DISCIPLINE
Business (Finance)

DURATION
Three weeks of 3 hours per week, plus approximately 9 hours of individual study.

ICT USED
Interactive Multimedia CD-Rom

DELIVERY CONTEXT
Totally from the CD-Rom

TARGET AUDIENCE
Undergraduate students with some introductory computing experience but no prior knowledge of Finance.

COHORT
The program ran in a laboratory with 24 computers - however each student could have their own CD and use it at home.

BROADER CONTEXT
The program formed one module within a unit of study. However, the students also found that they could use certain elements within other units, e.g., law, accounting and more advanced finance unit.

A basic understanding of the processes involved in investing in the stock market, including the application of formulae to predict outcomes.

IMPLEMENTATION OF ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES
As this was supposed to be a realistic, real-world, experience, the assessment was really implemented through the accumulation of wealth by investing wisely and applying theory.

It is interesting to note that although no "formal" methods of assessment were applied, students were pre-, post- and delayed-post tested, and the best results were gained on the delayed-post tests. Follow-up interviews highlighted the fact that students began to apply what they had learned through real investing, and also many had begun to engage in discussions with other investors, as well as reading papers such as the Financial Review.

IMPORTANCE OF ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES USED
I believe that the outcomes described above show that students really did learn, but also continued to learn long after the program was over. The lack of formal assessment did not stop students wanting to experience the program.

WHY ICT IS USED
I was trying to determine whether a multimedia environment could be made sufficiently engaging to motivate university students to complete it alone and without formal assessment incentives.

HOW ICT USE HELPS
Immersion in a fantasy world, students can complete authentic tasks without the danger of failure. In the formal classroom, students can hear about the theory but they cannot experience it, apply it, or truly understand the consequences of world events. In using the microworld, it was noted that students actually confused reality and fantasy and were able to transfer knowledge from other units of study they had completed.

MOST IMPORTANT ICT CONTRIBUTION TO LEARNING DESIGN
Students lost track of time whilst completing the tasks. The dyad groups had interesting conversations that showed that they not only related to the online characters, but that they were totally absorbed in the program. For example, one pair had a lengthy conversation about whether they could be liable for prosecution if they acted upon some information which could be considered to be insider trading.