“If stories are powerful, then we need to understand why they are in order to benefit from their potential for knowledge transfer ...” (Swap et al. 2001, p.106).

Aims and significance of research

The representation of complex problems via simulation environments to enable and improve understanding is a powerful use of a cognitive tool. For different reasons, the willingness or the ability of learners to gain insights using such models is sub-optimal. For this reason, we make use of the educational impact of stories (Schank, 1990). A dynamic story mirrors the complex content of a model and its behavior. These models contain crucial expert knowledge which remains hidden if not explained.

Methodology

System dynamics (SD) is a methodology that is appropriate for explaining and understanding complex systems (e.g., information security systems). We opt for the term dynamic stories to stress that they are generated from system dynamics models and that they represent stories describing behavior over time. Such models can tell potentially hundreds of stories. The question is ’what should be told from a complex model to achieve an instructional objective’? We have been using a rudimentary approach to elicit crucial content we call the ‘call-out box technique’. In addition, we are proposing a structured validation approach. The second challenge is the instructional design. The dissemination of the encapsulated expert knowledge within the model using dynamic stories needs a useful learning environment to evoke and enable intentional learning processes. The third challenge is to write scripts for dynamic stories which are defining how the parts of the dynamic stories are used for educational purposes.

Figure. 1.

Types of Dynamic Stories

A prerequisite for designing ‘instructional media’ is the determination of the training goal and the targeted group.  For this we suggest three main types of dynamics stories. Hereby we assume an unintended ‘trade off’ between the coverage of knowledge (how many learners can be reached) and the potential learning outcome (level of processing).

•    Developing a database (the expert knowledge is stored in an ‘easy to read‘ mode)

•    A paper and pencil learning approach which reveals situation, problem, and solution

•    As one core element of a workshop (very close to case method)

Parts of Dynamic Stories

Loans are made from the ‘case method’ to develop distinct parts of dynamic stories:

·  Case study method - the problem has to be identified (i)

·  Case problem method  - the problem is explicit represented; solution has to be derived (ii)

·  Case incident method - the case is presented with missing data (iii)

·  Stated-problem method - the given problem and the solution have to be reflected (iv)

Basic elements of these distinctions especially the case study method (i) and the case-problem method (ii) and in addition Wolstenholme’s idea of problem- and solution-archetypes (2004) have been taken to distinguish three ‘parts’ of dynamic stories. These parts are interlinked.

 

Figure. 2.

Part 1: 

Part 1 of a dynamic story only describes the ‘situation’. Facts, behavior and specific data are revealed. Hereby the learner is ‘situated’ (Resnik, 1991; Brown et al., 1989) within the story as a responsible, but without any specific task. To detect the problem that is to discover additional side effects or not intended effects beside the perceived system boundary.

Part 2:

Unlike part 1 of a dynamic story, part 2 describes the situation and problem in detail. This has an affinity to ‘problem archetypes’.

Part 3: 

The whole dynamic story is presented. There is seldom just one easy ‘solution’ for a complex problem. So we do offer one possible solution to the described problem. This does not exclude that the learner may find better or alternative solutions.

There are several reasons to proceed like we suggested. Before problems are solved they first have to be detected. To improve the ability to perceive potential problems seems to be a step which comes first. In the field of information security ‘situational awareness’ plays an important role. If people do not perceive that things are going wrong, they aren’t able to react in time and appropriately.

Scripts for Dynamic Stories

The steps (script) for the application of a dynamic story has to be adjusted whether a rather self directed learning approach or a workshop approach is scheduled. This depends on the application - type of a dynamic story. This adjustment process is based on the triangle concept of dynamics stories (see figure 1.).

Findings

How to find out what the situation, the problem and the solution is in a computer-based model (SD)?

Validation by notation-comparison

To enable a model's simulation it has to be quantified by defining equations. These are underlaying the model and are easy to access. The equations can be translated into 'natural' language. Comparing the translated equations with the content of the story it can be stated if all data is included.

Validation by model-reconstruction

The congruency between the designed dynamic story and the original model (SD) can be validated by reconstructing a new model (SD). To make this validation approach even more reliable different modellers can be asked to construct new models to one designed dynamic story.