Educational Leadership Simulations: Learning Lessons from behind the Curtain of Educational Leadership (original) (raw)

Beyond High-Fidelity Simulation: Emerging Technologies in Leadership Development

Journal of continuing education in nursing, 2018

Technology offers educators active learning and new teaching strategies. Five lower cost and scalable technology applications are presented as alternative or complement to high-fidelity simulation. Professional nurse educators should adopt technology when teaching and interact with vendors to generate real-world applications that advance development. J Contin Educ Nurs. 2018;49(3):105-108.

Leadership Simulation Synthesis

Leadership is a complex, multidimensional process that is often conceptualized in a variety of ways…some of the most common ways of looking at leadership are as a trait, ability, skill, behavior, or relationship” (Northouse, 2009, p. 5). Peter G. Northouse’s traits came into complete fruition through the Leadership Seminar and Leadership Simulation courses intertwined. The Leadership Seminar course focused on strategic leadership and its influence on organizational effectiveness which occurs in the context of modern society by initiating change and reacting to change. Theory and research for the seminar centered on the foundations, or framework, for decision making and analysis of complex historical, cultural, sociological, philosophical, and theoretical perspectives in the leadership process. The Leadership Seminar framework was applied to the Leadership Simulation course where it assisted in applying problem solving, critical thinking skills, dialog, and collegial collaboration in a real world-like interactive simulated city, known as Centerville, to ultimately increase the quality of life for it’s citizens. This essay will address the concepts discussed in Leadership Seminar as they applied to writer’s experience in the Leadership Simulation.

Leadership simulations as a teaching and learning tool at universities: A single-player example

Zeitschrift für Hochschulentwicklung

Computer-based simulations are important didactic tools that allow connections between theory and practice, making them particularly valuable in the field of leaderhip. However, the predominant multiplayer format hinders their widespread use in undergraduate and postgraduate business education. We present a single-player simulation in progress ‘LeadSim’ which focuses on team leadership rather than a general business context. ‘LeadSim’ aims to develop personal competence and provide feedback on the consequences of individual decisions. Moreover, its design makes it convenient to use. Here, we discuss the advantages and limitations of this format in the context of leadership education in universities.

SIMULATION-BASED TRAINING FOR IMPROVING MANAGEMENT SKILLS: MILITARY EXPERIENCE

There is a growing understanding within the defense community that the best and cost-effective way to educate/train leaders as an effective and efficient supplement to classroom and field training is through the use of simulations. Both business faculties and military academies provide education in order to prepare future leaders for organizations. The purposes of the education in these schools are to give their students the abilities for analyzing, synthesizing for decisions and improving the decision making, besides reaching a decision, strengthening the capacity of their subordinates to design their leadership qualities with their own instinct. The starting point of this study is to provide an insight into the importance of simulations in the human and teamwork skills development and the lack of emphasis placed on this within the context of business education. In this study, we also mentioned the benefits of simulation-based training approaches intensively used in military academies by giving examples of the experimental studies. This paper concludes with proposals for widely use of these applications in business schools’ curriculums.

Design and Validation of Leadership Education Integrating Simulation and Project Based Learning

All engineering students need to develop their important skills of leadership in project management. Many students have never been leaders in their social and school lives. A leading role is unimaginable to them and hence they cannot imagine how to achieve it. The purpose of this paper is to report a result of a new leadership education program which links a variety of simulated experiences with real actions of students in project based learning (PBL) to develop their leadership ability. The first step is for graduate students to gain knowledge in the leadership arena. Then, they utilize simulation to experience leadership actions many times. Simulation provides a safe environment in which they can try out many different approaches in taking leadership in various situations. In the next step, students as a team utilize PBL, so that the above simulated experiences can help them to actually take leadership. Students can apply trained leadership to actual projects. It is highly effective to apply conscious leadership to a project aimed at a specific goal in limited circumstances. This education repeats both of the steps above, raising leadership abilities in an upward spiral. In terms of students' evaluation of leadership education in project management, 360-degree assessments were carried out by teachers, senior, and junior students before and after the course, and authors compare their assessments thoroughly. As a result, authors are assured that students not only gained knowledge but also raised leadership abilities in their actions after this education. Six months after the time of leadership education employing simulated experiences and PBL, follow-up interviews were conducted on its effects. Authors recognized the cyclic period that students apply simulated experiences to PBL and that they seek different approaches in simulation for solving problems found in reality. This research concludes that this cycle of simulator and PBL can produce effective leadership actions.

