A Web Simulation on Educational Change: Challenges and Solutions for Development

The Diffusion Simulation Game (DSG) was created to provide graduate students in the Instructional Systems Technology (IST) Department at Indiana University with an opportunity to play the role of a change agent charged with bringing about innovations in teaching methods at a fictional junior high school. Originally created by an IST faculty member in a paper-based format, the game consists of a game board and several information and feedback cards. To play the game, teams of three to four students work together to develop a strategy for persuading as many people as possible to adopt a particular innovation. This game has formed an integral part of a core, residential IST course since the 1970s. In 2001, the IST Department decided to offer this course for the first time online, and thus needed the paper-based version to be converted to a Web-based medium. We began by conducting a needs analysis of the stakeholders (course instructors and past students) for the Web-based DSG. Next we developed a rapid prototype (Web mock-up of what the game might look like in a browser) and conducted some usability tests in order improve the DSG design. After several design iterations, we then created a computer prototype using PHP (a Web programming language) and XML (Extensible Markup Language) with HTML to provide the interactivity of the game in which learners make decisions and experience their consequences . We also conducted two rounds of usability tests with target users to evaluate and improve the design of the working computer prototype. The final product was embedded into a distance education course after four months of development. We will discuss our initial evaluation results, and the overall impact of the online game on the distance students and the course in general. Finally, we will discuss ongoing maintenance and plans for the future of the DSG and its implications for developing a simulation to teach systemic change in education.