The Learning Design involves three activity phases:

• Planning and Preparation
• Interaction
• Reflection and Evaluation

View the Learning Design Sequence for a graphical representation of the learning design.

Comment from the Project Team...

Two Learning Design Sequences have been provided (theDesigners' interpretation and the Project Team's interpretation) because whilst the Project Team's construction conforms more closely to the Learning Design Sequence protocol, the Designers' version illustrates the three activity phases of this learning design very clearly.

The simulation task spans five weeks and involves each tutorial group assuming the role of the UN Security Council and having to deliberate and vote on a current and contentious issue in international relations...

To facilitate understanding of the role and formulation of position paper, students are provided with electronic and library references to resources. Some resources are general to the whole scenario, while others a specific to each role....

Depending on the familiarity of the student cohort with ICT, students may require an orientation session in which they are guided through the simulation web site....

The learning design can be adapted to emphasise online or face-to-face, depending on the learning context...

To help students appreciate the context in which different international actors respond to international events by experiencing international politics at a personal level; To develop the ability to critically and objectively evaluate international developments by writing a reflective group report on the simulation exercise; ...

The critical component in the assessment is participation...

The introduction of ICT provided a forum for students to interact asynchronously. Students can easily post their position papers at the beginning of the exercise, and subsequently gain access to those of other students...

The defined learning design is based on the theory of experiential learning (Kolb, 1984), in particular role-play simulation...

The defined learning design initially formed part of a CUTSD-funded project, awarded jointly to UWA and Murdoch University, in which one of the participating groups investigated different ways of conducting Simulation Exercises...

Two evaluations of the learning design have been conducted: 1999, 2002...

Role-play is the critical component in this learning design for supporting learning engagement....