The Learning Design involves three activity phases:

• Planning and Preparation.
• Interaction.
• Reflection and Evaluation.

Two Learning Design Sequences are illustrated (the Designers' 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.

Learning Design Sequence (Designers' Interpretation)

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Learning Design Sequence (Project Team's Interpretation)

WHAT THE STUDENTS DO
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.

The students are organised in tutorial groups of 12-15 persons. Each tutorial group is treated as a discrete group. In each tutorial group, each student is assigned the role of one member of the UN Security Council and has to act for the duration of the exercise as the representative of that state or agency.

The major components of the Simulation Exercise are:

• Position Papers from each "state" or "agency", which are posted to the Simulation web site.
• Two phases of Secret Diplomacy between various state in each group with the aim of drafting acceptable resolution(s) to resolve the issue under consideration, conducted via Simulation web site.
• Two plenary, face-to-face meetings of the "Security Council", i.e. each tutorial group, leading to a vote.
• A written collaborative Group Report on the whole exercise from each tutorial group.
• Individual statements from the students on their personal experience, the parts of the exercise they enjoyed and suggestions for improvement.

All communication between students in the exercise take place via the Simulation web site, hosted by Simulation Builder. Tutors have access to all communication between the students in their groups. The lecturer also posts "Press Releases"to all groups from time to time, and as in the real world, some of these are genuine, while some are bogus and mischievous.

SIGNIFICANCE OF ORDER
The sequence of the learning design is significant and is based on the usual sequence for role-play simulation: planning and preparation, interaction, and reflection and evaluation.

Most of the actual learning activities sit within the Interaction phase, however the overall sequence is important.

CRITICAL ACTIVITIES
The overall sequence of 3 phases of learning activities is critical and should be maintained. However, depending on time and assessment weighting, the learning sequence can be modified somewhat.

For example:

• The Interaction phase may be compressed on expanded upon, allowing students more or less time for secret and open diplomacy.
• The group report is not essential and could be replaced by a class discussion. The reflection and evaluation phase is critical however, and needs to be incorporated in some form.

ACCESSIBLE RESOURCES
The first phase of the activity sees students preparing for the role-play, including writing a position paper for their role. To facilitate understanding of the role and formulation of the position paper, students are provided with electronic and library references to resources. Some resources are general to the whole scenario, while others are specific to each role.

The collection of position papers written by all members of the group will form a set of resources shared by the group of students at the beginning of the learning activity.

The role-play simulation also resides in the context of a unit on international politics. Students are concurrently attending lectures that include topics such as international diplomacy and relations. Students will use these lectures as well as the role-specific resources during the Interaction phase of the simulation.

During the course of the Interaction phase, the lecturer will insert "Press Releases" into the mix. As in the real world, some of these are genuine, while some are bogus and mischievous.

Simulation Builder underpins the ICT component of the learning design. It is a web tool that facilitates the creation of customised role-play simulations.

RESOURCES IN CONTEXT
The electronic role-specific resources are real political documents made available on the official web sites of the various states and agencies. While these documents are often long and dense, it is significant that they are used as students appreciate they are real.

The unpredictable Press Release interventions from the lecturer add a hint of risk and real-life randomness to the momentum of the learning activity.

The fact that this activity resides in a unit in which conventional lectures are used is significant as the personal reflections of students often express an appreciation of the relationship between the material covered in lectures and the experience gained through the role-play simulation.

VARYING THE RESOURCE SET
The Internet-based customised discussion facility that is provided through Simulation Builder is important. In the first instance, Simulation Builder allows for creation of an engaging interface. More importantly though, Simulation Builder enables discussion topics with various configurations to be created - topics with messages specific to groups of students, topics enabling private messages between students, topics enabling group to group communications.

While Simulation Builder provides these facilities, the learning design can be implemented with alternative technologies such as email, a learning management system such as WebCT, or Fablusi.

Two screen shots that illustrate the Simulation Builder interface are provided below.

SUPPORTS SUPPLIED
This learning design has a number of support elements. It is important to clearly outline the educational objectives to the students at the outset of the learning activity to ensure that students understand the activity in the context of the unit they are studying. 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. This may be a 10-15 minute session at the beginning of a lecture in which the lecturer demonstrates the web site. Students are then encouraged to visit the site and familiarise themselves in their own time. They are also informed about expectations regarding how often they should visit the site to check for messages.

All interactions between students occur during the face-to-face sessions or via the simulation web site. The simulation web site contains three separate sections for asynchronous communication: position papers, secret diplomacy, and group report.

A screen shot of the online asynchronous discussion environment is provided below.

The face-to-face sessions take the place of normal tutorial sessions and mostly involve a simulated plenary session of the UN Security Council. Some tutorial groups have reported that face-to-face Security Council meetings become quite heated.

Tutor facilitation during all interaction, both face-to-face and online, is crucial. Tutors can ensure the role-play simulation is played so that the educational objectives are achieved. Here are some suggestions for tutors to consider:

1. Occasionally present ideas or directions to specific countries which may not necessarily be in their national interest This enables one to assess the extent to which the student has understood his/her country's foreign policy.
2. Post messages to the Press Room of developments taking place in different parts of the world. This could be done within classroom setting as well. (In other words introduce new issues while the interaction is taking place). In this way, one could assess how well students react to sudden changes in the world.
3. Provide guidance to individual students during secret diplomacy. These comments are usually advisory and are aimed at giving clear directions to students, encourage greater participation and action on the part of students.
4. Debrief students after each face-to-face session so that they are aware of whether they are meeting assessor's expectations.

SIGNIFICANCE OF SUPPORT STRATEGIES
Interaction is the major phase of the role-play simulation, in terms of both time and assessment. The interaction phase is supported by two main communication methods: face-to-face meetings and asynchronous communication via the simulation web site. These learning supports are significant in that they form the environment in which the role-play simulation is enacted.

SUPPORT STRATEGY ADAPTATION
Tutor facilitation has been found to be a critical support strategy during the role-play simulation. Facilitation is used here in a broad sense of the word in that it describes clearly articulating the educational objectives to students, assisting students to understand the process and their role, encouraging appropriate participation, and debriefing the learning process following the activity.