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(More customer reviews)High profile e-learning industry analyst Clark Aldrich became disenchanted with the yawning gap between the promise of e-learning and the reality. Attracted by the potential application of computer gaming techniques for training simulation purposes, he quit his job with the Gartner Group and joined a project team attempting to design a computer-based leadership development simulation. The result was Simulearn's Virtual Leader. Aldrich's book recounts the experience in this book.
Despite the promise of the title, the book is a curious mix of speculation, case study, and product promotion. Aldrich provides accessible frameworks for thinking about the underlying design considerations for the development of simulations, and some useful insights into the analysis of content and development of simulation architecture. Yet the book is not a tool kit or primer for would-be designers - the advice is rarely actionable - nor is it a deep study of the concepts and application of simulation models. As such its greatest value is as an introductory case study into aspects of simulation design. The case in question is the development of Simulearn's Virtual Leader product, and the book gives little insight into other forms of electronic or other simulations. The author is a Vice President of Simulearn, so his views are not impartial.
Aldrich makes some refreshingly provocative assertions: e-learning has failed to deliver because it's not sufficiently user-focused - it has been sold to senior managers as means of lowering the cost of training, rather than enriching the value of learning. Aldrich believes that education and vocational training are too "linear", emphasizing the acquisition of facts in a sequential, guided way rather than "open-ended", allowing the development of decision-making, interpersonal communication and creative capabilities required for success in work. In contrast, simulations offer rich combinations of linear, cyclical and open-ended learning, with the freedom to make mistakes, try new approaches and hone skills in a secure environment.
The book is often entertaining. Aldrich's account of the analysis of the leadership content in order to arrive at an underlying simulation model and architecture is amusing - framed as a quest to find the meaning of leadership and render it into electronic simulation, with himself as hero. It is slightly clouded by digressions on the nature of leadership - Aldrich seems to approach the subject with little background, and is suprised to find that (to paraphrase Warren Bennis) so much been written by so many to so little effect.
A number of glaring issues go unexamined: the leadership model and the simulation design of Virtual Leader require a standard of behaviour and ethics that are possibly more ideology than reality. Success in Virual Leader requires a degree of conventional virtue that most organizations espouse but is not always practiced by those in power. A fundamentally Machiavellian approach apparently won't work in Virtual Leader, but it is arguably an effective means of gaining and retaining power in most organisations. The player's experience of Virtual Leader is not evident from the descriptions -despite extensive descriptions of the design process and interface, the book gives little insight into how the player interacts with the game.
Aldrich is evangelical, which gives his writing energy and persuasive power, but like many evangelists, he is strong on belief and short on evidence for his views. While he is right to question the validity of conventional models of education and learning, his opinions are largely speculation, or based on the anecdotal evidence of others or his own experience.
And despite the evangelism, if Aldrich's predictions hold true, most organisations will never design a simulation using his approach. They are prohibitively expensive, costing many millions of dollars. At best, they may purchase an off-the-shelf simulation, and customise it to some extent, which is possibly one of the promotional intentions of the book.
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Simulations and the Future of Learning: An Innovative (and Perhaps Revolutionary) Approach to e-LearningSimulations and the Future of Learning offers trainers and educators the information and perspective they need to understand, design, build, and deploy computer simulations for this generation. Looking back on his recent first-hand experience as lead designer for an advanced leadership development simulation, author Clark Aldrich has created a detailed case study of the creation and deployment of an e-learning simulation that had the development cycle of a modern computer game. With this book Aldrich, a leader in the e-learning field, has created an intriguing roadmap for the future of learning while taking us along on an entertaining rollercoaster ride of trial and error, success and failure. Simulations and the Future of Learning outlines the design principles and critical decisions around any simulation's components— the interface, the physics and animation systems, the artificial intelligence, and sets and figures. Using this accessible resource, readers will learn how to create and evaluate successful simulations that have the following characteristics: authentic and relevant scenarios; applied pressure situations that tap user's emotion and force them to act; a sense of unrestricted options; and replayability.
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