Can Simulations Provide a Better Experience? A Capstone Application

Abstract

Knowledge in a university is tacit and is partially commu-nicated at the classroom via the interactions among the instructor and the students. As part of an e-learning class-room project, a public university introduced a new technol-ogy, a capstone simulation. This simulation facilitates the transmission of the course contents while providing imme-diate notes for students. In addition, the software enables the university to capture and diffuse via e-mail the class’ presentations, group discussions and interactions regis-tered by the instructor. The perceived benefits derived from the use of the simulation in terms of the teaching-learning process and knowledge recovery are evaluated from the point of view of the users. In addition, we discuss the need for a plan to guarantee information maintenance and the establishment of cooperative involvement and trust as criti-cal factors to promote knowledge creation.