Simulations and the Future of Learning: An Innovative (and Perhaps Revolutionary) Approach to E-Learning

This book addresses a very interesting subject and one that is near and dear to my heart. How does a generation, who spent their childhood playing games, react to linear learning? This generation has overcome the linear educational system and is now in the workforce facing the myriad of training courses provided by companies. Are these courses any more adequate than schools and university courses to teach a generation who are used to complex and immersive learning environments? Anybody who has ever played a computer/video game will realize that they are learning some very complex skills and actually enjoying it! Obviously most of theses skills being learned don't seem to be very useful anywhere outside the game, but the realization that learning is happening is one that has some fundamental implications to the future of education. All learning should be as fun as games and that has been the holy grail of e-learning.Clark Aldrich takes us on his own very personal journey from his days as the research director for Gartner Group's e-learning initiative through to setting up a company, Simulearn that could fulfill the promise of e-learning. The book is split into 4 Parts that follow the `Hero's Journey/Story Arc' of Aldrich's quest. Part 1: `The Call to Adventure' or "The Simulation Way" - where Aldrich first realizes the potential of e-learning and from his advantageous position of seeing all the current e-learning products available also realizes that no one has as yet achieved this potential.Part 2: `Crossing the Threshold' or `Modeling Reality' - this is where Aldrich describes in detail the process of making the "Sim". It describes the design principles behind creating a truly immersive simulation and even goes as far as to describe the actual modules (Calculation, AI, Dialogue, Physics etc...)Part 3: `Approach the Innermost Cave' or "Philosophical and Technical Realities" - This delves deep into some of the hurdles, issues and problems that Aldrich's team encountered. He delves into some core pieces that are needed to make a truly immersive simulation game (Interface design, game play, scoring etc...)Part 4: `The Road Back' or "The Way Ahead" - This is where Aldrich summarizes his issues and hurdles into a list that will be valuable to anyone attempting to achieve the potential of e-learning.Summary: Any book that starts off by insisting that you play games has to be one that is worth reading! I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but I have always been a sucker for good story about challenging technical projects. In all seriousness if you are interested in game based learning and the potential of e-learning then you will find this book very rewarding. Following Aldrich and his team through tackling this problem without stepping down from the challenges, is a fun read. There is a lot more design details than you would expect from a book like this. Aldrich really does lay bare the principles, designs and challenges that were faced. My only concern was

Knowledgeably written by Clark Aldrich (the international team leader that created SimuLearn's Virtual Leader "concept car" of e-learning), Simulations And The Future Of Learning: An Innovative (And Perhaps Revolutionary) Approach To e-Learning is an enriching resource for classrooms and businesses wanting to prepare for and operate within our modern technological age. Individual chapters accessibly address using systems to effectively and logically model reality; the philosophical and technical realties; the crucial essence of leadership itself, and more. A thought-provoking supplement for teachers, trainers, and students determined to embrace all the tools the twenty-first century has to offer the art and science of education.

Clark Aldrich has written a personal story about developing a new genre of leadership development program. He takes you along for the ride as he becomes disenchanted with eLearning, quits a prestige job to find a better way, surmounts numerous hurdles, and ends up with Virtual Leader, a product you can buy today. Unlike most books on learning, Clark's is well written and witty; it's fun to read. "What would the world be like if eLearning truly worked?" If eLearning could bestow understanding and the ability to control things, the training organization would be more important than the lawyers. I'd be bragging about last night's learning experience. Of course, eLearning has not lived up to its potential. It's mainly virtual classrooms and online workbooks. The lessons have been degraded to the lowest common denominators of bandwidth, packaging standards, and generality. eLearning is sometimes no more than the pre-reading in a "blended" solution.There is an exception: the learning of people who must perform. Life or death. Soldiers, pilots, nuclear power plant workers, and Wall Street traders. They learn from simulation. Clark posits three forms of content: linear (most of what we're exposed to), cyclical (hitting balls on the driving range), and open-ended (with multiple paths and outcomes).He recounts the early days of eLearning from his perspective as the chief analyst in that space at Gartner. Vendors visit with dog-and-pony shows, some tripping themselves up irrevocably in the first ten minutes. Hundreds of companies and not one that was sufficiently compelling to inspire him. Or others. eLearning is to learning as fast food is to nutrition. It's all linear. It's crap.Next Clark quits his secure, prestigious job at Gartner to create exemplary eLearning, the best-of-breed that the eLearning vendors never showed him. He's out to build a "concept car" that will guide the industry.His chapter on "The Myth of Subject-Matter Experts" skewers leadership gurus mercilessly. They don't have the three forms of content. They don't have very deep models. They have anecdotes. They want a fortune to have their grad students cook something up. At a leisurely pace. If you're thinking about taking content from nationally-known authorities, read this chapter first. After months of research, reflection, blind alleys, and enough tid-bits to cover the walls with Post-It Notes, Clark and his mates arrived at a model of leadership that had the ring of truth. Leadership is "Getting a group of people to complete the right work." This is great stuff.I should know. Six years ago, my firm's EVP told me our clients needed a program on leadership. Could I come up with a model that could be the foundation of a workshop? Something compelling. (Worldwide, a million bankers had participated in our workshops. We considered ourselves the crème de la crème of bank training.)I jumped on the project with gusto, reading articles in the U.C. Berkeley library and on the web. I read Benn

Clark Aldrich is one of the few true visionaries in the training profession. This book convinces us that - despite numerous challenges - simulations can indeed change the way we learn. With clear, powerful arguments, Clark lays out why simulations are simply a better way to learn than the static webpages that we know as e-learning today; and suggests to us how simulations can and should be built. Clark is also a captivating writer and the book is a fascinating tale of the creation story of one of the more complex leadership simulations build to date - including all of the challenges that the development team faced and overcame.

It is frequently being suggesed now, by John Seely Brown and others that computer and video games,etc., are developing a young generation that is learning differently, that is very impatient with the lecture and traditional classroom This excellent book describes in detail the development of and a specific illustration of learning tools for this new generation. About leadership training for business, it neverless has important implications for all education.