History
Founded in 1982 by University of Maryland professors, Dr. Jonathan Wilkenfeld and Dr. Richard Brecht, ICONS has grown through the years to include thousands of simulation participants and clients throughout the U.S. and the world. We continue to be based at the University of Maryland where ICONS is part of the highly-regarded Center for International Development and Conflict Management.
ICONS began by offering university-level simulations; however, the organization expanded to include high school-level simulations in 1988. For over two decades, ICONS has conducted online multi-week simulations involving students from schools around the world in negotiations on pressing global issues. These shared online simulation experiences are the foundation of ICONS' education program, and run every Fall and Spring semester.
In response to instructors' requests for a flexible simulation option to fit wide-ranging course schedules, the ICONS Project expanded in the early-2000s to offer a limited number of online single-class simulations on various domestic and international topics. Single-class simulations involve students from just one class and can run at any time during the year. The growing popularity of these simulations among educators led us to continue to build our portfolio of single-class simulations, which now includes numerous simulations on a wide range of issues, from African politics to U.S. Senate committee procedures. We continue to develop new single-class simulations each year.
High demand for our simulations from government agencies led to the development of an ICONS professional training division in the early 2000s. This division is committed to bringing the benefits of simulation-based learning to government and private sector clients through leadership, negotiation, and conflict management training.
Today, ICONS serves the online simulation and experiential education needs of our clients through three divisions (Secondary Education, Higher Education, and Professional Training).
