Exploring the potential of web-based social process experiential simulations.

In the fall of 1996, the Arkansas Archeological Survey and the Department of Foreign Languages at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville received a $180,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities Teaching With Technology program. The goal of this grant initiative was to encourage creation of content-rich, computer-based materials for teaching history, literature, and languages. The grant team produced a CD-ROM called First Encounters: Native Americans and Europeans in the Mississippi Valley. The CD-ROM was designed to teach students how to critically evaluate differing multicultural perspectives using historical sources. A post-development evaluation of these materials yielded favorable student ratings and successful learning outcomes, however we decided to add a second generation of instructional improvements. The primary goal of this article is to describe the implementation and preliminary evaluation of one of these improvements, a web-based social process experiential simulation prototype called Two Worlds. Two Worlds was designed to enhance critical thinking by engaging users to explore a digital micro-world, participate in role-plays, and construct mind maps through and with collaborative electronic tools.

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A primary goal of the First Encounters project was to help students answer the question: How does one derive from the archeological and historical record, an understanding of what happened in the past? Therefore, the First Encounters CD-ROM was designed to engage students in an active investigation of Native American and European encounters using original historical sources such as texts, maps, artworks, and archeological finds.

We chose to emphasize the Lower Mississippi Valley because a great range of cultural encounters took place in this region. Since French and Spanish explorers wrote many of the original documents, we also developed language-learning tracks, making the software useful for teaching across a multiple-subject curriculum.

The English language track takes students through a detailed presentation of historical and anthropological materials describing encounters between Native American communities and French, Spanish, and British explorers, traders, missionaries, and colonists in the Mississippi Valley during the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries. The CD-ROM organized these materials within the following subject models within the English track: Two Worlds, First Encounters, Views of the Land, Exchanges, Interactions, and Legacies. The French and Spanish tracks each provided four topical modules designed for enhancing foreign language skills while studying Native American and European encounters within the English track.

THEORETICAL UNDERPINNINGS AND INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN STRATEGIES

In recent years, many researchers have argued that the quality of technology-based learning is greatly impacted by the presence or absence of interactivity. Unfortunately, a concise definition for interactive learning does not exist. Therefore, we evaluated and chose an instructional design model by considering some of the seminal research on this subject. The following paragraphs summarize these ideas and explain how they are applied.

In 1990, Moore proposed the theory of transactional distance, which established the basis for most current definitions of interactivity. Originally specific to distance education, this theory asserts that whenever direct access to the instructor is limited, three different types of interactions need to take place: learner-instructor interactions, learner-content interactions, and learner-learner interactions. Since limited access to the instructor is also a typical feature of technology-based learning environments Moore's ideas may also be applied to the development of this type courseware.

Learner-instructor interactions provide a context for instructors to model and students to imitate discipline specific professional practice. Learner-content interactions provide a context for students to acquire additional knowledge. Learner-learner interactions provide a context for students to sharpen subject-related knowledge through exchanges with other students.

In 1993, Laurillard expanded Moore's ideas by rating how and to what extent different types of media could be used by instructors to provide high quality learner-instructor and learner-content interactions. Further, Laurillard's analysis suggested that content alone presented in certain forms and by particular types of media could become a virtual teacher. The media that received the highest scores for teaching and virtual teaching in her evaluation were tutorial systems, simulations and programs, micro-worlds, electronic collaboration or teamwork tools and multi-media and audio resources.

Therefore, since the goal of the initial project was to produce an interactive multimedia resource for teaching history, literature, and languages within the traditional classroom, we chose Kathy Kozel's (1995, 1996) Interactive Experience Model (IEM) to guide the development of the First Encounters CD-ROM. IEM is a tutorial-based multimedia instructional design model. IEM uses a series of simple to complex learning exercises to engage students in mock professional practice. Hundreds of interactive sequences including exercises, quizzes, tutorials, and essay prompts with step-by-step instructions were created to engage students in the process of learning first-hand the methods of historical and anthropological analysis. These interactive sequences taught students how to reach their own interpretations as they applied anthropological concepts to the raw materials of history. Each of the First Encounters CD-ROM learning exercises consisted of three parts (a) an introductory segment that gained user interest; (b) an interactive, problem-solving, or discovery exercise; and, (c) finally, a concluding resolution or reward segment that connected the user with a subsequent but more challenging exercise.

