What is Simshare?
It is a community that helps educators share, re-use and repurpose simulation resources. It aims to release a wide range of educational materials as Open Educational Resources (OER), to be used worldwide.
The original Simshare project was completed in 2010, funded by the United Kingdom Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and Higher Education Academy (HEA). The project report is available here. Since then, it has been extensively repurposed and redesigned with funding from the Academic Innovation Fund (AIF) at York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The project leader is Paul Maharg, Distinguished Professor of Practice, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University.
Why simulation resources?
The benefits of simulation learning are well documented, but the full scale development of widely shareable and re-purposable content amongst simulation designers and users has not been as widely disseminated as it could be. This has had serious consequences for the uptake of simulation as a form of situated learning: if the power of simulation to help students learn is widely recognized, so too is the effort required by educators to create and resource simulations.
What does this community do?
We encourage simulation by helping educators to create, use, evaluate and re-purpose simulations as OER. We want to offer a wide range of simulations in different disciplines, if possible.
How can I contribute?
Register and upload your simulations to the website.
Take part in discussions about your simulations and other people’s simulations.
Tell others what worked well about your simulation and what might be improved.
What will happen to the resources I contribute?
Once you have uploaded your simulations, you will be asked to release them under a Creative Commons Licence. The simulation and its resources will remain in a repository that allows Simshare community members to use them in various ways. Depending on the Creative Commons licence you assign to a simulation, other users can view and or edit and or re-purpose your simulation. You will be able to control whether a simulation is private or public.
What sort of resources can be included?
The short answer is many different types. In more detail:
- Content resources, e.g. statements, scenarios, character roles; ‘real life’ artefacts to produce authentic environments; photographs, videos, maps, and graphics
- Information from websites on which you may run simulation
- Student and staff resources to support the simulation
- Assessment criteria and other assessment guides
- Evaluation materials
- Academic papers about, or presentations on, the simulation including PowerPoint presentations
- Useful Web links
- Guidelines on integrating your simulation into a syllabus or curriculum including, for example, transcripts of lectures relating to the simulation
Why create this website?
We are keen to have as many different types of simulations as possible hosted on Simshare in order to help you and others develop simulations. We also want to explore how simulations can be used in different ways in teaching, learning and assessment. We hope that you will want to be part of the growing movement in open educational resources. Please do contribute your resources to the ever-increasing numbers of resources already being collated. Please contact us if you would like to talk informally about the project.