The design and the formative evaluation of a web-based course for simulation analysis experiences

Simulation output analysis has received little attention comparing to modeling and programming in real-world simulation applications. This is further evidenced by our observation that students and beginners acquire neither adequate details of knowledge nor relevant experience of simulation output analysis in traditional classroom learning. With the advances in the Internet learning environment, web-based computer-based training (CBT) can efficiently and effectively enhance the traditional classroom learning. This research addresses the issue of designing a web-based CBT course to assist the classroom instruction in helping students learn better simulation problem solving. The goal is to provide an effective way to learn the implicit experience of simulation output analysis via an efficient interactive environment. A prototype asynchronous web CBT system with simulation analysis guidelines was built to verify our design through a three-stage formative usability evaluation. The results showed that the simulation analysis guidelines organized by this research significantly improved the test scores and the interactive CBT system maintained students’ interests longer than the written format.