Evaluation of SimNet Simulation Software in Large-enrollment Courses

Abstract

A course at the University of Hawaii that has been redesigned 15 to account for issues in cost savings, large-enrollment and quality of 16 instruction is Information and Computer Sciences 101. This course has 17 suffered from many of the issues that exist in large-enrollment courses like 18 the inability to account for different student learning styles, inadequate 19 student interaction with learning materials, and inconsistent learning 20 experiences. Even though the course has been redesigned, nothing has 21 been done to determine if computer-simulated learning software, SimNet, 22 is an effective means of delivering course content. The investigators 23 compared pre and post-test scores, collected student surveys, and 24 interviewed teaching assistants to determine the effectiveness of this 25 means of content delivery. The investigators found that the students’ 26 scores improved by an average of 26.07% for Microsoft Word, 38.29% for 27 Microsoft PowerPoint, and 26.59% for Microsoft Excel. The investigators 28 found that this computer-simulated learning software is a worthwhile 29 investment, but should be investigated further.