SIMPL: A Python/Django and ReactJS Simulation Framework

Room G-55. Doors open and networking begins at 5:30pm, pizza arrives 6pm, presentation afterwards.

Jane Eisenstein and Joseph Lee, lead developers of Wharton Computing's Learning Lab, will present their new open-source simulation framework, SIMPL.

Business education has long been renowned for pioneering innovative learning and teaching methods, and Wharton is no exception. In fact, the high-tech educational tools and programs developed through the Learning Lab have positioned the School at the forefront of a relatively new pedagogical approach that’s taken classrooms by storm in recent years — simulation games.

It’s no wonder, really, that such an incredibly powerful and effective teaching technology is in high demand these days. However, as the popularity and complexity of our simulations have grown, so too have the challenges of working with third parties to develop and support our ever-expanding catalogue of offerings. So in 2016, we endeavored to do something about it, making the momentous decision to author an in-house simulation framework of our own.

We call it SIMPL — and it’s poised to launch the Learning Lab’s vision for the future of education to the next level.
Written on Python/Django (which encourages rapid development and the clean, pragmatic design of web applications), SIMPL has gone from white-boarding to proof of concept in less than a year.

SIMPL uses the latest/greatest JS frameworks, including React, Redux, WAMP, and more to build a framework that allows single and multiplayer simulations to be developed. We will present on how our framework was developed and how it will enable the next generation of classroom simulations to be created. We're going Open Source with the platform and we'd love to encourage other devs to take a look at this exciting technology stack!