SIMPLE: learning through simulations

Game-based learning and simulations are powerful modes of learning, used by industries as diverse as aviation and health sciences. While there are many generic VLEs available to further and higher education, there is no widely available open source Web-based simulation environment for professional learning.
The two year SIMPLE (simulated professional learning environment) project, a partnership between the University of Strathclyde and UKCLE, designed, created, implemented and evaluated such an environment. SIMPLE has been piloted by six law schools and three other disciplines (architecture, management science and social work), creating simulations that place both undergraduates and postgraduates in a professional context where their work is, as it will be in the workplace, distributed between tools, colleagues and resources, as well as encountering anticipated and unanticipated problems.