Evaluation of a simulation platform for interaction training: A multi-phased methodology

The evaluation of educational approaches is frequently challenging as it involves humans and requires the consideration of several angles depending on the educational objectives. On occasions, these objectives involve academic and industrial environments, thus implying additional challenges. Education in Global Software Development (GSD) has recently became important for companies that offer GSD training in specific GSD areas such as cultural, linguistic, leadership, negotiation or communication skills. We have developed a training framework based on simulation with the aim of providing GSD interaction training. This framework addresses various kinds of problems related to communication barriers. However, discovering the needs and requirements of both academia and industry is a key success factor when seeking an effective educational solution. This paper presents a multi-phased methodology that has been employed to: 1) research the training requirements in the field; 2) design the training framework based on these findings; 3) evaluate the adequacy of the framework using an Expert Feedback study and a subsequent Heuristic Evaluation; 4) prove that the framework can actually generate learning; 5) conduct a market-focused study to evaluate the commercial options of the framework and 6) define future work to fulfil commercial requirements and improve effectiveness.