Volume Two - Academic Conferences

Tone Vold
process. A synchronous discussion is preferred as the discussion forum in Fronter was somewhat
confusing due to the number of discussion threads created there. A stricter control over the threads or
sticking to one thread would have been sufficient. This would have reduced the confusion and kept
the discussion going. While not as synchronous as the chat-function, a single Forum thread would
have been synchronous enough. Internet outages were also reported to be a major problem.
Figure 3: Overview of time consumption for experiment
The participants also reported that it was easier to start the simulation when they knew the theme for
the script. However, they also suggested that the scenario contain fewer aspects, in order to keep it
simple and easy to follow. Playing several role play simulations or even playing the same simulation
several times were among the suggestions. This is also suggested by Lauber in Silberman (Lauber
2007).
The dialogue from the role play simulation partially reveals understanding of the script, but is too
fragmented to be of any real assessment value.
7. Conclusion
There are some important lessons from this experiment. Engaging the participants in the workshop
increased the value of the script (Chesler and Fox 1966). Using an LMS requires a written dialogue.
The writing gave the participants an opportunity to express themselves more clearly. It also allows for
recording the dialogue. This dialogue was then used for evaluation purposes, including the debrief
(AAR).
However, there were some constraints regarding the use of an internet based LMS. For example, the
internet connection must be working and scaled for the usage. When using an LMS it is important to
check that the hardware has all of the software required to run the desired features. Switching from
chat-function to discussion forum became confusing, as the participants used multiple discussion
threads.
7.1 Future recommendations
For future research using an internet based LMS it is important to secure the internet connection and
also to make sure that the computers have all the necessary software installed on them.
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