Virtual U Enhancements in Version 2.1

General improvements

1. Course demand and supply (on the "Courses" screens) has been significantly improved. Versions 1, 2, and 2.05 did not implement all the features originally planned. Version 2.1 implements these features and adds several new ones. Appendix A details the course supply and demand procedures.
   
2. Sponsored research (accessed via the "Faculty: Research" screens) has been significantly improved. Versions 1, 2, and 2.05 suffered from startup transients and did not implement all planned features. Version 2.1 corrects these problems and adds additional features. Appendix B details the sponsored research procedures.
   
   Specific improvements
   
3. Graduation requirements have been made more realistic. Students must pass a set of required courses in addition to accumulating a specified number of credits. They also must take a minimum number of electives each semester. Undergraduate requirements include general education as well as those of the major field. General education consists of humanities, science, and social science courses. Field requirements include work in cognate departments (e.g., mathematics in the case of engineering) as well as advanced work in the major.
4. Courses and course requirements now are differentiated by depth and focus. The depth categories are "introductory", "intermediate", and "advanced". Intermediate courses require an introductory course in the same department as prerequisite, and advanced courses require an intermediate course. The focus categories are "taken mostly by lower division undergraduates", "taken mostly by upper division undergraduates", "taken by a mixed group of students", and "taken by graduate students". Differentiation by focus generates some courses with small enrollments, which more accurately simulates reality than would a homogeneous course structure.
5. The teaching methods distribution has been placed under direct player control. Players determine the proportions of seminars, lectures, and general classes for each department. The methods have different normal class sizes and implications for education quality.
6. New course creation depends on the availability of faculty with open teaching slots, which in turn depends on the player-determined normal teaching load. Students are denied entry to courses in a given depth-focus category when class size limits are reached and no faculty are available to open new sections.
7. Student dropout and change-of-major probabilities depend more strongly on departmental teaching effectiveness. Being denied entrance to or failing courses will boost the probabilities of changing major and dropout and reduce progress toward graduation for continuing students.
8. Time to degree (on the "Courses" screen) more accurately tracks the number of years from matriculation for students who have graduated during the past year.
9. Faculty research proposal submission now is sharply inhibited when facilities square footage falls significantly below its norm.
10. Faculty research hours and the indirect cost rate now strongly affect research volume.
11. In the Athletics Department, Division II and III teams now can win divisional championships. Previously, Division I teams could go to bowl games but lower division teams could get no recognition.
12. Average summer class size and Total summer enrollment have been added to the "Courses: Activity" screen.
13. Player control over departments' provision of distance learning credits has been improved.
14. Certain time series graphs have been smoothed to eliminate the EKG-like oscillations caused by low activity levels in the summer trimester.

Appendix A: Course Demand and Supply

Elective courses:

Choose a department at random and apply for the most advanced course level for which prerequisites have been attained. IF the application is denied THEN try a lower depth or another department.
Repeat until the minimum number of electives specified for the student's year in program has been scheduled. Repeated denials may cause the student give up and accept a reduced class schedule.

Required courses:

Build the chain of remaining requirements for graduation in each department, taking account of prerequisites. Choose the department with the longest chain and apply for entry to the course at the beginning of the chain. IF the application is denied THEN repeat for the department with the next longest chain.
Repeat for the remaining slots in the student's program. Repeated denials may cause the student give up and accept a reduced class schedule.

Determine whether the applied-for course will be supplied.

Select a teaching method and focus category at random using probabilities based on the course's depth and the student's level and year in program.

IF the department already offers a course with the selected depth-method-focus attributes THEN

IF enrollment is less than the maximum class size THEN accept the application and increment the class size ELSE try to open a new course with the selected attributes.

IF the list of faculty with available teaching slots is not empty, assign a randomly selected person to teach the course and decrement his or her availability for future assignments ELSE try to persuade the department to teach an overload. (This can be attempted only once.)

IF the department agrees THEN repeat the above ELSE deny the student's enrollment application.

For each student:

Determine whether each course taken during the semester has been passed or failed. Probability of failure depends on the student's academic talent and morale, the instructor's teaching talent and morale, and the teaching method.

IF the course has been passed THEN increment the student's transcript ELSE IF this was a required course THEN return it to the remaining requirements list.

Appendix B: Sponsored Research

Generate the proposals to be submitted by each regular faculty member.

Determine the number of proposals at random using a Poisson probability distribution. Poisson distributions are ideal for random events that have low occurrence probability but nevertheless the possibility of multiple occurrences in any given time interval. The probability depends on the professor's discretionary research hours and factors related to the academic discipline.

Determine the size of each proposal at random from a normal distribution whose mean depends on factors related to the discipline and the overhead rate in effect when the project is proposed. Total dollars are broken down into a direct and an overhead component.

Determine the duration and the time to decision for each proposal. Duration is selected at random with equal probabilities in the range of 12 to 24 months. Time to decision is selected at random with equal probabilities in the range of 2 to 4 months.

Determine whether proposals submitted in the past and up for decision this month will be awarded. The award probability depends on the professor's research talent, the department's prestige, the overhead rate, facilities availability in relation to the norm, and factors related to the academic discipline.

Determine whether proposals submitted in the past and up for decision this month will be awarded. The award probability depends on the professor's research talent, the department's prestige, the overhead rate, and facilities availability in relation to the norm.

Sum up the direct and indirect costs incurred on active projects during the month and the fraction of regular faculty who have active projects. These data are reported on the "Faculty: Research" screen.