Abstract for: Using Simulation to Teach Public Management Competencies

For the past several years, we have been experimenting at the Rockefeller College with both developing and using Simulation-Based Learning Environments (SBLEs) to support teaching in our core courses for the Masters of Public Administration degree. This presentation presents two examples of this work and discusses its implications for teaching public management competencies. The first example is the ReThink Health simulator developed by the Rippel Foundation. Students in a capstone class experiment with this model to design locally-based health care reforms in a generic region, “Any Town”--a region calibrated with US national health and demographic data at a scale of 1:1000. The second example is the CoastalProtectSIM simulator, a SBLE designed to explore planning to protect a coastal region from hurricanes. This simulator is based on principles from the Shared Vision Planning unit of the US Army Corps of Engineers. The presentation also presents survey data from student participants in the CoastalProtectSIM classes that link the experiences to five core managerial competencies, part of the national standards for public affairs education.