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Authoring Simulation Genres: Interactive Spreadsheets

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Wed Sep 28 2005

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One well-understood simulation genre is interactive spreadsheets.

Interactive spreadsheets focus on abstract business school issues such as supply chain management, product lifecycle, accounting, and general cross-functional business acumen. Students allocate finite resources along competing categories at successive turn-based fixed intervals, and each time they watch their results play out on dense graphs and charts.

This is often done in a multi-player or team-based environment and often with facilitators.

The subtlety, unpredictability, and variability make them appropriate for training b-school students and high-potential supervisors through the direct reports to the CEO. They are often the cornerstones of multi-day programs to align a fractured department or organization by building shared knowledge and understanding.

Another is straight Excel.

Do people know of other great authoring tools?

About the Author
ATD Staff

The Association for Talent Development (ATD) is a professional membership organization supporting those who develop the knowledge and skills of employees in organizations around the world. The ATD Staff, along with a worldwide network of volunteers work to empower professionals to develop talent in the workplace.