ORIGIN OF THE LEARNING DESIGN
In a dinner discussion between Andrew Vincent and John Shepherd at St. Hilda's College in Melbourne University. Andrew expressed a desire to use simulations in teaching his Middle East Politics Class, and John suggested doing this via email on the Internet (no web existed then).

TIMES THE LEARNING DESIGN HAS BEEN USED
Roughly twice per year since 1990 (definitely over 20 times).

MODIFICATIONS SINCE FIRST USE
The initial system used a simple ASCII-text email client and chat facility. It was switched to a Web-based system in 1998, to overcome student difficulties in using the mail and chat programs on the Unix system.

DISSEMINATION
The Fablusi system appears to have been based on our original concept.

RESEARCH CONDUCTED ON THE DESIGN
After each simulation, we administer a questionnaire to the students to determine how effective they felt the simulation was as a learning experience and how effective was the system.

The response is always that the experience is extremely enjoyable and that students now have a much better "feel" for the nature of problems in the Middle East and for political dynamics in general.

The comments about the system have been used to fine-tune the interface (and, indeed, prompted the move from the simple email/chat interface to the web-based one).

DESIGN EFFECTIVENESS VERSUS INTENDED OUTCOMES
The design has repeatedly shown that it is capable of sustaining a very high level of interest among students, and of producing students who have a better understanding of the modern Middle East (as evidenced by the quality of their essay work subsequent to the simulation).

UNEXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
In the early days (early 1990's), when the Internet was still a novelty to many Politics students, they became extremely interested in the use of the Internet as a communication tool after the simulation.

HOW LEARNER ENGAGEMENT IS SUPPORTED
The learning design provides a very effectively vehicle for students to experience "first-hand" the complexities and limitations in the wielding of power in a complex political environment. The fact that students overwhelmingly tend to play in character, lends an extra component of realism to the system. The fact that students from the other side of the world are involved lends an exotic component, which also helps stimulate interest. The system itself is supposed to stay out of the way and provide an easy-to-use structured communication tool.

Comment from the Evaluation Team...

The evaluators of this exemplar concluded that learner engagement is supported extremely well. A summary comment from the evaluators is as follows:

"Learner engagement is fostered by the preparatory information and the evidence provided that the approach is successful – take the leap you will not be disappointed! As a learning design simulation techniques are identified through their reliance upon acting and thinking ‘as if’ and if the ‘as if’ conditions can be made meaningful and applied within the developing game they can be sustained and provide support and facilitate the participation of other players. The trick is to get all to understand their role and the rules of the game – if one role does not play to the rules there are problems for other players."

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF LEARNING CONTEXT
The learning design makes few assumptions about the learning context, and so could be adapted to many different environments. The main factor that makes it work so well in the domain of Politics is the inherently competitive nature of the process being simulated.

Comment from the Evaluation Team...

The evaluators concluded that the acknowledgement of the learning context is supported and offered this summary:

"The learning design acknowledges both the discourse of the discipline (politics) and the discourse of teaching (context, interaction, inclusiveness feedback). The technique (the game) is a microcosm of the field (politics)."

HOW THE LEARNING DESIGN CHALLENGES LEARNERS
The primary challenge is in playing out an unfamiliar role: putting yourself in the shoes of another person, adopting their background and motivation, and doing all of this in a complex environment. The other major challenge is the requirement to operate in a constantly changing environment. As one student put it in an evaluation: "The questions that we were forced to answer were constantly changing".

Comment from the Evaluation Team...

The evaluators concluded that this kind of learning design indeed challenges learners:

"The learning design challenges learners in the ways that it introduces new ‘content’ through dialogue with different roles. This means that learners are constantly assessing the application of what they currently know with what they will need to know and apply to participate in the game."

OPPORTUNITIES FOR PRACTICE
The whole aim of the simulation is to constantly demonstrate an understanding of the situation via negotiations, so students are given constant feedback about their progress from other players. In a sense, the feedback system is self-sustaining and built-into the learning design.

Comment from the Evaluation Team...

In terms of providing opportunities for practice, the evaluators commented that the learning design does support practice but may be limited in the extent it enables students to articulate and demonstrate to themselves and others what they are learning:

"The design provides opportunities to develop skills through practice – written communication, group work and the like. There is little ‘student support’ or information on skill development or opportunity for feedback related to practice inbuilt into the learning design."

The evaluators however, did comment that this aspect of practice may be addressed in the debrief session.