PRELIMINARY EVALUATIONS

Once the production of First Encounters was completed, Dr. George Sabo integrated the CD-ROM into an existing Anthropology course, Ethnographic Approaches to the Past. This course was taught in a seminar format and the CD-ROM was used as a tool to engage students in learning activities and follow-up discussions. A qualitative study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of this classroom application. This study employed two types of document analysis to evaluate learning outcomes and probe student perceptions and attitudes. The documents consisted of two types of student-produced essays. The first set of essays was generated from CD-ROM learning exercises that required written responses. The content of these essays was assessed in relation to the target goals associated with a particular exercise to evaluate the quality of the instructional design method. The second group of essays was produced at the end of the semester as summative evaluations. In these essays students were invited to evaluate the impact of the CD-ROM on their learning experience. Three learning exercise essays (one low, one middle, and one high achieving) and six summative essays (two low, two middle, and two high achieving) were analyzed in order to gain a representative view of all of the participants. These essays were randomly selected and coded for themes and patterns to provide a representative sample of the entire student population.

In the first set of essays, students were asked to analyze an eyewitness description of a particularly brutal Spanish attack on an Indian village, ordered by the 16th century Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto. The analysis required students to use the text as evidence to demonstrate the changing worldviews of each group. Students needed to employ three critical analysis techniques to compose a successful answer. These techniques included: (a) rating the severity of the conflict, (b) placing the conflict within its proper cultural and historical context, and (c) evaluating cultural representations.

Eyewitnesses who recorded these types of events usually reported multiple military engagements between the same groups. Thus, one conflict could be compared to other occurrences documented by the same author. In addition, the perspective of the eyewitness could also be evaluated as the Spanish held perceptions of violence based upon their previous conflicts with other cultural groups in Europe. Further, artifacts of material culture (including clothing, weaponry, architecture, settlement patterns, etc.) could also be interpreted as cultural representations in terms of alternative Spanish and Indian worldviews and expectations.

In reviewing this set of selected student essays we found the following patterns. The students who submitted low achieving essays were only able to identify two-thirds of the initial and revised Spanish and Native American worldview elements and made use of only one of the three anticipated critical analysis techniques. The students who submitted middle achieving essays discussed more worldview elements and employed two of the three critical analysis techniques. The students who submitted high achieving essays discussed all pertinent Spanish and Native American worldview elements and made use of all three critical analysis techniques. Of the total set of essays produced by the class, two-thirds were scored in the high-achieving category--indicating better-than-average overall student performance.

Since we also sought honest student evaluations from students regarding their perceived learning experiences, the summative essays were not graded. To evaluate this set of essays we extracted key statements and grouped them into thematic categories. The number of comments (positive and negative) in each category gave us a clear impression of the student's perceptions. In general, the students stated that they preferred learning from the CD-ROM to learning the same materials by way of traditional teaching methods. In addition, we found that the students unanimously believed that they had learned more using the CD-ROM than they would have without it. A brief snap shot of some of this data is shown below in Table 1.

The overall results of the study provided a good indication of what well-designed educational multimedia looks likes. It is interactive or engaging, informative, well structured, practical, and efficacious. Analysis of the first set of essays showed that most students were able to follow the tutorials presented in the CD-ROM and evaluate primary source materials to identify and describe the differing and changing worldviews of Spanish explorers and Native Americans. The majority of students (>66%) produced essays that adequately addressed target themes and made use of appropriate critical thinking techniques. Therefore, we can assert that the learning exercises on the CD-ROM provided adequate virtual teaching and learner-content interaction. Further, analysis of the summative essays revealed that all of the students rated their learning experience highly.

The post-development evaluation also solicited teacher feedback concerning dissemination methods and accessibility. Since this data strongly indicated that a web-based version of First Encounters would allow the public greater access to the materials, we decided that it would also be appropriate to add a second generation of instructional improvements. Further, since the original instructional design model focused on virtual teaching and learner-content interaction, it was appropriate to add a new feature to support student-student interaction.

