Week 2 - Post 1: Content Proposal (Full proposal under the cut)

Technology and Training: The Use of Simulations to Train and Practice High-Stress Skills

EDM-665 On Line Course Development
EDM-613 Media Asset Creation
Education Media Design & Technology MS Program
Full Sail University

Prepared by:
Bianca Woods
March 9, 2010

I. THESIS ABSTRACT

Training is key to the development of skills, but how best should these skills be trained? This paper shows that the problem of insufficient practice, particularly of skills that must be performed under stress, can be addressed using computer software and a distinct development method. Research indicates that significant rehearsal is needed for skill mastery, that stress degrades the ability to perform tasks, and that increased task practice can lead to improved task competency. This paper suggests that the solution to skill rehearsal requirements for high-stress jobs, taking into account research regarding the effects of stress, is the use of simulation software to provide a means for individuals to explore deliberate practice with the goal of skill mastery.

Click here to read the full Content Proposal

II. Introduction

Problem Addressed

Rehearsing any skill is key to moving from the beginner to expert state. Yet, so often companies send their employees out to perform a skill that they have very few hours of practice with. In many cases, people can make do with the training they do receive, but in high-stress situations where the proper decision must be made in the blink of an eye, expert-level mastery can be the difference between success and complete failure. The challenge is for companies to easily and affordably give their employees enough practice with new tasks, particularly those that are performed under high-stress situations.

A cost-effective yet instructionally sound solution to this dilemma is to provide virtual skill rehearsal through a carefully designed simulation video game. This simulation would accurately represent the skills to be rehearsed in a low-risk environment that would give constructive feedback on performance. To provide a specific example for the media project, the problem of teaching retail employees how to work with angry customers and rehearsing those skills will be addressed.

Target Audience

The proposed software is designed with the corporate world in mind, with the audience itself composed of company employees. For the media project example the more specific target audience will be retail employees who have recently completed training on working with upset customers.

Sharing the project

While the project proposed in the thesis is a full simulation game, the media project will instead serve as a focused demonstration of the branching dialogue interaction that could be utilized in the completed game. This interaction will take use of the branching page format in Udutu, a program used to create digital learning projects. Users will read a portion of customer dialogue and then be able to choose one of several pre-written dialogue responses. Each choice will lead to additional dialogue that reflects the consequences of previous choices until the user has either successfully helped the customer or angered the customer enough to make he or she leave the store.

The final output for this project will be an Udutu lesson. It will be delivered both through Udutu Learn on Facebook as well as a link to the material on the Udutu site itself.

III. Goals and Objectives

Instructional Goal

The instructional goal of this project is to create an environment in which learners can practice and receive constructive feedback on customer service skills learned elsewhere. The reasons for creating such an environment is to address the 10,000 hour rule, a theory suggesting the approximate amount of rehearsal time it takes to learn a skill at mastery level, as proposed by the work of K. Anders Ericsson (1993) and others. The media project provides a glimpse at one aspect of the proposed software that would allow and encourage users to spend significant time on honing their customer service skills while working towards mastery level proficiency.

Learning Domain

The media project initially addresses the cognitive domain by asking the learner to recall and utilize previously learned training material on assisting upset customers. However, the affective domain is also an important component of this project. Ideally the user will work towards a heightened ability to both receive and respond to phenomena related to customer reactions, as the end goal is to increase the user’s ability to read the emotional and verbal signals given by the customer. Conversely, the project also aims to reduce the user’s emotional stress response in the face of an aggressive customer through the repetition of interacting with simulated angry customers.

Learning Objectives

• The user will be able to analyze the behavior and verbal responses of an angry customer to determine the most appropriate response according to previous training.
• The user will demonstrate the ability to judge the numerous possible responses that are appropriate reactions (based on previous training) and decide which option is most suitable for this specific situation.
• The user will show the ability to detect that their dialogue choices are angering the simulated customer further and modify their plan for customer interaction based on reflection.

IV. Presentation

Instructional Approach

This thesis and the media project suggest changes to training programs based on what is known about how the brain learns, the physical and mental effects of stress on the individual, and the rehearsal time needed to master skills. To accomplish this, the scope of the project reflects the Situated Learning Theory, which states that a contextual experience is key for learning. The decision to rehearse skills within the confines of a simulation was made with this theory in mind. The intent of the simulation game and, to a lesser extent the media project demonstration, to immerse the learner in an environment that closely resembles a retail store, both through visuals as well as realistically created customer interactions so as to facilitate a higher level of skill development.

This project has been developed with three key areas in mind. The first area is the body’s reaction to stress, as reflected in the work of Medina (2008) and Jensen (2008). When the body reacts to stress, it responds by releasing stress hormones to prepare one’s system for danger, which creates a temporary heightening of senses and physical abilities. Medina (2008) notes that this response was designed to solve short, momentary problems that lasted for seconds. However, modern humans currently live in a world in which their body reacts to significantly longer periods of perceived stress.

