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Role-playing and Simulation-gaming Exercises; Theories and Applications in Relation to Crisis Management2021VT
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Course plan
Number of lectures
Approximately 8 lectures/seminars, depending on number of participants
Recommended for
The course is mainly intended for PhD students in cognitive science, informatics, and related disciplines.
The course was last given
Has not been given before
Goals
Students participating in this class should gain knowledge about the theories and models, research methods and applications that are appropriate to this area.
Teaching model
The course consists of seminars where the course literature is discussed and lectures on selected topics with invited speakers. The participants are expected to read the assigned literature that will serve as a basis for discussion before each class.
Content
Exercises is a way to train or test operators, teams, and organizations.
Role-playing and simulation-gaming exercises have achieved growing interest and
is used both as a research platform and as a means of training. Here we look
deeper into the theoretical foundation upon which the area stands and how it is
applied. We analyse several aspects of role-playing exercises such as, purpose,
preparation and planning, execution, evaluation, and reporting. In addition, we
consider similar approaches, for example serious gaming, mega games, and field
exercises.
Role-playing simulations involve humans and are interactive multi-person
settings where reality or parts of reality are reproduced (Crookall and
Saunders, 1998). A role-playing exercise approach refers to methods where the
participants in an exercise face a task conducted in real-time where the
development of the task can be described as dynamic. The interest lays
primarily in understanding how participants act under uncertainty, time
pressure, and limited resources. Gaming-simulation is defined as a specific
form of simulation. Simulation in general aims at designing a model of a system
in a complex problem area in other to be able to experiment with the model.
Deeper insight in the behavior of the system is created by evaluating various
operating strategies against each other in one ore multiple scenarios.
Gaming-simulation differs from other forms of simulation in that it
incorporates roles to be played by participants and game administrators,
implying that people and their (goal-directed) interactions become part of the
simulation (Laere et al. 2006). In addition to role descriptions and
interaction formats, simulation-games can also include a physical simulation
model (a board game, a mock-up, a computer simulation, or any other
representation of a physical reality) which the game participants need to
interact with. It is important to understand that both the changes and impacts
of changes to the physical simulation model in the simulation- game and the
interaction between the participants (often negotiation processes about what to
change and how to interpret changes in the physical simulation model) are part
of the simulation-game and object of study (Mayer 2009). To design a high
quality simulation-game, many design choices have to be taken into account,
which often are not self-evident, but rather involve tricky cost-benefit
analyses ending up with a dilemma (is the benefit worth the extra cost?).
Examples of such design choices are for example (Laere 2003, Mayer 2009, Meijer
2009): defining a limited number of research or learning objectives, defining
the number and content of roles, defining the scope of the modelled
situation/problem, guaranteeing the validity of the simulation, defining rules
and constraints, defining the load (difficulty), choosing the location/
environment where the game will be played, selecting the type of participants
to be invited, design of qualitative and quantitative data collection during
the game, degree of realism of the scenario, degree of complexity of the game
(often phrased as modelling internal complexity of the system to be modelled,
but creating external simplicity, i.e. an easy to understand and easy to play
game for the participants), degree of competition, degree of dynamics, macro
cycle (preparation, playing, debriefing, follow-up), micro-cycle (number of
playing rounds) and real-time or symbolic-time.
Lecturers
Peter Berggren
Joeri van Laere, University of Skövde
Examiner
Björn Johansson
Examination
The students will apply the gained knowledge to own cases and which will be
reported in the form of a short paper and presentation.
Mandatory student presentations, active participation in discussions, and
coursework.
Credits
6 hp
Page responsible: Director of Graduate Studies
