OSP Glossary

From OSPDocs

There are a few core terms that are important to understand in the context in which they are used when discussing the OSP.

Once one understands these common words in their context a lot of information can be expressed concisely. For example, the sentence "At every phase in a simulation each actor can have an entirely different set of sections." sums up the core functionality of the OSP.

• Control Character - An 'Actor' generally played by a facilitator who has additional controls to help guide the students through the simulation.

• Simulation - an event planned to help students explore ideas in a virtual world and practice lessons they have been taught.

• Running Simulation - A specific event played out with real people in real time.

• Simulation Actor (or 'Actor') - The role that a student will play while participating in a simulation.

• Simulation Phase (or 'Phase') - A period of time during a simulation in which the actors can interact with the system. Phases can be anything that the simulation author desires. For example, 'dry season' and 'rainy season' or 'triage' and 'post-triage.'

• Simulation Section (or 'Section') - A place where the students can go to see or do things. One can think of this as a 'tab heading' that the students can click on to enter into a place (a web page) to read information, or chat, or make decisions. While 'tab heading' is a convenient mental metaphor, it is possible that later on the interface will evolve beyond simple tab headings. But for now, thinking about a 'section' as just another 'tab' is probably quite okay.