Overall Research Project Description Although common in other fields and growing in teacher education, the use of simulations in educational leadership is just emerging. The mentor has experience establishing a simulated learning program, for both student learning and research. This initiative will be a first step in a broader effort to create and embed a focused simulation practicum with various types of simulations as a complement to current pedagogies. Ultimately, this simulation practicum will provide research opportunities, novel understandings of the affordances of simulations in educational leadership, and contribute to the development of aspiring school leaders’ competences.

Numerous courses in the educational administration program currently use SchoolSims simulations. These simulations are digital, click-driven interfaces that use video and audio to present the scenario. SchoolSims provides students with an asynchronous experience in which they choose among a set of predetermined options and then learn the outcomes of their decisions. Students often referred to these simulations as “choose your own adventure.” Via SchoolSims, we currently have access to over 30 scenarios to engage students in simulated learning. The scenarios, however, are aligned with the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (PSEL) and do not address the specific needs of Florida students or our aspiring leaders.

BranchTrack software allows us to create content and scenarios in alignment with Florida’s leadership standards and our unique, ethnically and linguistically diverse, local contexts. Research mentor and mentee will create BranchTrack scenarios with input from faculty, program graduates, and community members. The suite of new scenarios will be used to collect data for a new study, and simultaneously address existing gaps in our simulation program. Further, the simulations will be embedded in EDA courses to facilitate engagement by all students enrolled in the Master’s and Specialist degree programs.