Dealing Room
In creating Stock Market Challenge we have followed BECTA’s guidelines for software developers. However, certain adaptations may have to be made depending on how each individual school’s system is configured.
Bandwidth
The game is available in 300Kbps and 64Kbps versions.10 teams/terminals will require 3Mbps or 640Kbps of broadband capacity respectively. Wireless networks are supported.
Network and stand-alone use Stock Market Challenge has been designed to industry standards and can run on network systems, a local or wide area network, or on a standalone PC or notebook.
Learning platforms
The software is compatible with most learning platforms. Your learning platform should be flexible enough to enable your ICT Manager to add Stock Market Challenge to the system as a digital learning tool. Most learning platforms have an Add Link option to show external or online content.
Firewalls, filters and permissions
The game requires http access through any firewalls or filters to two IP addresses per team/terminal: one URL links to the trading interface, the other to the news website. Your system’s content permissions may have to be adjusted to allow it to view Flash Animation.
File types and downloads
File names and types may change in the future but at the time of publication of the resource the game uses flash video files and MP4 audio files with the .flv file extension. Permissions may have to be created for these files.
You will need to download Adobe Flash to play the game and Adobe Acrobat to view and print the resources and curriculum PDFs.
Internet browser
The game can be viewed using most browsers, including Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Apple Safari.
Screen resolution
Although the minimum display resolution is 1024 x 768 we recommend viewing the game at 1280 x 1024.
Access and password-protection
Stock Market Challenge uses a password system that restricts access to the game control panel to the teacher. Each team/terminal accesses the game through a dedicated URL and unique game password displayed on the game control panel.
Terminal synchronisation
Although several teams participate in the same game, each team/terminal has its own independent connection to the game server. Therefore, the sending and receiving of data and news reports will never be exactly synchronized. This will not affect your students’ enjoyment of the game and in fact creates a more authentic ‘dealing room’ atmosphere.
The reason for this is that each team/terminal ‘checks in’ with the game server every 5-10 seconds. If a game is started two seconds after one team/terminal has ‘contacted’ the server that team won’t begin the game until the next time it checks in with the server. If another team has contacted the server in the meantime, it will have begun the game and these two teams may be out of synch by a couple of seconds.
Download the file: Dealing Room - Teacher's Guide
