Simulation Triad
A hurdle in the progress of Project EnROLE was pinning down the definition of online role play. Role play using technology was a newly emerging area, there was no agreed firm definition and the definition was prone to change as new examples evolved. They were often called simulations or e-sims and later the ‘serious games’ movement invented terms like role play games and simulation games.
The EnROLE team agreed to adopt a broader term ‘role-based e-learning’ rather than the narrower term ‘online role play’ and defined online role-based learning environments as having the following characteristics:
Although this definition was reasonably broad there were a number of examples of practice that were not included in the repository because it was decided that they fell outside the definition.
In order to better position online role play as an emerging type of simulation, accounting for the myriad ways of designing role-based learning environments that the project had catalogued, a framework called the Simulation Triad was developed.
In earlier literature on (face to face) role play, Gredler (1992) divided simulations into two main categories:
Online role play simulations, as originally defined in Project EnROLE, included social process simulations but not tactical decision simulations. They involved realistically complex interaction between the roles, perhaps better described as personas, rather than building sophisticated models that generated experiences (data) for the student to analyse.
Instead of continuing with strict definitional boundaries, the Triad implies that there is a continuum, in which online role play may involve a simulated problem context and analysis of related data, but where the focus of learning is on how the roles interact in dealing with the problem.
The Simulation Triad takes as its starting point that all simulations involve roles and rules and a problem. (A problem is sometimes called case, situation or scenario). Developing a framework that recognises design decisions according to the amount of emphasis put on Roles versus Problem versus Rules means that other examples can now be accommodated without compromising the integrity of the online role play design that emerged in Australia following the Vincent and Shepherd archetype.
Some of Gredler’s terminology for simulation categories has been adapted to label the three sides of the Triad. Sliders are used on each side of the triad to indicate amount of emphasis on roles, rules or problems.
The Triad graphic also serves to indicate the differing role of the computer in online simulations. Traditional simulations such as those that model Nuclear Power Plants are computer-based, the learner interacts with the computer, whereas role plays are computer-mediated, that is, the learner interacts with others via the computer.
Because of the way the project originally defined role-based e-learning, the majority of the 70 online role play learning designs collected in Project EnROLE’s repository are along the role-problem continuum and the examples that were previously excluded belong along the role-rules continuum.
The Simulation Triad positions role-based e-learning visually in relation to simulations in order to explain better what this new form of online role play is, with its emphasis on student interaction between roles, in role. However, it also serves to position role-based learning in relation to problem based learning.
This broader definition provides scope for other learning designs to be added to the EnROLE repository by broadening the keyword index. The repository could therefore include learning designs variously described as: Role Based Learning, Problem Based Learning, Case Based Learning, Scenario Based Learning, Situational Learning, Collaborative Learning, Computer simulation, and Scientific modelling.
BELOW: Various role plays and simulations from the Project EnROLE role play repository positioned on the Simulation Triad (with sliders showing position for #13 Scarlett Letter)
The EnROLE team agreed to adopt a broader term ‘role-based e-learning’ rather than the narrower term ‘online role play’ and defined online role-based learning environments as having the following characteristics:
- designed to increase understanding of real life human interaction and dynamics
- participants assume a role in someone else’s shoes or in someone else’s situation
- participantsundertakeauthentictasksinanauthenticcontext
- task involves substantial in-role interaction with other roles for
collaboration, negotiation, debate - interaction between roles is substantially in an online environment
- learning outcomes are assessable and generate opportunities for student
reflection.
Although this definition was reasonably broad there were a number of examples of practice that were not included in the repository because it was decided that they fell outside the definition.
In order to better position online role play as an emerging type of simulation, accounting for the myriad ways of designing role-based learning environments that the project had catalogued, a framework called the Simulation Triad was developed.
In earlier literature on (face to face) role play, Gredler (1992) divided simulations into two main categories:
- Tactical decision simulations: these focus on analysing data and on achieving particular outcomes from the decisions based on that analysis. The learning outcomes are capabilities in data selection, organization, interpretation and management.
- Social process simulations:these focus on interactions among people and how their beliefs, assumptions, goals and actions influence decisions. The learning outcomes are the ability to work in social systems, to build insight or empathy, or to develop communication skills.
Online role play simulations, as originally defined in Project EnROLE, included social process simulations but not tactical decision simulations. They involved realistically complex interaction between the roles, perhaps better described as personas, rather than building sophisticated models that generated experiences (data) for the student to analyse.
Instead of continuing with strict definitional boundaries, the Triad implies that there is a continuum, in which online role play may involve a simulated problem context and analysis of related data, but where the focus of learning is on how the roles interact in dealing with the problem.
The Simulation Triad takes as its starting point that all simulations involve roles and rules and a problem. (A problem is sometimes called case, situation or scenario). Developing a framework that recognises design decisions according to the amount of emphasis put on Roles versus Problem versus Rules means that other examples can now be accommodated without compromising the integrity of the online role play design that emerged in Australia following the Vincent and Shepherd archetype.
Some of Gredler’s terminology for simulation categories has been adapted to label the three sides of the Triad. Sliders are used on each side of the triad to indicate amount of emphasis on roles, rules or problems.
The Triad graphic also serves to indicate the differing role of the computer in online simulations. Traditional simulations such as those that model Nuclear Power Plants are computer-based, the learner interacts with the computer, whereas role plays are computer-mediated, that is, the learner interacts with others via the computer.
Because of the way the project originally defined role-based e-learning, the majority of the 70 online role play learning designs collected in Project EnROLE’s repository are along the role-problem continuum and the examples that were previously excluded belong along the role-rules continuum.
The Simulation Triad positions role-based e-learning visually in relation to simulations in order to explain better what this new form of online role play is, with its emphasis on student interaction between roles, in role. However, it also serves to position role-based learning in relation to problem based learning.
This broader definition provides scope for other learning designs to be added to the EnROLE repository by broadening the keyword index. The repository could therefore include learning designs variously described as: Role Based Learning, Problem Based Learning, Case Based Learning, Scenario Based Learning, Situational Learning, Collaborative Learning, Computer simulation, and Scientific modelling.
BELOW: Various role plays and simulations from the Project EnROLE role play repository positioned on the Simulation Triad (with sliders showing position for #13 Scarlett Letter)
