Mekong eSim: A role-play/simulation project for
2nd year Environmental Engineering students
Holger Maier
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Multiple awards!
The Commonwealth of Learning Award of Excellence for Distance Education Materials
The citation for the award can be viewed at: http://www.col.org/edea/edea_citations.htm#mekong (inactive 25/8/03)
The Pearson Education UniServe Science Teaching Award with the following acknowledgment:
"Your submission was outstanding. Your project was very innovative, in the sense of being a new way of teaching using information technology. It was based on sound educational principles and backed by evaluation that was sensible, thorough and convincing. The collaboration across institutions and disciplines in your submission was very constructive. Your submission was judged to be more competitive in all aspects."
Award winner for
"Exemplary use of Electronic Technologies in Teaching and Learning in Tertiary Education: Best Web Based Project", 2001
an annual award from ASCILITE: (Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education).
"I'm one of those people who likes context, and consequently have always thought about how I can make learning experiences as realistic as possible…The Mekong eSim really works. You believe in it, and can see the students coming out with a good experience... It's something they'll remember, and relate to other things being taught"
Background | Aims | Process | Evaluation | Future Developments | Contact
Background
This learning activity is about environmental decision-making. It is a web-based role-play/simulation project, set in the Mekong area of South-East Asia and is a collaboration between four institutions: Adelaide University, The University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), The University of Sydney and The Sepang Institute of Technology.
In role-play/simulations participants take on a particular role by adopting a persona within a simulated environment. Based on the success of two pilot roleplay/simulations in 1999, focused on the Beverley Mine in SA and the use of Australia as a nuclear waste repository, Holger Maier and Keith Walker won an Adelaide University Teaching Development Grant to develop the Mekong eSim project in collaboration with Rob McLaughlan from UTS.
Aims
The Mekong eSim was developed as a realistic international problem which emphasised collaboration and cooperation. The design of the simulation also enabled staff to integrate their own interests in environmental problems and international development issues in the classroom, and to explore the use of groupwork.The student learning objectives were to:
- identify the political, social, economic, cultural and scientific dimensions to decision-making in resource management conflicts;
- identify the responsibilities and appropriate responses for characters in the role-play/simulation;
- develop communication, research, critical thinking, negotiation and decision-making skills;
- communicate and integrate with students studying the same curricula at multiple campuses.
Process
One hundred and sixty second and third year students from the four institutions were assigned roles in teams of 3-4, based on stakeholders involved in conflicts surrounding water resources issues in the Mekong Basin. Potential stakeholders included non-government organisations, international agencies, government agencies, business interests, farmers and fishers from up to six countries.Through research and oral and written communication assignments, the students investigated their roles and researched relevant water resources and development issues, proposed options and negotiated with one another. Most of the interaction occurred over the internet, with some structured face-to-face debriefings at Adelaide and UTS.
Assessment
The assessment schedule laid out below gives a good idea of the range of individual and group assignments which structured the eSim. Students also assessed themselves and their peers using a software package called SPARK, currently being developed at UTS. Information on this development can be found by contacting Jo McKenzie from the UTS Institute of Media and Learning (jo.mckenzie@uts.edu.au). Group work processes are not yet being assessed.
Figure 1: Example extract from assessment schedule
Students from all Universities will be expected to contribute about 40hrs to eSim. This is consistent with the workload for the course you are undertaking and the amount of assessment the eSim occupies in your subject.
A more detailed description of the project can be found at:
http://www.eng.uts.edu.au/~robertm/mekong/Information.htm
Some publications on the Mekong e-Sim have recently become available on the web:
http://science.uniserve.edu.au/pubs/callab/vol7/mclaugh.html
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/melbourne01/pdf/papers/mclaughlanr.pdf
Evaluation
The role-play/simulation project is being evaluated from both student and staff perspectives. Students provided feedback through a questionnaire and a nominal group technique, while teaching staff from the four institutions were interviewed via telephone/email. To date, says Holger, 'some of the debriefing reports have been fantastic - they demonstrate that the eSim addresses so many of the attributes we'd like to teach'. The debriefing reports are based on face-to-face debriefing sessions, as well as individual critical learning incidents that are posted on the web for others to see and learn from.The following is an excerpt from one of the debriefing reports:
"On the whole I found the Mekong e-sim a highly beneficial learning experience. I had worried at the beginning whether the simulation would provide an accurate representation of the true decision making processes, and how effective participation in the e-sim would be. I was surprised at how well the simulation ran, and how much more it taught me about the process of natural resource management than a normal lecture course would have. The method of learning was as interactive as any other practical experience. And the knowledge was garnered in the same manner, meaning that it was internalised, rather than memorised. This was despite the fact that the environment for the learning was highly artificial."
Future Developments
Future roles in the simulation could include financial and commercial perspectives – perhaps some collaboration with Economics or Commerce?
A number of students who participated in the e-Sim in 2001 worked with Holger over the summer to make the following changes to the e-Sim.
1. The production of a student handbook, which can be downloaded from
http://www.eng.uts.edu.au/~robertm/mekong/Information.htm
2. Some changes in the assessment, including:
2.1 Role profiles are provided as part of the student handbook, and the
students are only required to make a group submission on proposed group strategies, group diversity issues and persona representation. This is self and peer assessed.
2.2 There are two new online quizzes designed to ensure students engage with the e-Sim early and learn vital background material. One quiz is on the roles and responsibilities of the various personae and the other on background information about the Mekong region. The quizzes are multiple choice, but the students can attempt them as many times as they like. Each time they attempt a quiz, questions are drawn from a random pool. The students are required to obtain 8 out of 10 marks in order to pass, which will yield them 5% of the overall mark of the e-Sim for each quiz. The new assessment structure is given in the student handbook and an introductory slideshow about the e-Sim, which can be viewed or downloaded from http://www.eng.uts.edu.au/~robertm/mekong/Information.htm
3. Student tips in the form of quotes from a number of last year's students have been added.
4. The number of pro development groups (e.g. engineering firms, media) has
been increased.
5. Summaries and categorisation of background reading material have been
provided in the student handbook
Holger Maier can be contacted on:
Tel: +61 8 8303 4139
E-mail: hmaier@civeng.adelaide.edu.au
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