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Simulations

Overview

Simulations can be categorized in three main categories:

• Software Simulations
• Soft Skills Simulations
• Virtual Environment Simulations

The purpose of simulations is to provide a student with a safe environment to practice recently learned skills. The keyword is "practice". There is an old American idiom of "practice makes perfect", but actually it is more like "practice makes permanent", meaning that the more one practices at a skill the retention level increases until it is permanently assimilated into behavior. Simulations provide these safe havens to practice.

Software Simulations

Software simulations involve replicating software application or technical skill behavior, without requiring a complete system. This is typically done by requiring certain input from the student that modifies the output returned to the student. Depending on the complexity of the simulation you can mimic just about any software application. Interfaces can vary from simplistic in which the student is guided or told what to input so that a demonstration of output is presented, to complex in which the student is free to enter any input, but only expected input will generate desired results.

Optimally the scoring should be such that the student is rewarded for proper input, and reward is prevented for improper input, thus providing the student a goal of reaching the highest score possible.

Soft Skills Simulations

Soft skills simulations try to emulate behavioral responses to student input. Take for example a leadership simulation in which a manager goes through a review process. The simulation would typically require the student to select from several statements to say or several actions to do. The choice would produce a response consistent with the decision made by the student.

Virtual Environment Simulations

A virtual environment simulation basically creates a simulated environment in which the student will interact, and that interaction will cause the environment to react to the student's actions. This attempts to create a more realistic situation in which there are unlimited variances in which the student can interface with the environment. These types of simulations typically use intelligent agents or Artificial Intelligence (AI) to moderate the interaction between the student and the simulated environment.