UMD’s ICONS Project to Give Maryland Public High Schools Free Access to Educational Simulations
All 25 simulations in the ICONS catalog are available to any Maryland public high school that registers before December 31
The ICONS Project at the University of Maryland is giving every public high school in Maryland free access to its full catalog of online educational simulations through the end of the 2026–2027 school year—now through June 2027—for any teacher who registers before December 31, 2026. The offer covers all 25 of ICONS’s human-to-human role-play simulations, and is available to any of the state’s nearly 300 public high schools. Teachers may run as many simulations as they choose during the access period, at no cost to their schools, districts, or students.
“As Maryland’s flagship public university, we have a responsibility beyond our campus,” said Dr. Robert D. Lamb, director of the ICONS Project at the University of Maryland, College Park. “We want to make sure our State’s public high school students have the same opportunities that thousands of other students worldwide have enjoyed—but at no cost to their schools or families. This is one way we want to give back to Maryland’s communities.”
The free offer is available to all Maryland public high schools; private high schools and homeschooling programs in the state may register for simulations at reduced rates during the same period.
ICONS has been designing and delivering online role-play simulations to students in more than 50 countries for over 40 years. Its simulations place students in the roles of countries, officials, organizations, and other stakeholders navigating real-world policy challenges, complex crises, and interagency or international negotiations. Simulations are designed to enable students to learn and practice skills such as negotiation, decision making under pressure, written communication, persuasion, and research—not as observers, but as active participants.
The results, according to educators who have used ICONS for years, are difficult to replicate through conventional instruction.
“There is always a moment when I’m using a simulation that I find all my students buzzing about a topic they would otherwise not have had such an interest in,” said Dustin Jeter, a Maryland social studies teacher who has run ICONS simulations for more than ten years. “We can talk about all the considerations of foreign policy, but there is something about having students try to find solutions to complex problems that makes ICONS such a great tool. I would encourage instructors to give it a chance—they’ll be hooked!”
“I hear students gasp in the classroom and ask how we're going to solve this new crisis,” added Thomas Guarrieri, director of undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Maryland’s National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). “It creates an analogy to what students will be seeing after they graduate.”
All simulations run on ICONSnet, ICONS’s purpose-built web platform—recently upgraded using federal funding—that is accessible from any standard web browser on a desktop or laptop computer (not mobile devices). The platform gives students controlled communication channels, negotiation tools, multimedia resources, and a proposal center—everything needed to conduct a full simulation without any additional software. It tracks all student decisions and written communications, and gives teachers a transcript and other tools that allow teachers to monitor and document student participation.
Research on experiential learning consistently demonstrates that simulations produce gains in critical thinking, written argument, and cross-cultural perspective-taking.
“The best learning comes from doing,” said Brigid Starkey, teaching professor in political science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Starkey has used ICONS simulations in her college teaching over many years. She notes that the program’s self-contained modules integrate readily into courses across multiple disciplines and levels.
“From dialing back a nuclear crisis in the Koreas to attempting to rescue an ambassador in New Delhi, simulating political events is an exciting way to put theory into practice," she said. "Student evaluations always point to the ICONS exercise as the favorite part of a class.”
ICONS simulations align naturally with many classes already running in Maryland public high schools, including world history, social studies, government and politics, human geography, and economics as well as a number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and honors classes. They support student achievement of several Common Core ELA standards and the Maryland College and Career-Ready Standards for Writing.
The simulations can be run synchronously—with everyone engaging at the same time during a defined period—or asynchronously using messaging tools that enable students and teachers to participate on their own time. Each simulation comes with a complete facilitator guide, student research materials, a full suite of communication tools (direct and group messaging, news, and social media), and technical support from the ICONS team.
ICONS simulations normally cost either $16 per student or a flat rate of $350 for up to 50 students. By making its full catalog available to Maryland high schools at free or reduced rates, ICONS is giving school districts access to advanced educational tools that would otherwise be unavailable as budgets are tightening across the state—removing a financial barrier that has historically limited experiential learning programs to better-resourced districts.
Any public high school teacher or administrator interested in learning more may request a flyer with the free-registration code, or may contact the ICONS team for more information. Interested private high schools or high school-aged homeschooling programs in Maryland may contact ICONS for a discount code. Simulation content may be previewed by requesting free scenario excerpts for any of the 25 simulations. The full simulation catalog, selection guide, excerpt request form, and registration page can be found at icons.umd.edu/education/catalog or by contacting the ICONS team directly at icons@umd.edu.
Photo by iStock
Published on Thu, May 14, 2026 - 1:04PM