DISCIPLINE
Political Science

DURATION
It is implemented in the middle of a semester and runs for 3-4 weeks.

ICT USED
This learning design utilises a custom-built Web-based system.It is based on Apache/PHP/mySQL, built at and operated from the University of New South Wales. (Contact: John Shepherd).

DELIVERY CONTEXT
Majority online, in students' own time at a location of their choosing (e.g. home), with final debriefing accomplished face-to-face in the context of a phone-based teleconference.

TARGET AUDIENCE
Second or third year full or part-time undergraduate students from Macquarie University all of whom have completed a first year Politics course.

Students from overseas institutions have also taken part in the simulation. These include students from:

• Georgetown University;
• The American University in Washintgon, CD;
• The University of Texas;
• The American University in Cairo (AUC) in Cairo, Egypt;
• The University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand;
• University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Overseas students have been drawn from undergraduate and postgraduate classes.

More recently, we have trialled the system using Year 11 High School students from Killara HS, North Sydney Boys HS, and Pennant Hills HS (all in Sydney).

All students taking part in the simulation are expected to have some background in general political science, and have taken at least several weeks of a course in the regional politics of the modern Middle East.

COHORT
The learning design can be adapted to suit class sizes, but works best
with at least one dozen roles. We have run simulations with up to 60 or 70 roles. Roles are generally played by teams of three students, but there is nothing to prevent them being played by individuals or groups of different sizes.

BROADER CONTEXT
The remaining 60% of the student's final grade is comprised of:

• 1 major essay (approx 3000 words, topic chosen from a list);
• 1 mid-term examination (in-class written exam);
• 1 class presentation (tutorial class, topic negotiated with tutor).

Students have a choice if they wish to participate in the simulation. For those that do not wish to participate, they are given a written examination worth 40% of their final grade.

• Knowledge of Middle East Politics.
• Development of negotiating skills, teamwork and generic skills.
• Internet and Computer Competence.

IMPLEMENTATION OF ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES
The simulation is worth 40% of course grade and replaces the final exam in the course.

The simulation grade is made up of marks awarded for: the quantity of messages sent, the quality of messages, the role-profile, participation in concluding the teleconference; and the final simulation report where students report on their own learning from the simulation. Each of these components is weighted equally.

The system provides detailed usage statistics, which makes it straightforward to assess the quantity of material from each group. Input from the controllers is critical in assessing the quality of messages (which essentially assesses how well the group followed the role profile and how effectively they were able to advance their own interests). Role profiles are assessed according to the criteria outlined above. Performance at the teleconference is assessed by similar criteria to the performance during the simulation.

IMPORTANCE OF ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES USED
Assessment is primarily there as a motivation to participate. However, it does have a role as a mechanism to evaluate the effort put into the simulation by students (e.g. number of messages sent) and their learning outcomes (e.g. performance in the teleconference).

WHY ICT IS USED
A major learning problem was that students lacked opportunities to engage with the personalities involved in the Middle Eastern political situation they were studying, thus the pedagogical strategy of role-play was deemed an effective approach. The use of ICT in terms of the asynchronous discussion aided to the level of engagement as students became immersed in the role-play as they could participate any time convenient to them throughout the duration of the role-play.

In addition, in the early days of the simulation, the use of ICT aided to a secondary problem which was the lack of IT skills amongst students enrolled in this Arts faculty subject.

HOW ICT USE HELPS
ICT is critical to the simulation. Even if all of the students were from the same class at Macquarie, the ICT enables them to "play" when/where they want, enables the same kind of effective interactions as are currently observed, and allows students time to develop their understanding of their role and the situation, something that would not be possible if e.g. the entire simulation was played out in a half-day conference format.

MOST IMPORTANT ICT CONTRIBUTION TO LEARNING DESIGN
Communication facilities. Essentially the whole ICT infrastructure is just a means of providing relevant communication modalities.