We have used microworlds on various consulting projects to introduce the
general concepts to clients, or to move them from causal loop diagramming
to stock and flow diagramming and model building. As a "facilitative
participant" (I have not been the lead on any of these projects), I have
found that the participants take much more away from the sessions if
substantial time is spent up front getting them to think about what they
expect the system to do, and what they expect the most successful policies
(or decision rules) will be. In addition, time must be spent after the
simulations debriefing the experiences of participants (talking about what
the most successful policies actually were). In the workshops I've
attended where this doesn't happen, the partic ipants view the simulator
as a "game", they play it, and when they leave they appear to take little
away from the experience.
On a related note, Paal Davidsen at the University of Bergen in Norway has
done a lot of very innovative work with interactive learning environments.
His group has developed multi-actor simulation-based learning environments
where participants can play either the same role against one another or
various roles in the same simulation. His web page is at
http://www.ifi.uib.no/staff/paal/.
traci.l.hoard@ArthurAndersen.com
--"traci.l.hoard" <traci.l.hoard@ArthurAndersen.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>