Why students engage in simulation and how it prepares them for work
Authors: Biggins, D., Holley, D., Goldsmith, B. and Priego, J.
Conference: ALDinHE 2023: The Learning Development Conference
Dates: 13-14 June 2023
Abstract:“In the future, learning will take the shape of a story, a play, a game; involving multiple platforms and players; driven by dialogue and augmented with technology, an interplay of immersive experiences, data, and highly social virtual worlds” (Lee et al., 2021).
Employers seek graduates who demonstrate attributes that organisations require to develop in the future. As students transition out of HE, they should have the ‘abilities and capabilities to maintain employment’ (Asiri et al., 2017 p. 2). The conceptual tool of transitions has the potential to address this disjuncture. Widening participation research has provided evidence that students’ movements in and out of experiences such as care, work and studies are fluid, non-linear and context-dependent (Priego-Hernández & Holley, 2021). Signature pedagogies (Thomson et al., 2012) for professions can provide a means for institutions to achieve the requirements of OfS’s B3 (2022) which values the links between the provider and the employer.
With the move to hybrid learning, students want their learning materials to be well-designed. However, 43% of students do not perceive their learning materials to be engaging/motivating (Jisc, 2022). Immersive technology and simulation may offer the solution to this disconnect. Simulations can be designed for cognitive absorption, the psychological concept of flow and deep absorption in learning (OU, 2022). Premised on the innovation of best learning moments the student tasks shared in this workshop engender deep involvement, through memorable learning activities.
Learning Developers have a pivotal part to play operationalising B3 for their institutions and our workshop invites participants to experience three types of simulation, a) a business game, b) a mass casualty evacuation and c) a community project responding to a scenario. Participants will be encouraged to explore these technologies and to share and plan how to deploy these and other technologies in their own contexts.
Source: Manual