Constructive Alignment in Simulation Education

Paper in proceeding, 2012

Recent and ongoing developments are significantly augmenting both the demand for and the expectations of university simulation education. These developments include increased use of simulation in industry, increased variety of economic segments in which simulation is used, broader variation in demographics of simulation students, and higher expectations of both those students and their eventual employers. To meet the challenges these developments impose, it is vital that simulation educators aggressively and innovatively improve the teaching of simulation. To this end, we explore the application of constructive alignment concepts in simulation education, and compare and contrast its application in the context of two university course offerings. These concepts suggest continuation of some practices and revision of others relative to the learning objectives, learning activities, and assessment tasks in these and other simulation courses.