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Overview

The software simulation tool shootout was held at the Training 2005 Conference & Expo in New Orleans. Each of the 10 participants was provided a set of rules and instructions to develop a specific simulation within 20 minutes – live on stage. The topic was “How to Add a New Contact to an Address Book, using Microsoft Outlook.” The simulation required vendors to demonstrate the following:

• Prompts and Instructions for Learners
• Navigation controls (beyond following the steps)
• Feedback for incorrect answers
• Unexpected feedback (what happens if the learner just clicks somewhere on the screen that wasn’t anticipated by the simulation developer)
• Remediation options when “they don’t seem to get it”
• Guidance beyond feedback (i.e. hints, demo mode, etc.)
• Interactions with multiple input possibilities (click through a menu, click on a button, or use a keyboard shortcut)
• Scoring*
• Use of media.
• Unique and differentiating aspect of the simulation output.

No additional content was provided, the instructions could not be altered, and except for a 30 second video, no vendor was allowed to prepare any content in advance.

Although 20 minutes were allocated to create the project, the basic Captivate simulation was finished in a mere 7 minutes, and within an additional 5 minutes, audio, video, animations and sound effects were added to complete the project in a total of 12 minutes. The audience evaluated the tool based on ease of use, interactivity of the output, quality of guidance and feedback, and most innovative approach. Captivate has received the highest overall score with 33 points out of 40.

More detailed results are available at www.brandonhall.com

* During the live session, we generated SCORM 2004 compliant output.