Real time diagnostics of problem solving behavior forSD-based business simulations

摘要

Business simulations are composed of a (SD-)model which represents thecomplexity and dynamics of business structures and concepts. Within a simulation theparticipants can make decisions to control the modeled enterprise. A business simulation canmake the interdependencies between the different activities within an enterprise transparent tothe participants. From an economical perspective the success within a business simulation canbe measured by the development of core variables. The Balanced Scorecard is a well-knownconcept for this purpose.From an educational perspective the structure of the cognitive system which is responsible forthe economical success is relevant. A subsequent aspect refers to the possibilities to supportthe elaboration of the mental model during the activities within a business simulation.Furthermore in the context of web-based learning environments there is the issue how tofoster self-regulated learning processes.A prerequisite for an effective feedback which supports learning is a continuous diagnosis ofthe problem solving process, in particular the diagnosis of the information-retrieval anddecision-making processes.This paper describes the basic concept of the diagnostics within a prototype of a web-basedbusiness simulation called solarSYDUS. Besides the SD-model this simulation contains acomponent for recording information-retrieval and decision-making processes during thesimulation for analyzing problem solving behavior.