Decisions, Decisions

Decisions, Decisions is a 15-part educational role-playing video game series by Tom Snyder Productions, released from the 1980s to the early 2000s.^[1][2] It has also been described as a "media-assisted Simulation Game" series.^[3]

Decisions, Decisions
Genre(s)	Educational, simulation, role-playing
Developer(s)	Tom Snyder Productions

Development

While Tom Snyder originally created games that would suit the "one-computer classroom" model, this series was part of a new gaming focus of "choice-driven discussion generators".^[4] The software was designed specifically to foster academic discussions within the classroom.^[5] An online learning extension named Decisions, Decisions Online was also created.^[6] David Dockterman, VP and Chief Academic Officer of Tom Snyder Productions, commented "the series grew out of my frustration teaching high school history during the Iranian hostage crisis. I thought it would be valuable for my students to discuss what was happening in the world."^[7]

In 1999 a free service Decisions Decisions Online was released, which allowed students to discuss events taken from current headlines, with a new topic featured every month.^[8][9] Hedrick Ellis, executive producer of Decisions, Decisions Online, was reluctant to introduce advertising, and instead noted that Tom Snyder Productions would eventually charge for the products.^[10]

In 2002 Tom Snyder Productions was bought by Scholastic, and this series fell under Scholastic's Interactive Educational Software division.^[11]

Realwordedtech suggested the series died out because it "was expensive to create and even more difficult for teachers to integrate an increasingly prescribed data-driven curriculum".^[12]

Gameplay

Each game puts the players (recommended to be a classroom) into a scenario based on actual facts and encourages them to come up with solutions.

An example is in the title Decisions, Decisions: Prejudice, in which the players take the role of the mayor of a tourist town, in which a newspaper has editorialised against a business trading racial memorabilia.^[4] Students discuss the problem in teams, then enter their strategies into the computer, which advances the story, leading to 300 alternate paths.^[4] Members of the team receive booklets from the perspective of an adviser to the decision maker, for instance in Decisions,^[13] Decisions: The Environment, they could be a campaign manager, and environmentalist, a scientist, and an economist; players then debate this conflicting information to reach a justifiable compromise.^[14]

The games encourage a five step critical thinking process:^[15]

1. Analyze the situation^[16]
2. Determine and prioritise goals^[17]
3. Consider their options^[18]
4. Make a decision^[19]
5. Examine the consequences^[20]

Follow-up activities include: taking quizzes, drawing political cartoons, writing to state and federal legislators, seeing how others parts of the country voted on the issue, and research Web links.^[21]

Titles (incomplete)

• Decisions, Decisions: Current Issues
• Decisions, Decisions: AIDS
• Decisions, Decisions: Colonization
• Decisions, Decisions: Immigration
• Decisions, Decisions: On the Campaign Trail^[22]
• Decisions, Decisions: Prejudice
• Decisions, Decisions: Revolutionary Wars
• Decisions, Decisions: Substance Abuse (also known as S.M.A.R.T. Choices)
• Decisions, Decisions: The Budget Process
• Decisions, Decisions: The Constitution
• Decisions, Decisions: The Environment
• Decisions, Decisions: Urbanization
• Decisions, Decisions: Violence in the Media
• Decisions, Decisions: Ancient Empires
• Decisions, Decisions: Drinking and Driving^[23]

Critical reception

Education World gave Decisions, Decisions Online an A+, describing it as an effective online resource to stimulate the critical thinking skills of young people.^[6]

Laura Cirillo-Boilard of USJ gave Decisions, Decisions – The Constitution 10/10, praising its ability to develop skills in cooperative learning, reading comprehension, oral communication, problem-solving, and decision-making.^[15] Teaching TV Production in a Digital World: Integrating Media Literacy recommended the use of Decisions, Decisions: Violence in the Media within the school curriculum.^[3] Character Education in America's Blue Ribbon Schools felt the series effectively allowed students to work together in solving real world problems and analysing the results of their decisions.^[24] Multimedia Schools said Decisions, Decisions Online is an "interesting, informative, and affordable" product.^[25]

The website was The New York Times' featured site on January 5, 2000.^[26] The Washington Post reported that the series could be ground-breaking in the move from learning distinct subjects to a synergistic approach, using all these skills to complete practical and realistic projects.^[22] Macworld noted that Decisions, Decisions 5.0: The Constitution was not a replacement for a U.S. history textbook.^[27] Teacher Librarian praised it as one of the best ethics-based simulations on the market.^[28] Shirley Neill, co-editor of Only the Best, noted “Snyder tries to get kids to see the issue from a lot of different points of view".^[29] From Now On deemed it the leading producer of historical simulations.^[30] While Kliatt praised the series for addressing current issues, it noted the games were not "culturally balanced".^[31] Tech & Learning wrote "These thought-provoking programs enriched learning in countless ways."^[32] MacWorld suggests the series challenges the student view that historical events are "far-removed from their own lives and have little relevance to the present".^[33]

Awards

• 1988 SIIA CODiE Award for Best Middle or Secondary School Program – Decisions, Decisions Series^[34]
• 1997 Codie award for excellence in technology^[35]
• 1998 Excellence in Software Award for Best Curriculum Software for Middle School – Decisions, Decisions: Ancient Empires^[36]
• 1998 Excellence in Software Award for Best Education Software Upgrade – Decisions, Decisions: The Environment^[36]
• 1999 Education World – Best of 1999 – Decisions, Decisions Online^[37]
• 2001 Codie Award Finalist: Best School Based Secondary Education Software – Decisions, Decisions Online^[38]