Som en maskin, men ändå inte : En kvalitativ studie av simulatorer, lärande och vikten av bra implementeringsprocesser

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study was to examine the implementation process of the use of simulators within the education of forestry workers. The focus was how the simulations contributed to the learning processes as an educational tool. This purpose was accomplished by interviewing teachers, the manufacturers, and sellers of the simulators. Earlier research has shown that simulators are a very useful educational tool, and that the result of their use has had a large impact on the speed at which the students learn. The simulators create an environment similar to reality, thus creating a smoother and faster transition to the machines later used in a real setting. As a result, education within many fields can be held in both real and simulated environments without problems. The design of this study was a qualitative method with semi-structured interviews that were conducted via Skype and in real life interaction, comparing the answers to find generalisations. We have used Kolb’s Theory of Experimental Learning to see how the simulators should be used as a proposal to how the educational process can be planned. The results from this study demonstrates differences in how the implementation process works and how the teachers wished the implementation to be. Therefore, we concluded that the teachers need an improved implementation process, including better education for the teachers  into how the simulators should be used.