Simulation Design

I sometimes explain what I do as “business fiction writing.” This always gets a surprised look and a questioning, “What?” reaction. So I explain: “I go into a client’s business and find out what’s challenging or difficult about the topic they want to train on. And I talk with some learners to understand what their […]

Being an introvert with an Analytical social style, it takes almost nothing at all for me to over-complicate things. I’m getting ready to go to the Association for Talent Development (ATD) conference here in Minnesota. I looked at my material this morning and shook my head. “I really ought to get this across in just […]

  Situation   Need   Solution “We’re teaching a multi-part leadership program and each session covers different skills.” “We don’t have a lot of time for skill practice! How do we tie the leadership theme together across all of the different sessions?” “Apply the skills to a relevant business case that runs throughout the program!” […]

Simulations make training more effective. They can also deliver better results in less time, or tie together different topics in a program. Here are five examples of where I have used simulations to help clients achieve desired outcomes. See if any apply to your situation.   Put it all together. A group of 80 IT […]

Not all that long ago, I was working on some projects where the content had previously been taught in a classroom setting, but the client wanted to move the training online. The goal was to make it easier and faster to reach a large audience with consistent results. As I worked with these sims, I found […]

Much of the independent work I do at LearningSim and with my partners at ThinkWorks (now affiliated with LearningLens) involves the creation of custom business simulations and simulation games for specific client situations. To design a business simulation game that changes the way people think and act on the job, we have to work through some details. […]

Cases and simulations both engage learners by telling meaningful stories. The purpose of a case study is to give the learners a realistic situation to which they can apply the concepts they learned in training. The closer this can come to real-world application and practice, the better. This is where the line between a “case” […]

Learning games and simulations have some similarities and some important differences. Both can be useful learning tools. What’s the difference? Let’s start with a couple of definitions. GAME: An activity providing entertainment or amusement; a pastime: party games; word games. SIMULATION: Representation of the operation or features of one process or system through the use […]

Yes, simulations are good ways to deal with training cutbacks and the need to economize in this business environment. Granted, this statement is a bit self-serving. Obviously, my business is writing and selling training simulations! That said, I really do think that using more simulations is good for a difficult current economic climate. Let me […]

Training Simulations Improve Learning Outcomes Research shows that learning activities that recreate work situations improve transfer of learning (Swanson & Holton, 1999). Aviation, civil emergency preparedness, business management, and medicine all use realistic scenarios to teach or improve complex skills. When the cost of failure is high and when the performance arena uncertain, simulations are […]

Where does the time go? I realized recently as I was going over some simulation work for a banking client that it’s really not the design and writing of the simulation that takes the most time. It’s really the reviews, edits, tweaks, and project logistics that seem to add up. Writing is a fairly simple, […]