Thursday, June 21, 2007
1st Question to Clark Aldrich Blog
This is my first comment/question to Clark on a subject his blog addressed back in April about "Costs for Simulations ...in Education". The link back to the article and the comment is embedded in the title.
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I agree with Clark Jonathan - good questions. Similar to the epiphany I had today while thinking about this whole field.
The question I posed to myself to turn the issue of fidelity on its head (which, I think, is the objective that is somewhat to blame for the increasing complexity and learning curve of sims, where the assumption is that the maximum fidelity is necessary to ensure pilots and soldiers will succeed... also an interesting concept in the art of war... but I digress) was, how much fidelity is needed, and in what specific learning situations, to achieve the desired learning goals and objectives? Is there a point of diminishing returns? Is that target moving for military technologies that also are evolving into more complex and integrated systems of communications, weaponry, and decision control systems?
I remember the first flyfishing / flycasting lessons I took with a man named Ed Jaworowski. I was really terribly impressed with these people (men and women) who could so effortlessly wave the wand and make that flyline move and stretch and land so elegantly and accurately... We were all given a rod - a very expensive rod at that ($400 20 years ago), and it was put in our hands. I was intimidated and a little afraid of making a big fool of myself (I've since gotten used to that though), and watched Ed as he proceeded to show us how he could cast around corners, cast 100+ feet of line, and make it happen without a bit of effort...
Then he floored me. He put the rod down on a picnic bench near the pond full of stocked trout (Huller's Pond in Fayetteville, NY), and picked up a 2 foot section of a broken fly rod with a 6 foot piece of yarn attached. He demonstrated everything he had just done with the flyrod with a couple of pieces of bric-a-brac.
I eased up, laughed, and had a wonderful learning afternoon.
tc
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