Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning(Texas Digital Library - TDL E-Journals)
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On the Design of Educational Course of Action Wargaming
No full textThe Joint Planning Process is a document that describes the guidelines to employ the Brazilian Armed Forces. The military can also apply these guidelines for educational purposes, to train their staff in times of peace. The Brazilian Ministry of Defense intends to simulate the employment of military forces to speed up the decision-making cycle and increase the chances of operational success. Consequently, actions would be better planned and risks would be better assessed. The Course of Action (COA) Wargaming simulates each friendly COA against the possible enemy COAs. However, the doctrinal process lacks information to describe how to conduct a COA Wargame. Therefore, doctrinal knowledge is limited to systematizing this analysis. COA Wargaming has been subjective and has relied on tacit knowledge. This work aims to propose a method to conduct the COA Wargaming, and a conceptual model to structure the COA Wargaming, enabling the further use of computer systems to support its conduction. Wargames’ concepts inspire this game design. Wargames are defined as models or simulations of conflicts in a synthetic environment, involving opposing forces, in which players make decisions based on rules, procedures, and information. Improving COA Wargaming as an educational wargame tool would simulate military planning, support players to build effective strategies, support instructors to analyze players’ decisions and umpire engagements, and build a technological framework to collect decision data for future applications in knowledge management and artificial intelligence
Examining the Pedagogical Effectiveness of Role-Play Simulation Exercises: A Comparative Study Between Middle East and UK Graduates
No full textEngaging in active-learning techniques like role-play simulations can provide opportunities for graduates and other learners to probe and reflect on the vicissitudes of communication that can help them build their analytical skills (Dengler, 2008), hone their critical and interpersonal skills (Weiss, 2003), as well as their public speaking and communication (Asal and Blake, 2006; Smith and Boyer, 1996). From a pedagogical viewpoint, enabling students to learn from the decisions they make, and helping them apply the knowledge and theories learned in the classroom to a simulated environment can deepen their understanding about the business challenges they are likely to face in the real-world. It is thus important to immerse students in concrete situations that require their active participation, allowing them to apply new knowledge and observe the consequences of their actions first-hand. While it is essential to equip students with the theories, concepts and other knowledge bases that can expose them to the emotional and behavioural effects of interactions that other conventional teaching styles may not be able to provide (Weiss, 2003), at the same time, it is also critical to address the lack of consensus on effective pedagogies and teaching models that can train students on the various aspects of negotiation (Fisher and Fisher-Yoshida, 2017). The latter can limit students from gaining in-depth insight into the negotiation process, which is incumbent in today’s international business world.
As an educator and scholar, I believe it is essential to compare and find approaches that can encourage students to learn some of the myriad complexities and sensitivities that are inherent within a negotiation process, which may come in the form of cultural differences, language, experiences, and personalities. Graduates must be equipped to analyse the negotiating context, be knowledgeable to develop a negotiation strategy and learn the essential actions and behaviours that can help them in achieving their negotiation goals (Menkel-Meadow, 2009).
Corroborating with overlapping notions put forth by negotiation and communication scholars over decades, we investigate the learning potential of role-play negotiation simulations on graduate learning, specifically within Business Schools. Our empirical data comprises of video recordings of role-play simulation exercises carried out by graduates from the Middle East and the UK. This data was collected during the covid-19 pandemic period. Using the ‘Experiential Learning Theory’ (ELT) that was developed by Kolb (1984) we conceptualise how role-play simulations can help both educators achieve their pedagogical goals and support students to meet their learning goals. This cyclical model that comprises of four learning stages i.e., concrete experiences, reflection, abstract conceptualisation and experimenting has no pre-determined starting point (Kalfadellis, 2005) but accommodates varied learning styles (Shellman and Turan, 2006) and provides educators and instructors with the flexibility to structure and design their course/s in a way that stimulates students’ interests, encouraging them to freely discuss issues in a protected and inclusive learning environment. ELT encourages learners to chart their own path on the learning way (Abdulwahed and Nagy, 2009; Kolb and Kolb, 2009).