The brain reacts in a number of harmful ways as a response to bad stress, including a decreased ability to interpret environmental signals, a reduced ability to store memories, and an inability to access higher-order thinking skills (Jensen, 2008). Most harmful to job skill performance is the tendency suggested by Jensen by which individuals under stress to revert to “tried and true behaviors,” which in many cases can be the original novice-level skills learned when one first learned to perform a task. Any one of these responses can create a decreased ability to perform tasks, learn new skills, and think critically about situations.

The second area this project addresses is achieving mastery-level performance skills so as to avoid the negative effects of stress on skills, a topic addressed by the writing of Gladwell (2005) and Ericsson (1993). Gladwell (2005) notes that when comparing the amount of time that recognized masters of varying professions have spent in practice, a repeated theme of approximately 10,000 hours of practice is seen regardless of the particular skill set being attained. The 10,000 hours theory has also been evidenced in the research of K. Anders Ericsson (1993). He claims that only through substantial deliberate practice can a mastery of skills be accomplished. Based on Gladwell (2005) and Ericsson’s (1993) work the current means of practicing these skills through team activities and workshops provides insufficient practice at a high cost, both in terms of time and finance.

The third area of focus is the solution of training these skills in digital simulation games. The Proceedings of the Summit on Educational Games (2006) states that video games are especially adept at teaching higher-order thinking and training learners in decision-making skills. As well, it notes that game-based learning excels in providing individualized hints and personalized feedback to improve performance. The medium’s strengths at teaching critical thinking, customizing content, and providing feedback align well with the requirements of deliberate practice.

The media project’s instructional approach is to utilize what is known about the effects of stress on the brain and create an environment in which to practice and reflect on skills virtually with the end goal of moving towards substantially more rehearsal than current practices allow for. The project itself, while only a demonstration of one aspect of the proposed software, does still illustrate this virtual environment as well as one specific customer interaction. The software suggested by the thesis, however, would use a more sophisticated game mechanic and would consisted of interactions with a large number of varied customers rather than just the single customer in the media project.

Lesson Structure

As the content of this media project is an interaction game rather than a lesson, the project will be structured around practicing the activity itself rather than teaching the learner new information. The project will begin with a brief tutorial on how to play the game as well as an introduction to the specific customer scenario. The vast majority of the project will consist of the customer interaction itself. The project will end with an evaluation of the user’s performance based on their dialogue choices as well as constructive feedback on how to improve their customer interactions if necessary.

V. Evaluation

The media project is designed to provide direct user evaluation at the end of the game. This evaluation takes note of the choices made by the individual during the different dialogue branches and gives specific feedback at the conclusion of the simulation. While there are only two specific outcomes for the game (the player wins by successfully assisting the customer or loses by alienating the customer enough to cause he or she to leave), there will be several paths to reach these outcomes and these differing paths will reflect varied degrees of success of failure. The goal of the evaluation process at the end of the game is to give the feedback the user needs to alter their interactions to move towards the best possible path towards customer satisfaction.

The learner and instructor will both know that learning from the previous training has taken place based on whether or not the learner can navigate towards a successful interaction with the customer and win the game in the first or second attempt at the game. Winning the game with the best possible solution would not be needed to prove learning, only navigating towards one of the varied winning outcomes would be required.

The long-term indication of learning specifically from the game, however, would be determined by noting whether or not the learner had been able to improve their performance over multiple play-throughs based on the end-of-game feedback. Outside of the game, success could also be determined through several performance reviews of the learners’ real-world interactions with actual angry customers and a comparison of abilities over time.

The next stage towards improving the media project would be to move from the branching dialogue demonstration phase towards a full demonstration of the proposed game. This would require moving the content out of Udutu and into a properly designed game engine. It would also require the creation of software that could randomly generate a large number of different angry customer interactions rather than the single customer contact reflected in the media project.

VI. References

Aldrich, C. (2009). Using serious games and simulations: A quick and dirty guide. Retrieved January 27, 2009, from http://clarkaldrich.blogspot.com/

Chase, W. G. & Ericsson, K. A. (1981) Skilled memory. In J. R. Anderson (Ed.), Cognitive skills and their acquisition (pp. 141-189). Hillsdale, NJ:  Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R. E. (2008). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Ericsson, K. & Krampe, R. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100(3), 363-406.

Gladwell, M. (2005). Blink. New York: Back Bay Books.

Gladwell, M. (2008). Outliers: The story of success. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

Jensen, E. (2008). Brain-based learning: The new paradigm of teaching. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Macedonia, M. (2001). Games, simulation, and the military education dilemma. Retrieved January 19, 2010, from Forum for the Future of Higher Education Web site: http://net.educause.edu/apps/forum/ffpiu01w.asp

Medina, J. (2008a). Brain rules: 12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home, and school. Seattle, WA: Pear Press.

Proceedings of the Summit on Educational Games. (2006). Washington, DC: Federation of American Scientists.