AN APPROACH FOR INTEGRATING SIMULATION GAMES IN HIGHER EDUCATION

The “new learning generation”, the so called “Digital Natives” or “Homo Zappiens” grows up with more and more information and communication technologies (ICT). The characteristics of this generation one should consider while planning a lecture to make it more attractive to students. Simulation games play an important role for modern learning scenarios. As a part of the changeover to the Bachelor/Master-System in the European Union new concepts and methods are needed to teach the same amount of content in less time. Especially in Germany this should be done in a more application oriented way. The “German Chamber of Industry and Commerce” (DIHK) criticizes that the education of German universities is too theoretical. This problem can be tackled by using simulation games focusing the application of the theory of the lecture. Due to high student numbers, e.g. in the lecture “Computer Science in Mechanical Engineering” of the RWTH Aachen University more than 1400 students are attending each summer term, specially web based simulations are an efficient way to give students an idea of the practical application of the taught theory. During the summer term 2011 the traditional learning concept of the lecture “Project Management for physicist” (with about 100 students) will be actively supported by an online simulation game providing more practical experience to the students. The development of the game is based on a newly designed online simulation game framework. The concept of the course consists of a frontal teaching course, a two-day simulation game called “laboratory” and a final exam. During two days, students construct a real soapbox racer to experience working in task oriented teams and internalize the content of the lecture. The laboratory is well received by the students, but is too short to reflect all aspects of the mediated content. For this reason we created an online simulation game, which is played during a four weeks period prior to the laboratory. After this time the experiences made online can be internalized and used during the laboratory. Against this background the article discusses the approach, gives a short introduction in the online simulation game framework and the designed simulation game. It also discusses the advantages of the new approach combining lectures with real and online simulation games. Therefore an outlook for other scenarios of usage of the approach and the framework will be given.