With the changing notions of pedagogy and the diverse student groups present in Business Schools, it becomes important to create an engaging environment and learning experience that all students can benefit from. The covid-19 pandemic required many UK Universities to adopt a ‘blended’ or ‘hybrid’ learning approach to education. This unique approach that involves both face-to-face and online sessions, pushes educators to think beyond the teaching methods they are familiar with, especially for a hands-on course that involves social interactions. Given the accelerating growth of negotiation and conflict resolution courses within Business Schools (Lewicki, 1986), little research has been conducted to examine the learning potential of role-play simulations as an effective and inclusive pedagogical tool to teach the topic. Hence, the purpose of this study is two-fold: (i) to provide an overview on the Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) (Kolb, 1976) and map the four stages of the ELT model with the course components on the negotiation curriculum; and (ii) to assess the influence of role-play simulation exercises in Negotiation’s curriculum for graduates from Middle East and the UK. Our findings will shed light on the effectiveness of role-play simulations as a pedagogical method for teaching negotiations to graduates. Encouraging more dialogue on this topic among interested scholars can lead to new avenues for research and additionally, help educators, instructors and practitioners understand how to incorporate role-play simulation exercises in their negotiation curriculum and training sessions
Teaching social media marketing through following firms on Twitter---a perspective of experiential learning
No full textThe experiential learning theory sees learning as a four-step process: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualism, and active experimentation (Kolb, 1984). According to Kolb, learning is a cyclical process and effective learning takes place only when the cycle is completed. Prior research demonstrates that experiential learning can enhance student learning in marketing education (Cappuccitti, Gunn, and Lee, 2019; Young, 2002). Students will be more likely to succeed in a corporate context if they experience daily interactions throughout a curriculum that approximate a professional environment (Ewing and Ewing, 2016).
The process of following companies on social media is experiential learning (Craciun and Corrigan, 2010). Social media users who follow a brand acquire knowledge of the brand, its company, and other users (Chu, Chen, and Sung, 2016; Jin and Phua, 2014; Logan, 2014). Similarly, college students can follow firms or their brands, learn brand information, evaluate assurances, and interact with account managers and other followers. In a sense, the following itself is “doing” from a perspective of experiential learning because the student can observe the marketing activities of firms and interact with account managers and other followers by writing comments for others and responding to others, including the account managers. College students can learn real-world social media marketing skills and content management by following companies.
As social media marketers use more advanced content management systems to create and update content, social media platforms have created a resourceful learning environment. Twitter provides millions of mass-produced messages or images to users on mobile phones and laptops (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2015). Previous research demonstrates that Twitter is a real-time environment for student learning; instructors can use Twitter for direct communication with students to generate discussion and interest in the course topics and examples (Rinaldo, Tapp, and Laverie, 2011). This research project uses elements of experiential learning to explore how students benefit from following companies on Twitter. Specifically, the research addresses three crucial questions about teaching social media marketing: (1) how can instructors integrate Twitter into social media marketing courses to provide experiential learning? (2) how does following firms on Twitter enhance students\u27 learning? (3) what theoretical implications can this research provide for experiential learning
Ethics as Experience: Hope, Revelation and Angst
No full textAs an AACSB accredited institution, we are required to demonstrate how learning occurs, what steps we might take to assure learning. With respect to the subject of ethics the focus is on student mastery of concepts. Not that such an understanding is without merit, and is in fact essential as it is intended to inform choices that we make, but it reflects a de-minimis approach to the subject. If we can agree that ethics must be more than a spectator sport, a passive endeavor that invites observers to offer critical insights and see it instead as a “contact sport”, in an intellectually challenging and controlled setting, then we might agree that the best way to test what has been learned, must be in the arena, a place of action. This may be akin to the clinical education used to educate healthcare professionals, but more broadly understood as supervised practical experience in any relevant discipline. This paper examines a specific discipline, the study of ethics in the context of business, and how we might close the divide between the conceptual understanding of the subject and how we might test that understanding under conditions where participants must actualize that learning
Case Study: The Impact of Moving a Simulation from Face-To-Face to Distance Modes
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic caused a rapid move from traditional face-to-face classroom education to various forms of remote learning. Early research suggests that some faculty successfully adapted to the shift from classroom to remote learning and it was possible for students to maintain the same level of academic engagement without compromising their learning. This study contributes to that early research by examining student opinions about simulations and academic teamwork following a simulation game experience conducted synchronously during face-to-face class meetings prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, asynchronously using remote-mode technology with synchronous remote debriefs during the early stage of the pandemic, and hybrid mode with a combination of face-to-face classroom sessions and remote team meetings during later stages of the pandemic. Synchronous debrief sessions were held either face-to-face or via web conference for all modes. This study found no significant differences in student attitudes and learning between the three modes and noted a wider variation of attitudes towards simulations following the late-stage pandemic hybrid approach
Strategic Knowledge Mapping: The Co-Creation of Useful Knowledge
No full textStrategic planning typically involves conducting research and setting objectives. It is a difficult and expensive process with no guarantee of success. Recent research shows that managers with mor
The Effectiveness of Online Quizzing as a Repetitive Learning Tool in A Marketing Class: A Field Study of the Testing Effect
