Presented by:Ken Spero

Capturing and Deploying Experience Through Simulation

ASTD PHLeLearning SIG

Setting the Stage

Learning Continuum

Learning Continuum Revised

Instructional Design

Instructional DesignNarrative –

Experience Design

Today’s Session Outline

In this session we will address the following issues relating to Experience and Simulations:

1. Why use Simulation2. Experience Design3. Play a Sim4. Applications for Sim5. QA

Why use Simulation?

Experiencing Best Practices Enables Critical Thinking

5

Why use Simulations?

Experience is the best teacher Sims provide experience (emotional engagement

with environment) Sims expand the evocable experience base, they

become part of your experience portfolio / “gut”. Sims consequate Mindlessness and encourage

Mindfulness Sims provides an opportunity for participants to learn

from failure, to Fail Forward Sims enable time acceleration to feel consequences Sim leverages the power of storytelling (context)

Why use Simulations? (Cont’d)

Focus on Retention 1. Emotional Engagement2. Capturing Attention – memory, interest, awareness3. Context (Gist)4. Avoid overteaching – brains need a break5. Pattern matching 6. Repetition7. Setting8. Sensory integration

Our objective is not an excellent training product, but rather…an excellent performer

John Medina – Brain Rules

Thalheimer Article: Using… Appropriate Scenarios to Support… Remembering

Retrieval Practice goes beyond Retention Scenarios Support Long Term Remembering Decision Making Scenarios Provide Memory

Retrieval Practice Scenarios Enable Context-Triggered Remembering Scenarios Enable Language-Triggered

Remembering Culturally Relevant Scenarios Boost Performance

Using Linguistically, Culturally, and Situationally Appropriate Scenarios to Support Real-World RememberingWill Thalheimer - A Work-Learning Research Document - 2009

Experience Design – The Key Objective

Engagement

Retention

Engagement Retention Retrieval

Why use Simulations? (Cont’d)

Sims provide Experiences to populate our experience-portfolio

Sims promote Critical Thinking and improved Decision Making

Computer Based Sims use the power of Storytelling to promote and maintain active engagement and retention

Experience Portfolio

Problem

Experience Portfolio (Gut)

Options

PotentialConsequence(s)

Strategy

Action

Results

Critical Thinking

Experience and Judgment

Good judgment is the result of experience.  

Experience is the result of bad judgment.

Chad CheckettsSimulation Evangelist

When Sim

Play a Sim – Leadership Challenge

Reinforcement Simulation

Self –paced and Classroom Debrief

Leadership Scorecard– Vision– Knowledge– Inspiration

Play a Sim – Leadership Challenge

Play Simulation (20-25 Minutes)

Small Team Debrief – Review your Feedback and Scorecard (5 minutes)

Large Group Debrief with everyone (5 minutes)

Experience Design: Creating Experience

Narrative flow – Power of Story Telling Consequences – Make it Memorable Scorecard feedback – Make it realistic / measurable Narrative feedback – Repetition / memorable Small Group debriefings and opportunities to share /

expand the experience / consequences Large Group debriefings to establish additional

connections with larger initiative and/or subject matter

Why use Simulations (Cont’d)?

The Anchor Story Establish a back story that can be re-used to accelerate…

– Engagement – Communication – Retrieval Practice

May include (these evolve over time):– Company– Employees (hierarchy and relevant staff) – Products– Customers– Competitors

GRAPHICS – targeting context and emotional engagement Should not be your organization, but something that ‘looks like’ so that the

Cues you embed can be ‘sticky’ The Anchor Story should be used as broadly as possible in different modalities,

where relevant, to continue to establish context and depth One may already exist within your portfolio of solutions, you can build upon

what exists

Organizational Experience – Deployment (Cont’d)

What are the Tools of the Trade:1. Face to Face Workshops 2. Virtual Workshops3. eLearning4. JIT – Performance Support Tools5. Coaching6. Mentoring7. Leader driven interactions8. Mobile9. Social Networking 10. Storytelling11. Knowledge Management/Best Practices12. Other?

When Sim

Simulations are most impactful when:– Critical Thinking is imperative– Decisions depend on situations– Contextual experience is necessary– Decisions / Implementation must be consistent across /

within groups– When blended with other content, simulations can;

Reinforce learning Prepare learners to effectively deal with obstacles to execution Create an expanded learning environment where learners are

free to engage with / learn from others (not instructor only)

When Not Sim

Sims are not best for instruction of content Sims are not efficient for presenting content

that can be executed by following a fixed process or recipe

Why use Simulations?

IT IS ALL ABOUT EXPERIENCE!Experience Design encompasses:

Participant Experience (playing) Leadership Experience

(developing/authoring) Organizational Experience (blending)

Using Simulation in the Blend

How can we efficiently Blend?1. Critical Thinking

a. Audience Characteristicsb. Learning Objective Characteristics

Using Simulation in the Blend

Audience Characteristics: widely dispersed highly concentrated high turnover stable population variable exp. levels homogeneous exp. level variable ed. levels homogeneous ed. Level little discretionary time much discretionary time just in time need developmental need unmotivated to learn highly motivated to learn

Using Simulation in the Blend

Learning Objective Characteristics: stable content evolving content mandatory content discretionary content fact based skills based minimal amt. of content much content discrete ideas synthesis of ideas conceptually simple conceptually difficult personally focused interpersonal focused individual competencies team competencies explicit implicit values neutral values laden seen the content before new content

Experience Design: Authoring Simulations (Introducing the Assignment)

1. Establish the Narrative (something that can be re-used – Anchor Story)

a) Clearly define a problem / Target Learning Objectiveb) Articulate the desired experience and outcomec) Timeline and flowd) Create Measurable Scorecard: Goals and Boundariese) Establish Context: Environment / Storyline / Castf) Start with ‘Golden Path’

Experience Design: Authoring Simulations (Cont’d)

2. Articulate and Prioritize Key Learning Objectives3. Write a Scene from narrative that reflects each of the

selected Learning Objectives4. Articulate Alternatives/Choices/Feedback

5. Lay out scenes in the flow of the narrative6. Determine Memorable and Realistic Consequences7. Add intros and outros 8. Score Choices – Link to Objectives in a Measurable way

Experience Design – The Key Objective

Engagement

Retention

Engagement Retention Retrieval

• Contact:Ken Spero(215) 565-5598KSpero@NEXLEARN.com

www.ImmersiveLearningU.com

For More Information

Designing Simulations

EXPERIENCE DESIGN – What is it?1. Dealing with a situations from beginning (context)

to end (consequences)2. Capturing a narrative that enables participants to

demonstrate the desired learning objectives 3. The narrative leverages the power of storytelling 4. Creating opportunities to demonstrate failure as an

option

Experience Design: The Illusion of Complexity

Limited set of choices

No need to cover every eventuality

Populate the Experience Portfolio

Experience other consequences by playing again

Experience Design: Memorable Experience

Create or build upon a Story Identify consequences important to the

Storyline

Leverage suspense

Leverage humor

Leverage reality

Scorecard

Step 2: Establish Storyline