DDES9911 Chap.6 The Instructor in Simulation
The Instructor in Simulation
Instruction in immersive environments may be distributed across a learning author, facilitator, domain expert, technical specialist and virtual agent. This chapter separates those roles, specifies what each actor can observe and decide, and designs handovers between them. It also examines prompt fading, learner support, psychological risk and the limits of automation so guidance develops autonomy rather than hiding dependence.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Learning author responsibilities
- 02
Facilitator actions
- 03
Domain expert judgement
- 04
Technical support
- 05
Virtual instructor boundaries
- 06
Prompt fading
- 07
Role handovers and escalation
Worked example · free
Allocate support for remote diagnostics
- 1Give the learning author ownership of outcomes, scenario logic and intervention rules.
- 1Use automated guidance for orientation and routine prompts without declaring competence.
- 1Assign facilitators and senior engineers to climate, reflection and ambiguous judgement.
- 1Make technical support responsible for access, failure recovery and incident records.
Key terms
- Learning author
- The role responsible for objectives, curriculum logic and designed learning experiences.
- Facilitator
- A person who supports participation, reflection and a constructive learning environment.
- Domain expert
- A person able to interpret performance using deep knowledge of the target practice.
- Virtual instructor
- A software-mediated role providing defined prompts, demonstration or feedback.
- Escalation boundary
- The condition at which a role hands a decision or learner need to another responsible actor.
The Instructor in Simulation FAQ
Can a virtual instructor replace a human?
A virtual instructor can deliver consistent orientation, prompts or routine feedback when its rules are valid. It should not imply contextual expertise beyond those rules. Define limits, preserve event evidence and escalate safety, distress or ambiguous judgement to an accountable person.
Why separate instructor roles?
Authorship, facilitation, domain judgement and technical support require different capabilities. Separating them exposes staffing and handover needs, prevents technical failure from being treated as learner weakness, and avoids assuming one person can perform every responsibility well.
How should prompts fade?
Early support may demonstrate a strategy or protect safety. Later prompts should shift toward questions and then disappear in the summative condition. Record assisted and independent performance separately so guidance does not inflate the claim of mastery.
What training does a facilitator need?
Facilitators need the scenario purpose, learner model, cueing rules, safety boundaries, accessibility plan, evidence protocol and escalation route, plus practice with likely deviations. A rehearsal should include technical failure, distress, unexpected learner action and disagreement about performance.
Calibration on sample cases helps facilitators intervene consistently, while a post-session review reveals where the script, tools or staffing model need revision.
Assessment move
Create a role map around the learner. For each actor, write the purpose, timing, information, action, training requirement and escalation boundary. Then run two failure tests: what happens when the learner is distressed, and what happens when the platform fails? Decide which responsibility remains human because it needs contextual judgement or accountability.
Design a prompt-fading sequence and mark where independent performance begins. Connect the final handover to the debrief chapter by naming who supplies evidence, who invites reflection and who agrees the next action. Write a support script for one early attempt and one late attempt. In the early version, include orientation, demonstration and questions that focus attention.
In the late version, remove direct prompts and preserve only safety or access interventions. Compare the two to ensure the learner, not the support system, carries the reasoning by the summative stage. Audit the virtual instructor separately. List the inputs it can observe, the responses it is authorised to give and the situations it cannot interpret. Add a visible route to human support.
Test misleading or incomplete learner input and record whether the agent exposes uncertainty or presents a confident but invalid answer. Review facilitation capability as a training need. Domain expertise, psychological safety, discussion management and technical recovery are distinct capabilities. Decide whether one person is prepared for several roles or whether co-facilitation and handover are required.
Estimate the staffing consequence instead of assuming expert availability. Finally, follow one event from simulation to debrief. Identify who selects evidence, who hears the learner account, who supplies the performance model and who records the next action. This chain makes responsibility visible and prepares the analysis of reflection and assessment.
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