Simulations for Web-Based Training
The Web is a great place to build your competence, as well as your confidence.
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My aim is to add to the technology involved in building scientifically-based, make-believe social settings that enhance the experimental study and training of skills, to improve decision-making and problem-solving, and heighten personal empowerment.
I continue the work of my book and demonstrate the general approach to the constructions through a variety of applications. The techniques apply both to local and distance training, as well as to individual, team, company, or systems study and training.
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Simulation Design Considerations
Whether for the Web or stand-alone computer systems -- using CD-ROMs, say -- every project in simulation-based learning has to take into account:
If the processing capability changes, the operating limits likely change and can directly affect the nature and quality of the simulation. Changes can also alter the training techniques and perhaps affect the training quality. For example, being able to use CD-ROMs instead of floppy discs enhances the training potential. For this reason, an enhanced computer system capability would significantly heighten the training opportunities.
The standard of measurement of difficulty for the construction project is still the complexity of the real environment of the skills. No matter what computer system is used, you still have to ferret out the essential aspects of the skills environment -- the properties that support or adversely affect performance of the skills in some way. These are the factors to be simulated for the training to have integrity.
You also have to prepare equations defining the dynamics of the real-world situations -- such as a workstation, tennis court, surgery, or stock market -- in which the skills in question are performed. And you must convert the equations into a form suitable for computer processing.
Simulation calls for extensive use of principles of science, because make-believe settings have to be detailed and accurate enough to accommodate the decision-making being studied or trained. The more subtle the skills, the more stringent the simulation requirements.
In addition, you need to define the training procedures for the skills. Whether or not you include the Web in the processing mix, you still have to provide information needed to conduct a training exercise. (See J J G Van Merrienboer, for training details.)
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Either for a stand-alone computer or the Internet, analysis and design of a make-believe system is essentially the same. Both approaches determine the shape of the training package. Both approaches are also long-term, continuing tasks. So dedication is essential in either type.
To be useful as study or training vehicles, simulations need to resemble the real environments in which the skills are applied. Otherwise, the patterns of behavior that unfold in the learning process will be inappropriate for the real contexts.
But the simulations still must fit within the environment of the computer used to do the training. Heavy programming and high-speed processing would be needed. On the Web, particularly, you would expect to use parallel programming to facilitate timely training operations. The more capable the system, the more complete and better the simulations could be.
This applies equally to stand-alone and Web-based learning. Currently, though, the Web is still limited in its data transmission capability. The use of high-density graphics has to be restricted, thus limiting what can be trained. Because of the constraints of the equipment, you may have to limit the scope of the study or training program, if the aim is to use the Web exclusively.
But it's possible to employ a combination of stand-alone and Web techniques, using CD-ROMs to deliver high-density graphics and the Web to provide specialized or personal data. As the network improves, of course, it will become more and more productive and more cordial toward learning, generally. So it remains important to ask how the characteristics of the Internet affect the design conditions.
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