SimSchool: An Opportunity for Using Serious Gaming for Training Teachers in Rural Areas

If you are enjoying reading this article, please consider subscribing to RSEQ or joining ACRES at http://acres-sped.org.In recent years, serious gaming has emerged as a potential training tool for educating adults. Serious gaming can be defined as "a mental contest, played with a computer in accordance with specific rules, that uses entertainment to further government, corporate, education, health, public policy or strategic communications training" (Zyda, 2005). Some examples of themes of serious games include driver's education, military training, and cultural awareness, but the breadth of potential themes is limitless (Backlund, Engstrom, Johannesson, &. Lebram, 2010; Fowler &. Pusch, 2010; Reckien & Eisenack, 2010; Smith, 2010).Uses for simSchoolThis article will explore the use of simSchool as a training option for special educators working with students in rural settings. SimSchool is an internet-based simulation program that simulates a classroom. SimSchool has the potential to change the way pre-service teachers are trained, as well as offer inservice training opportunities for educators working in rural settings. In addition to its many standard features, such as varying the number of students in the classroom and choosing from a variety of preset classroom tasks, the program allows users to create custom students. Any number of exceptionalities can be depicted within the simclassroom, including mental and physical disabilities, allowing users to practice teaching diverse learners. Lesson plans and tasks can be just as varied, providing simSchool users with freedom and creativity very similar to what they will experience in the real classroom. Readers wishing to learn more about simSchool can visit http://simschool.net/help/start.php, or go to https://simschool.org/my/register to try simSchool for free.In the simulated classroom, divergent populations and students with disabilities can be emulated. The simSchool program provides teachers with a "virtual practicum" to develop their teaching skills prior to teaching in real classrooms. The program aims to enable users to develop skills in differentiating instruction, classroom management, working with special needs learners and adapting instruction to multiple cognitive abilities. Within the last few years, simSchool users have been developing and housing lesson plans from various disciplines to allow players to interact with subject specific curricula and students with disabilities simultaneously.Because pre-service teachers can practice with a much wider variety of students than they are likely to encounter during their internships in real classrooms, simSchool has the potential to provide a comprehensive training experience. In addition to facilitating training for inclusion, in which learners with special needs are educated alongside general education students, simSchool can be used to facilitate training in the areas of lesson planning and sequencing, behavior management, and assessing student learning, among others.Future teachers or current teachers can practice teaching in an inclusive classroom with a variety of divergent learners, including students with disabilities. An overarching goal of simSchool is to optimize training opportunities for teachers, so that teachers have the opportunity to work with a wide range of learners prior to student teaching or early on in their educational career. A beginning teacher in a rural district may have little if any experience with educating a student with low incidence disabilities such as hearing impairment. SimSchool provides an option for the beginning teacher to gain experience with learners with uncommon disabilities, with a goal of increasing teacher efficacy as well as student learning.The US faces a critical shortage of highly trained teachers in rural areas (Barnet &. Hirsch, 2005). Studies have indicated that high-quality staff development programs lead to improved classroom teaching and employee retention, especially in small and rural schools (Rural Policy Matters, 2001). …