In general, aside from interaction, there are three other major constructs pertinent to development of high quality web-based instruction: (a) social context, (b) social presence, and (c) learner control. Interestingly, however, instead of standing alone, each of these constructs impacts the quality of interaction. Social context and social presence are both integral parts of student-to-student interaction, whereas learner control influences whether or not these interactions will ever take place. Successful virtual environments that encourage high levels of student interaction provide students with social context, social presence, and learner control.

Social context enables students to perceive the virtual place as a real place (Hill, 2002). Social presence enables students to present themselves or take on a role that will be perceived by other participants as real. Higher levels of social presence increase student interest and participation.

Two types of learner control directly impact student performance, learning outcomes and retention rates. Students who perceive that external factors determined their success tended to become discouraged and drop out, whereas students who perceive that their own efforts determined their success tended to stick with it (Rotter, 1989). In 1994, Rieber asserted that course authors could build high levels of learner control into web-based learning by including (a) help features, (b) additional resources, and (c) increasingly difficult challenges.

TWO WORLDS: SHOWCASING INNOVATIVE IMPROVEMENTS

Two Worlds is a prototype of only one of several social process experiential simulations that we plan to incorporate in the web-based iteration of First Encounters. Each of these simulations will be designed to enhance critical thinking by enabling students to develop a deeper understanding of historical events and cultural processes through student-student interactions. Social process simulations focus upon the ways that beliefs, assumptions, goals, and actions may be questioned, hindered, and/or supported during interactions between members of differing communities and cultures (Jones & Keith, 1983; Thatcher, 1983; Thatcher & Robinson, 1990).

The key components of a social process simulation are (a) precipitating events or key tasks in which each participant has a vested interest, (b) well-defined participant roles, (c) complication factors, and (d) context (Gredler, 1996, p. 526). Thus, the prototype included (a) two role-plays in which students select or design their own character, (b) a sixteenth-century micro-world that provides historic and cultural context, and (c) sociogram exercises to elicit student summaries of their role-play experience. Sociograms are a type of mind map; mind maps are graphical visualizations similar to flowcharts that show how different categories of information relate to one another (Kennedy & McNaught, 1997; Trowbridge & Wandersee, 1999). Mind maps provide structure for ideas and facts and give students a flexible framework for organizing and prioritizing information.

The Two Worlds prototype is currently published on the Web within the University of Arkansas's WebCT learning management system. WebCT secures class materials through password-protected access and affords the authors access from independent locations so that each can manage the site and review student submissions. Required electronic tools are also available, including instant messaging used to create the Chat Rooms within which student dialogs are produced, and e-mail in the event that students need to communicate with the instructors. Chat Room dialogs are permanently saved to the LMS server, where instructors can retrieve and edit the dialogs for posting in a student-accessible Chat Log section of the site. The prototype may be accessed on the WWW by going to: http://webct.uark.edu/, clicking on Login to WebCT, Login as rpg01, rpg02, rpg03 and so on, up to rpg20; password; rpgme. (Up to 20 guests can login in simultaneously.)

ROLE PLAYING: THE CONTEXT

Upon entering a collaborative workspace students were instructed to visit a web-based micro-world in which they could navigate artistic recreations of scenes relative to 16th century Indian village life, including a model of the village itself, and Spanish exploration in the Southeast. These resources provided some useful visual clues to help the students identify action/response engagements (Braden, 1996; Reiber, 1994). Primary accounts describing a visit by Spanish explorers to the Indian community that serves as the basis for the role-play were accessible from an icon labeled Resources. The screen shot of the WebCT Prototype homepage shown below in Figure 1 shows the various features of the simulation portal.