No full textA field study of the testing effect (Roediger and Karpicke, 2006) using a low grade weighted online learning management system applied to learning in a large lecture introductory marketing class was undertaken. The testing effect predicts that students who practice more with online quizzes will remember more of what they learned. The subjects were 454 students who completed a twelve week semester in which they were offered nine marketing topic area quizzes, each of which presented seven total attempts broken into three different time frames. The grade weight of the quizzes was very low (1.11% each) with the best attempt score being counted. At the conclusion of the course the marketing students were doubly classified into high, medium and low repetition attempt groups and high, medium and low examination performance groups. An ANOVA analysis of repetition grouping versus final and midterm examination percentage performance and then examination grouping versus total quiz attempts was undertaken. The findings showed significant differences in midterm and final examination performances for the repetition groups when controlling for inclass quiz performance. The ANOVA of the high, medium and low examination performance groupings indicated that for the final examination, the low performance group had statistically significant fewer quiz attempts than the medium performance group which also had statistically significant fewer quiz attempts than the high exam performance group. The findings for the midterm examination were not as strong as there was only a marginally significant difference (.065) between the low exam performance group and medium exam performance group in terms of total quiz attempts while there was a statistically significant difference in total quiz attempts between the high performance group and the medium performance group. The conclusions drawn from these findings are that the testing effect was present and that low stakes quizzing was beneficial to student learning
The Dynamics, Outcomes and Resolution of Inter-group Conflict
No full textThis paper describes an experiential exercise in which participants experience inter-group conflict. The debriefing enables them to understand the dynamics and outcomes they experienced. It also explains how conflicts between groups within work settings and elsewhere may be addressed and resolved. This has been used effectively with both undergraduate and graduate level students
Investigating the contribution of role-plays for social sustainability: Designing a role-play game for CSR Communication
No full textWith the growing emphasis on corporate social responsibility (CSR), scholarship has recognized that CSR communication is vital, but also very challenging. CSR communication has been called a double-edged sword, meaning that although it is important, communicating CSR too overtly can be “counterproductive.” Another issue is that there has been a dearth of research on how to teach CSR communication. While research has emphasized the importance of teaching CSR and business ethics, it is not clear yet what kind of learning activities are most appropriate for teaching the subject. To address this question, an original role-play game was created for teaching CSR communication. The role-play game is focused on a labor scandal at a fictitious multinational sporting goods company, modeled after true information from the Nike Labor Scandal of the 1990s-2000s. The students are divided into different stakeholder roles (e.g. supplier employees, executives, investors, labor activists), and then role-play these stakeholders in a community meeting to understand the different priorities for each stakeholder before discussing the key problems. Afterward, students of mixed roles form stakeholder teams to discuss their viewpoints and create a communication plan to address the CSR communication crisis. The teams then present these CSR plans to work professionals experienced in CSR and public relations, who would role-play as the CEO and Board of Directors at the company. This instructional design takes elements of role-play and combines them with service learning through the inclusion of experienced work professionals as part of the role-play team. It provides an active learning experience for teaching sustainability, while enhancing the understanding of how role-play contributes to CSR communication. This paper describes the rationale behind the design of this role-play-based teaching approach, as well as how it may be further investigated and enhanced in the future
Roadmap To The Future: An Undergraduate Business Program Curriculum Redesign
No full textIn 2020, the University of Pittsburgh’s College of Business Administration (CBA) had reached an inflection point in its growth that warranted a full curriculum review. As with most strategic planning work in 2020, that review was delayed as the school responded to the COVID-19 pandemic including a pivot to fully remote instruction. When the curriculum review committee reconvened in 2021, the school was literally bursting at the seams – welcoming its largest incoming class ever, over-enrolling some sections to ensure that students slated to graduate could get the courses they needed, and seeking alternative classroom and office space to supplement its traditional campus location. Against that backdrop, the committee’s work became even more urgent, and it began with a comprehensive analysis of the current state CBA curriculum. To start, a review of the literature compared against the committee’s goals narrowed the scope of the analysis to two lenses for the review: A horizontal review (verifying that multiple sections of the same course cover the same learning objectives) and a subject-area review (verifying that similar content taught in different subject areas was reinforcing, not redundant). Second, a suitable curriculum mapping taxonomy was sought from within the field of business, and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) provided inspiration in the form of its CPA Evolution Model Curriculum. That curriculum includes a line of sight from the organization’s top level goals to course topics to learning objectives to courses, and the team was able to build an analogous CBA Model Curriculum Template to be populated with its own school-, curriculum-, and course-level data. Third, the team accessed all available, systemic metadata about each of CBA’s existing courses and pre-populated its template. To fill in gaps in the systemic data and dig in on emerging areas of focus such as equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), data analytics, and integrated learning, interviews were conducted with course leads, and finally the comprehensive, current state CBA Curriculum Map was complete, highlighting the curriculum’s strengths, gaps, and redundancies for the full committee to review and action both from the perspective of horizontal and subject-area reviews. In summary, this baseline curriculum map has been invaluable in enabling CBA to move forward with its development of an evidence-based, future state curriculum, and the process of mapping the baseline curriculum has created a playbook that can be leveraged again for future curriculum review