June 05, 2026

Short Sims: The Easiest Path to Experiential Learning

43 minutes

Most eLearning tells learners things. Short Sims make them do things. Clark Aldrich joins IDIODC to unpack why this distinction is costing L&D teams credibility — and budget. Clark invented Short Sims: compact, decision-driven simulations that build both competence and conviction in under 12 minutes.

We dig into how Short Sims are built, how AI is now accelerating their production, and why they're one of the few formats that can prove measurable performance impact. If your content library is full of passive courses, this one's a wake-up call.

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Clark Aldrich has spent 30 years at the forefront of experiential learning. He founded Gartner's e-learning research practice in the late 1990s, designed over 100 educational simulations and serious games, and holds a U.S. patent for leadership simulation design. He has guest lectured at Harvard, the Army War College, and the FBI Academy at Quantico.

He is the author of six books, including 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘚𝘪𝘮𝘴: 𝘈 𝘎𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳, a method for building decision-based "learning to do" simulations in under 12 minutes. Short Sims clients include the United Nations, the U.S. Department of State, KPMG, and the Center for Army Leadership. His newest work, Socratic Cards, builds on that foundation to develop leadership and heroic cultures inside organizations.

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