Role Playing: The Scene

In the spring of 1541, the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto, took his army across the Mississippi River in southeastern North America and into the American Indian village of Casqui. As De Soto's army arrived they were greeted by a large group of Indians. The Indians marched toward the approaching Spaniards, bearing hide blankets and food to offer their visitors. The Indians greeted the Spaniards and then invited them into the village. The Indian village was large, consisting of hundreds of wood pole and thatched-roof houses occupied by thousands of residents. On a very large flat-topped earthen mound stood a building similar to the other houses in construction but more elaborately ornamented. Five nearby smaller mounds supported additional houses. The entire complex was surrounded by a protective palisade and moat complex.

Role Playing: The Players

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

Each role-play within the simulation was enacted by groups representing the players listed (with groups of two being the smallest): (a) a Spanish nobleman accompanying the expedition; (b) a Spanish priest; (c) a Spanish soldier; (d) an Indian warrior; (e) an Indian woman, mother of two children and respected ceremonial leader; and (f) an Indian youth (either male or female.)

The students were instructed to research their players by using the resource materials provided in the First Encounters CD-ROM. The resource materials enabled students to identify pertinent aspects of a character's general worldview, the position that the character occupied in their own society, their view of cultural others, and any personal aspirations connected to the scenario described. The actual role-play consisted of written statements of actions each player took that were directed toward any other player and the responses to those actions on the part of the targeted player. All statements of action and response were posted and archived in the collaborative workspace.

Role Playing: The Context, Rules, and Outcome

The players represented two 16th century communities, European and American Indian, each possessing long-held worldviews developed completely in isolation of one another but now undergoing increasing challenges in the context of face-to-face encounters.

The role-play within the simulation consisted of two parts. In the first part, the Spanish conquistadors wandered around the village, examining its architecture and the activities of its inhabitants such as the house-building scene shown in Figure 2. Spanish players formed opinions of the Indians based on their observations, while the Indians similarly formed opinions of the Spaniards by focusing particularly on their possessions and mannerisms. Both groups centered their attention on these questions: What are these people like? What do they want from us? How should we engage these people? What do we stand to gain from them? What dangers might we risk in dealing with these people?

[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]

The second part of the simulation was based on an episode in which De Soto attempted to convert Indians to Christianity by conducting a ceremony to bring rain to the Indians parched crop fields. De Soto claimed that he was "the son of the Sun" in an effort to convince wary Indians of his extraordinary powers. He then ordered his soldiers to erect a cross on top of the large platform mound. The expedition's priests led both Spaniards and Indians in a ceremonial adoration of the cross, and the Indians were assured that the Christian God would respond to public proclamations of faith. The players representing each group were required to determine the meaning of De Soto's act relative to the opinions generated in the first part of the simulation.

Each role-play within the simulation began when a pair of students (one representing a Spanish character, the other an Indian character) logged on to the Two Worlds web site chat room, each identified himself/herself with an introductory statement. The simulation proceeded through a back-and-forth dialog in which the participants asked and answered questions, issued challenges and responses, resolved or failed to resolve disagreements, and so forth. The goal of the role-playing simulation was to reach a discursive conclusion for each action/response engagement between a pair of players, even if the conclusion ended in disagreement or lack of shared understanding. The simulation ended when all action/response engagements were concluded. Participating students were entirely responsible for the content and extent of engagements, the basic guideline being that they must approach their dialogue in character based on their understanding of the cultural context of the encounter. Students represented and evaluated their performances by constructing a sociogram that charted, in diagrammatical format, the entire set of discursive engagements and outcomes.

TWO WORLDS: PRELIMINARY EVALUATION

During the spring semester of 2003, six college students enacted the Two Worlds simulation prototype as a part of George Sabo's Ethnographic Approaches to the Past course. The course's primary goal was to introduce anthropology students to methods of historical research and document analysis. Many opportunities were provided throughout the semester for students to demonstrate their growing research skills; short analytic essays and mind maps or sociograms were the primary instruments used for this purpose. Students typically presented their work for comments and critiques from their classmates, to facilitate a sense of group enterprise and cooperative, self-directed learning.

