Straws in the Wind: Some Perceptions and Attitudes Toward Simulation and Gaming in the United Kingdom

Abstract

This article discusses findings from a small-scale, exploratory study into teaching methods used by UK university adult and continuing education tutors and into how these methods were perceived and experienced by a sample of students. The initial aim was to uncover trends in usage of experiential methods, but both students and tutors were more concerned about pigeonholing different teaching and learning methods, with labels such as "experiential" and "interactive. " Not many tutors used role-play, simulation, and games on a regular basis. The types of materials frequently discussed in the pages of Simulation & Gaming were conspicuous by their absence. A number of reasons were given for this, including the expectations and preferences of adult students. This became the focus of the second part of the research, which found that more traditional methods, especially lectures, predominated, with only a few respondents having experience of any others. There were some negative opinions and perceptions of more experiential methods, even among those who had never experienced them, as well as some confusion in the minds of the students. Students preferred what is described here as the "interactive lecture," where they can participate within the framework of what remains a tutor-led learning situation.