The use of META (virtual simulations) in Canadian junior military leadership development

Journal of leadership education, 2024

Purpose-This paper aims to explore virtual simulations, merging artificial intelligence with real-world simulations, supporting Canadian armed forces (CAF) junior military leaders (JMLs) leadership development. Our research questions are: (1) How do virtual simulations support CAF junior military leadership development within a globalized and complex environment in the 21st century? (2) Could virtual simulations support a leadership culture change through efficacious "soft skills" training? In this paper, we explore the efficacy of virtual simulations for enhancing or developing leadership in JMLs in the CAF through a four-day pilot project with twenty JMLs (n 5 20). Design/methodology/approach-To assess the efficacy of virtual simulations for leadership development, we designed and studied a four-day leadership workshop for JMLs in the CAF using several virtual artificial intelligence leadership role-play simulations developed by McGraw Hill in their smart book textbook (Manning & Curtis, 2022) and several non-virtual in-class simulations for comparison. We selected four twenty to thirtyminute virtual role-play simulations that synergized with the in-person morning leadership workshop. We facilitated the three-hour leadership workshops and virtual/in-class simulations over four consecutive days. We emulated the ELESS model (De Freitas & Routledge, 2013) to assess soft and leadership skills. Findings-The participants (JMLs) reported beneficial learning utility associated with the virtual simulations. Participants also expressed that further utility might be leveraged through virtual simulations incorporating greater complexity with multiple potential outcomes. They also suggested that leadership simulations designed around military situations would prove highly beneficial, something that was outside of the scope of this small pilot project. Research limitations/implications-Since this phase of our research is a pilot project, we secured a small amount of funding to test our hypothesis that simulations enhance leadership development for JMLs. These funding limitations resulted in several constraints in the research, such as the availability of virtual simulations articulating leadership from a military perspective. However, we believed the assigned organizational leadership simulations in the McGraw Hill Smart Book ecosystem would approximate generic leadership situations enough to test the hypothesis with the JMLs. As a pilot project, our sample size was relatively small (n 5 20 JMLs) since participation was voluntary amidst a busy spring season for the JMLs. Since this is a pilot project, we suggest that twenty JMLs are an adequate sampling to test the hypothesis that simulations enhance JML leadership development. We will expand the sample size in the next phase of our research as we work with the CAF to expand the pool of participants to at least forty JML participants (n 5 40). We also plan to secure further funding to collaborate with subject matter experts to design virtual simulations based on Canadian military leadership scenarios. Practical implications-The CAF host robust simulations capabilities for combat training, but have not exploited the potential training and analytical capacity of virtual leadership simulations for leadership

Business Simulations and Cognitive Learning: Developments, Desires, and Future Directions

Simulation & Gaming, 2008

This article focuses on the research associated with the assessment of the cognitive learning that occurs through participation in a simulation exercise. It summarizes the objective evidence regarding cognitive learning versus the perceptions of cognitive learning achieved as reported by participants and instructors. The authors also explain why little progress has occurred in objectively assessing cognitive learning in the past 25 years and provide potential options for filling this deficiency. such an extremely broad range of activities that it would be impossible to draw valid conclusions across this entire spectrum. The interesting classification of simulations by illustrates nicely just how much ground business simulations cover. We restrict ourselves here to computer-based simulations in which students or, more typically, teams of students compete. A computer model attempts to reflect the basic dimensions of a business environment, and the students vie either against each other or against a set of computer competitors to achieve success in the simulated marketplace. Simulations typical of this genre include total enterprise simulations and computerized marketing simulations.