The Two Worlds role-play was introduced toward the end of the semester, after the students had completed a number of First Encounters CD-ROM exercises through which they had gained considerable familiarity with the primary source materials. The sample dialogue and sociogram examples shown demonstrate that students were able to construct insightful dialogs around the fundamental themes that underpinned 16th century Spanish and American Indian cultural perspectives. In previous classes before the Two Worlds role playing game was added, students were required to write a short essay that compared and contrasted Spanish and Indian views of each other and interpretations concerning events like the cross raising ceremony at Casqui after interacting with the CD-ROM. Those essays typically produced more variable results, with some students succeeding in addressing all relevant cultural themes while others identified only a few. The most common mistake made in this set of written essays was the imposition of the student's own cultural perspective upon 16th century actors. This latter mistake was almost entirely absent in the student work produced from participation in the Two Worlds role-play exercise.

Partial Sample of a Student Role Play Dialogue

Indian Woman: Sokosa is here.

Spanish Priest: Friar Diego de Bienpollo is here.

Indian Woman: Brother Bienpollo, I have heard that the great Casqui will be asking your leader to bring rain. Is this true?

Spanish Priest: Your leader has shown great reverence for our God, although he is a heathen. Our Father is wise and all-powerful. If you show humility and ask, as sinners, for his aid, he will provide it.

Indian Woman: I think Casqui is a fool. How can your gods be greater than ours? Your leader calls himself the son of the sun, but I have seen him (edited out) and eat like all men do. He has even asked for women! You strangers are filthy and stink, how can you be sent from the gods?

Spanish Priest: You are heathen and do not understand the ways godly civilized men such as De Soto. I am even stooping to discuss this matter with you, a woman of little importance. Your role is to provide support to your husband; you are foolish and obviously prone to irrationality. Our god has provided us with the means and civilization to conquer your land and give you His Word. Your spirits are only devils in disguise.

Indian Woman: How can you call yourselves civilized if you do not accept women as a necessary part of a whole? I am a village matron; my people respect me and listen to my advice. Besides, from what I have heard from other villages, you haven't been all that capable of conquering this land. Remember Brother, you are a long way from home.

Spanish Priest: Your role in this village shows just how ignorant and savage you people from the wilderness are. Nevertheless, your leader must have a premonition of the greatness of our Father, for he so humbly and eagerly asks for help from Him and from us. All land is God's land child. You will soon know the ways of our Lord and orderly Spanish lifestyle. We will teach you the catechism and the ways of God. This ceremony will establish this land as God's and you as His servants.

Indian Woman: Looking to the temple mound, Sakosa sees that the Spanish have erected a cross. Look Brother, they have put a cross on the temple mound. Perhaps you Spanish are not so foolish and ignorant as I thought. This is one of our great symbols. It represents the four directions. A little smugly, she continues, We do not need your gods after all.

Spanish Priest: This is the cross of Jesus and the resurrection! It does not signify meager directions. It symbolizes the sins that Jesus Christ, the son of God, took on for YOU and all humanity! You must show reverence to it. I will take you to the cross where we will both kneel and kiss the ground below it. You are a servant of God and forever in His son's debt. He died for you and for me. Come and we will show our humility.

In the preceding dialogue, one student took on the identity of a Spanish priest accompanying the De Soto expedition, while the other student played an Indian woman from the Casqui town. Each student attempted to interject into the conversation the 16th-century cultural values and perspectives of their chosen character, emphasizing cultural categories and themes that would have emerged had such an interaction actually occurred. Students then produced sociograms illustrating the resulting framework of cultural categories and themes, as shown in Figure 3.

[FIGURE 3 OMITTED]

In addition, at the end of the semester the students were asked to write nonscored summative essays to evaluate the quality of their learning experience. The data generated by these essays indicated that the Two Worlds simulation prototype interactions enabled the students to develop a much deeper understanding of historical events and cultural processes in the Mississippi Valley during the 16th century. All of the students who participated in this exercise attributed their success to the opportunity they were given to engage directly in a social process--in this case, an interactive dialog--that simulated the experiences of actors situated in another time, place, and cultural milieu.

CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

The preliminary evaluation of Two Worlds is a single case study and as such cannot be broadly generalized. Therefore, when more faculty, teachers, and students are able to utilize the new First Encounters e-learning environment, additional data will be gathered and analyzed to more fully examine and validate its pedagogical effectiveness. Our initial experience, however, does create an expectation that further experience will support our claim that social process simulations can motivate students to engage their learning opportunities with sufficient dedication and excitement to perform at high levels.

