Like life? Simulations are poised to change the direction of e-learning. But who will take the wheel?

Training & Development, Feb, 2002 by William Powell

My father calls to tell me that he has just flown from Orlando Executive to Charlotte/Douglas International, a night flight in bad weather. And despite an instrument landing, he set his Cessna down like a feather on water. He's excited; I'm excited for him. For months; our conversations have revolved around his travels and such terms as cross wind, tail wind, rate of descent, and cruising speed. He has mastered coordinates, GPS, and fuel consumption. Then he, miraculously, flies from New York to Paris, skillfully piloting a craft the weight of three blue whales. I'm impressed, but would I get on a plane captained by him? Nor on your life.

The good folks at Microsoft may have put together a convincing flight simulator--the rag is, "As real as it gets"--but there's a world of difference between a simulation on a computer and the real thing. I know that for a fact. I've built cities, sleuthed my way through detective stories, and flown airplanes from here to Riven and back. Aside from the multimillion-dollar simulators deployed by the military simulations are mainly games, entertainment in the guise of learning. No one gains knowledge of any importance from simulations run on their PCs. At least, that's what I used to think.

A new generation of e-learning companies has seen the potential of PC-based simulations and wants to transform the way you learn.

It's about the pedagogy

The splash page at Indeliq.com * indeliq.com a Chicago-based developer of simulations for training soft skills, features a cockpit. The metaphor of learning to fly through a simulation is woven into the site. The implication is that if you can teach someone through simulation to master the complexity of flying a 747, surely simulations can teach how to be a better manager. Say "simulator" and likely the first thing people think of is the advanced, multimillion-dollar simulators used to train military and commercial airline pilots. Try to envision a simulation for management. That's a big problem soft-skills simulation designers have to face.

For some designers, the model is TV and video; for others, it's computer games. Yet, as Indeliq's chairman and CEO Daniel Hamburger puts it, "Simulations are not about the media. They're about the pedagogy."

Hamburger reduces computerized simulations to these stages: reference, application, and remedy. He makes the point that when it comes to simulation, you don't have to have 3D graphics or high-quality video. A simulation can be performed with pen and paper; trainers have been conducting role plays for years. But what if the trainer were replaced with, say, an advanced artificial intelligence engine, a unique set of problems, and a simulated office environment and was delivered at users' leisure via the Web? Now you're talking about current computer simulations. Whereas traditional CBT begins and ends with the reference layer, computer-based simulations add height, depth, and width to "put the content into context," says Hamburger.

Simulation designers don't have to rely on video or computer animation, but they're using those media to create slick and sophisticated products. Design times rake up to a year, and development costs commonly top US$1 million. Designers pull content models from the hottest business gurus and academic institutions and, though the designers are all about business, they want users to have fun. But it's unlikely you'll mistake simulations, however entertaining, for video games. Still, motion capture and skeletal animation, the basis for most video games, do bring characters to life for developers such as SimuLearn * simulearn.net and Boston Dynamics * bdi.com. Ninth House Network * ninthhouse.com and Imparta * imparta.com use video and top-notch acting to bring story lines to the computer screen. So, though simulations may be about reference, application, and remedy, they're anything but boring.

Hard sell, soft skills

Selling a computer-based simulation might seem like trying to sell a Ferrari to an accountant, especially when there are perfectly sensible e-learning alternatives. But it's e-learning's current offerings that just might get a learning executive to take simulations for a test drive.

Much of e-learning still isn't very exciting. Tell and test, use and snooze, and e-boring are just a few of the descriptions critics throw around. But like it or not, much e-learning has excellent content, and the tell-and-test models are all that employees need to master simple skills.

But what about soft skills? Behavioral skills? What about management, sales, and performance training? Emotions? No one actually needs a Ferrari, but a good salesperson can make a compelling argument for an emotional need for a ride that goes from 0 to 60 in a few heartbeats. And it's impossible for an owner's manual to capture the nuance, excitement, and sensory cues when we slide into the plush leather sear and hit the open road.

Think back to the last time you tried to close a sale or called in an employee for reprimand. You were probably nervous and perhaps even sweating. Such situations are charged with emotion and unpredictability. There are no multiple-choice answers or quick references for what to do. That's real life. Life is emotions, temporal and visceral. Action and inaction have different consequences. If the knowledge of how to react and interact isn't residing comfortably in your subconscious, then it's useless. That's what the best simulations promise to provide--something lifelike yet new and a chance to practice, practice, practice until the information or behavior becomes experience.