Training by Simulation

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Training by Simulation

• Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
• University of Arizona Coconino County Extension
• Beth Tucker

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What is it and why do a Simulation?

• Simulations are a training design to discover
  consequences about situations or assumptions

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Description

• The Grandparents Raising Grandchildren simulation
  is a six hour workshop for service providers.

Simulation models include...
Doctors Without Borders, A Refugee Camp Mennonite
Central Committee, In Exile Oregon Extension,
Navigating the Resource Maze
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Simulation Goals

• Agencies increase their awareness of barriers and
  gaps in services
• Agencies learn what other agencies do to serve
  grandparents grandchildren
• Agencies explore system changes

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Why Extension hosted a Simulation?

• Other senior programs have a different mission.
• Extension provides education, support and
  advocacy for grandparents raising grandchildren
  since 2002

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Why Extension?

• We had insights into grandparent issues
• We had community advisory board members that
  represented both audiences
• We had volunteers committed to change
  relationships with providers

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Design

• Workshop materials were written by a team of
  KKONA staff and materials were reviewed by
  grandparents
• Volunteers grandparents were trained to
  facilitate workshop processing question
• Workshop was held
• Six month follow-up evaluation was conducted

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Workshop
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Sample Agenda
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Resources

• Simulations take a team to host
• 1 Faculty, 3 staff, 1 Americorp volunteer and 16
  volunteer facilitators
• No special equipment
• Large space to accommodate 8 round family
  tables and 12 resource tables
• Agencies willing to send informed representatives
  to both pre training the entire workshop

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Participant Roles

• Participants must shed their role and agree to
  engage in the experience
• At the end of the workshop participants had to
  reassume their agency perspective to get at the
  changes individuals and agencies could make

FOR MORE INFO...
A DVD of the workshop is being produced and will
accompany the CD for sale on replicating the
Simulation workshop
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Final Processing Activity
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Extensions Challenges

• The challenges in hosting a simulation
• Communicating a simulation as a learning tool
• Recruiting agency information providers
• Having adequate personnel and volunteers

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Evaluation

• 100 attendees completed a phone interview
• Profile
• 9.6 were male and 90.3 female
• 55 of the respondents were agency
  participants 42 were information providers
  25 were grandparents
• Agencies were unaware of other and even their
  own agencys procedures and resources
• Collaborations have increased among grandparent
  service providers

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Schedule

• Piloting the Simulation

FOR MORE INFO...
For the complete guide to replicate this
simulation entitled, Grandparents Raising
Grandchildren a Simulation Workshop, CD ROM 89
pp. 25 go to www.ag.arizona.edu/pubs
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Status

• The Simulation workshop has been used in other
  communities and states