UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL
Launch of the Virtual Learning Arcade

An exciting new online economics and business resource to support teaching and learning will be launched by the BBC's Economics Editor, Evan Davis, on Tuesday December 4 at 2 pm at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), London.

The Virtual Learning Arcade (VLA) is a series of interactive online models covering a range of economics and business topics. Its aim is to enable students to play with the model and see what happens as a result of their actions in a highly visual and interactive way.

The VLA has been produced by Biz/ed, which is part of Bristol University's Institute of Learning and Research, in collaboration with the IFS and Oxford Economic Forecasting (OEF).

IFS and OEF have provided several models for the VLA. These include:

- a Child Poverty simulation, which shows the effect of different poverty alleviation measures on the incomes of poor family's with children;

- a Labour Supply simulation, which shows how a families choice of how many hours to work is affected by the tax and welfare system;

- the METS Transport model, developed by Professor Stephen Glaister of Imperial College London, which is a planning model used to predict how demand in London for tubes, trains, buses and cars will change as fares change or speed restrictions on cars are imposed; and

- a simplified version of Be Your Own Chancellor, which enables you to become the Chancellor, prepare a Budget and keep the economy on track.

Andy Ramsden, Research Officer for the Virtual Learning Arcade at Bristol University, said: 'It has been difficult in the past for economics and business students to learn by experimenting. The Virtual Learning Arcade will change all of this and allow students to try out real business or economic situations.'

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Email: public-relations@bristol.ac.uk
Copyright: 2001 The University of Bristol, UK
Updated: Monday, 12-Nov-2001 14:57:58 GMT