What resources are helpful for a simulation?

Background materials - background reading about the scenario or the roles

• This material helps participants who have limited time to prepare for the simulation.
• Facilitators may supply material or task participants with finding, annotating, and sharing background materials, resulting in a more participant-directed experience.

Rules and procedures - to help people participate in the simulation itself

• Think about the activities participants will engage in and what guidelines will help them complete those activities. Your rules and procedures should describe the steps participants will take.
• Explicit, thorough procedures help participants spend more time engaging with the content of the simulation and less time trying to figure out the logistics.

Simulation documents - documents needed during the simulation

• Drafts. Many simulations involve coming to a collective decision on a specific issue. It's often useful to give participants a draft document to get them started on their way, rather than having to create a full document (law, policy, etc.) from scratch.
• Instructions. Some activities might have supporting materials that participants need during the activity. For example, during a hearing, participants need the order in which people testify.
• Worksheets and forms. These tools can help participants plan and keep track of decisions and steps.

What kinds of resources can I add?

ViewPoint allows you to add documents (for example PDFs, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets) and links to external websites.

Do I need to pre-load all the resources?

No. Facilitators, authors, and participants can all add more resources later.

Can I hide resources until later?

Yes. We'll talk about that under Queued Content.

Can I share resources with just certain participants?

Yes. Resources can be public (seen by everyone) or private (assigned only to certain groups or roles).