this post, we focus on university LMS.

LMS software in university elearning offers cost effective delivery of courses and enable students to access interactive teaching materials for self study. Another important part of these platforms are tools to facilitate student collaboration and social learning through forums, chat rooms, emails and wikis.

LMS Benefits

An LMS platform automates the education process and makes it more efficient, cost effective, scalable and adaptable.  It provides benefits to the university administrators, lecturers and students.

LMS Benefits for Management

• Simplify management
• Save time and cost on administration
• Enable efficient and easy communication with students

LMS Benefits for Lecturers

• Provide resources for course planning and information sharing
• Give access to teaching material from other sources
• Offer multiple teaching styles
• Make assessment easy and varied

LMS Benefits for Students

• Give students personal space on the web for creating their assignments and projects
• Improve learning through discussions and collaboration with other students
• Display their work to peers and teachers.

What Is the Best LMS?

While an LMS should be tailored to specific university needs, there are some general attributes that are desirable for any institution.

From the operational point of view, LMS software should be easy and reliable to use, able to suport many users and interoperate with other software tools and systems, such as intranet, university student management system, HR, library of online courses, elearning authoring tools etc.

From a learning point of view, LMS need to provide opportunities for students to engage with the learning environment, enable access to real data and experiences, support group work and student interactions, provide personalized learning, enable students to display and publish their work and offer mechanisms for monitoring progress.

LMS Comparison

LMS platforms are available as open source or proprietary software.  Proprietary software is licensed computer software restricted from modification. Open software is freely available for downloading and modification by users. Although open source LMS is license free, it is not necessarily a most cost effective solution for each university, as it requires programming for customization and maintenance. However, colleges and universities are increasingly making use of open source LMS.

All these systems have numerous features available, suited for both university and corporate applications. In selecting a particular system for your institution, your first step is to identify your unique training requirements and the respective features in your LMS solution.  In the next step you will need to contact the vendors, trial the products and compare their features.

Blackboard is the most popular proprietary LMS and Moodle is the dominant open source LMS. Other popular choices are Bodington and Sakai among open source solutions and eCollege and Desire2Learn within proprietary ones.

For example, Moodle is used by the UK Open University, MIT,  University of California, Irvine,  Monash Univesity,   and Australian National University. Blackboard management system is used by University of Sydney , Carnegie Mellon,  and University of Melbourne.

LMS Trends

The latest versions of LMSs contain Web 2.0 tools enabling social networking and collaboration. These features include course wikis, blogs and journals, that encourage discussion and reflection. Another novel feature is Web 2.0 interface, making easy for lecturers to add content and students to access courses on the web.

A leader in online learning, University of Phoenix, is using a home grown LMS,  which is now being adapted and personalized to each student. This has a potential to take learning to a new level.

Curtin University in Perth and RMIT in Melbourne became some of the first Australian universities to outsource the LMS service, with the University of Western Sydney following the suite. This migration has provided hardware and maintenance cost savings and student support 24 hours a day.

If you have experience with using LMS in education, please feel free to contribute to this post. We would like to hear your opinion on how Moodle and Blackboard compare in this application.

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