What is Externally Parametered

Leadership and leadership development have become increasingly frequent topics of discussion in popular, professional, and academic discourse. There is little doubt about the importance of leadership, or leadership development, but there are a number of conceptual and operational issues associated with each. Adding to the challenge is that judgments about the appropriateness of particular methods for leadership development should be reflective of one’s view of the nature of leadership. Simulations and games offer a compelling approach to leadership development, especially because they can be designed to address many dimensions of leadership and to integrate the benefits of other available instructional approaches. Internally-parametered simulation games are particularly well suited for this purpose, and communication and Information Technology, from the simplest to the highly complex, can be extremely useful in supporting this type of simulation. LEADER.edu™, a scenario-based, internally-parametered simulation designed to engage participants in strategic leadership learning experiences using a combination of online access and interactive dialogue and feedback, provides an illustration of this capability. The use of customized scenarios, multiple iterations, conditions emerging from participant activity, and structured reflective learning and debriefing as a part of the activity—all making use of computer-mediated technology—has the potential to provide a robust learning experience, but not without considerable engagement by the designer/facilitator.