References

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Gredler, M. E. (1996). Education games and simulations: Technology in search of a (research) paradigm. In D. H. Jonassen (Ed.), Handbook of research for educational communications and technology, (pp. 521-540). New York: Simon & Schuster Macmilliam.

Hill, J. R. (2002). Strategies and techniques for community building in web-based learning environments. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 14(1), 67-86.

Jones, G. L. & Keith, K. D. (1983). Computer clinical simulations in health sciences, Journal of Computer-Based Instruction 9(3), 108-114.

Kennedy, D., & McNaught, C. (1997). Use of concept mapping in the design of learning tools for interactive multimedia. Journal of Learning Research, 8(3/4), 389-406.

Kozel, K. (1995, November). Crafting the user experience. Multimedia Producer, 72-80.

Kozel, K. (1996, January). The interactive experience: Designing with the spiral. Multimedia Producer, 61-66.

Laurillard, D. (1993). Rethinking university teaching: A framework for the effective use of educational technology. London and New York: Routledge.

Moore, M. G. (1990). Recent contributions to the theory of distance education. Open Learning, 5(3), 10-15.

Rieber, L. P. (1994). Computers, graphics & learning. Dubuque, Iowa: Brown & Benchmark.

Rotter, J. (1989). Internal versus external control of reinforcement. American Psychologist, 45(4), 489-493.

Thatcher, D. (1983). A consideration of the use of simulations for the promotion of empathy in the training of the caring professions: Me the slow learner, a case study. Simulations/Games for Learning, 13(1), 10-16.

Thatcher, D., & Robinson, J. (1990). A consideration of the use of simulations for the promotion of empathy in the training of the caring professions: Me the slow learner, reflections eight years on from its original design. Simulations/Games for Learning, 20(3), 264-275.

Trowbridge, J. E., & Wandersee, J. H. (1999). Theory-driven graphic organizers. In J. J. Mintez & J. H. Wandersee & J. D. Novak (Eds.), Teaching science for understanding: A human constructivist view, (pp. 95-130). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

ANN SHORTRIDGE

University of Oklahoma, Schusterman

USA

[e-mail]

GEORGE SABO

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

USA

[e-mail]

Table 1 First Encounters Thematic Conceptual Matrix: Student Perceptions
and Attitudes

Ethnographic Approaches to the Past Comparisons of Learning With
Multimedia Vs Traditional Methods

              CD-ROM     Traditional Method     Rating

Learning      X                                 100%
Outcomes

Student       The CD-ROM was quite a switch from other classes I have
Quotes        taken, which make you memorize boring facts and expect you
              to regurgitate them in the form of multiple-choice tests.
              The CD-ROM had a wide variety of materials that was open
              to any interpretation, so long as I could back up my
              points.

              The CD-ROM exercises really provided us with the means (or
              forced us depending on your perspective) to really work
              with and critically evaluate an enormous wealth of primary
              source material, pull useful information from those
              materials, and use that information in an assortment of
              creative ways. Beyond any fragment of a doubt, we stayed
              busy working with this software. On top of this, I dare
              say that we learned diverse techniques and considerations
              in a way that was uniquely executed and highly effective
              in the goals it was designed accomplish.

Learning      X                                  66%
professional
practice

Student       The ability to critically analyze various materials is a
Quotes        skill that any decent anthropologist needs, and I felt
              that I am getting closer to that goal. I might not
              remember exact details about the Quapaw calumet ceremony,
              but I feel I could semi-competently analyze historical
              documents on the subject. I also learned that the written
              word is not the definitive source to look at when
              researching a particular topic. One must look at a broad
              range of material in order to get a clear picture.

              The lessons on the CD-ROM are grouped in a very intuitive
              and logical manner according to meaningful categories,
              especially for individuals who would be unfamiliar with a
              great deal of the jargon associated with anthropological
              research. Additionally, the qualifying of the exercises
              into beginner, intermediate, and advanced increased my
              ability to learn the materials.