Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
Features
Assessment Technology >> Choose One From Column B
3/1/2007
Gartner and Forrester predict the video game industry will skyrocket in the coming years. It’s no surprise, then, that the future of assessment tools may look more like video games than traditional educational technologies.
"Unless you assess his performance in front of a simulator, you can't tell at all how a student would do in a realworld situation." — Dan Smith, DePaul University
Case in point: Capstone and Foundation, two assessment tools for business schools that simulate the dog-eat-dog quality of the corporate world. The technology behind the two tools creates virtual realities designed to teach students real-world lessons about business. It is the brainchild of Dan Smith, a professor of business strategy at DePaul University (IL), who invented the tools in 1986, and then built his own company around them. Today, that company is called Management Simulations.
The Foundation game is simpler than Capstone, requiring less time for students to complete, though both games are appropriate for all business and economics courses. Foundation simulates how accounting works across all phases of corporate decision-making: research and development, marketing, production, human resources, and finance. Capstone tackles the same issues, but the game is made up of more complex and sophisticated stages. As if the two simulation tools were not enough, Smith says teachers can purchase a specialized assessment tool, Comp-XM, to evaluate students at the end of each simulation.
"The downside of traditional tests is that you can only use them to test a student’s cognitive space," says Smith. "Unless you assess his performance in front of a simulator, you can’t tell at all how a student would do in a real-world situation."
Each simulation opens with a memo informing participating students that they’ve been selected to lead a fictional company. From there, four years of balance sheets and initial public offerings (IPOs) play out over the course of four hours. Smith reports that in the classroom environment, roughly 20 percent of all students run their companies into the ground. The benefit, however, is that these failures happen in virtual reality, enabling students to learn from their mistakes so that the same errors don’t happen in the real world.
Importantly, in whatever manner these simulators and their assessment tools work, they are catching on: According to Smith, more than 60,000 students at 500 business schools participate in the simulations each year, and this year should maintain that average. The technology is easy to set up, free to the institution, and relatively inexpensive for students, costing no more than $50 per license. Considering that the simulation/assessment technology could potentially yield a new crop of business moguls, the return on the investment is clear.
"In general, it’s hard to tell how a business student will perform, once he or she finishes business school," Smith says. "With this technology, everyone can begin to get an idea."
Webextra
Assessment is for institutions, too: click here.
Matt Villano is senior contributing editor of this publication.
Cite this Site
copy text (above) for proper citation
Recommended Reading
- College of Southern Nevada Implementing Angel To Run Online Courses
The College of Southern Nevada (CSN), a community college in Las Vegas with 41,000 students, has adopted the Angel Learning Management Suite (LMS) to support its online course offerings. In Spring 2008 CSN began evaluating alternatives to WebCT, which it currently runs, and made the decision to adopt Angel in the fall. In January 2009, CSN's 865 sections of online enrollment will be delivered using the Angel LMS.
- Toshiba Brings DisplayLink to Docking Station
Toshiba has introduced a new USB docking station that incorporates DisplayLink--a technology that allows computers to connect to projectors and other types of displays through USB 2.0.
- Mitsubishi Ships SXGA+ Projector with DICOM Simulation
Mitsubishi has begun shipping a new LCD-based SXGA+ projector aimed at higher education, specifically medical schools. The new MH2850U, according to Mitsubishi, is "specially engineered for projecting DICOM simulation images for use in medical education and training."
- First Look: Komodo IDE 5.0
Last month, ActiveState released Komodo IDE 5.0, the company's latest integrated development environment (IDE). Komodo supports multiple programming and markup languages, including HTML, JavaScript, PHP, Perl, Java, Python, C++ and more. It does not support some .NET languages at present, such as ASP/ASP.NET, C# and VB.NET.
- IBM Offers Cloud Computing Help
IBM last week announced consulting services specifically designed to help organizations assess their options in using cloud computing technology. "Cloud computing" is a much argued term, but it typically refers to solutions delivered over the Internet, rather than via customer premises-installed software.
- Hollins U Chooses Omnilert for Emergency Notification Ahead of VA Deadline
Hollins University, among other higher ed institutions in Virginia, has implemented Omnilert's e2Campus emergency notification system (ENS) just ahead of a state-mandated deadline requiring them at every public institution of higher education by Jan. 1. Hollins itself isn't a public campus, but wished to implement an ENS before the end of the year, the school said in a company statement.
