THE IDENTIFICATION OF TEMPORALLY RELATED STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS OF THE EXPERIENTIAL COMPONENT OF ELECTRONIC SPREADSHEET TASKS Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 24, 1997 THE IDENTIFICATION OF TEMPORALLY RELATED STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS OF THE EXPERIENTIAL COMPONENT OF ELECTRONIC SPREADSHEET TASKS Ruth Miller. Northeast Louisiana University Joseph N. Roge’, Northeastern State University ABSTRACT The structural elements of the experiential component involved in learning electronic spreadsheet applications, from the learner’s point of view and relative to exposure length, have not been systematically studied and identified. Furthermore, any relationship between such structural elements that may exist relative to performance is also lacking in definition. Therefore, this study concerns itself with the assessment of the structural elements of experiential spreadsheet tasks based on ‘earner perception. This study takes the first empirical step toward a more complete understanding of the temporal relationships between the perceived structural elements of experiential spreadsheet task learning and performance. It also looks forward to the expansion of useful information for developing teaching materials and approaches to enhance educational processes involving experiential learning. DEFINITIONS AND OBJECTIVES Short-term is defined as four fifty-minute meetings including supporting laboratory time. Learners in this group were identified as Group 1. Long-term is defined as approximately forty fifty- minute meetings including supporting laboratory time. Learners in this group were identified as Group 2. Both groups used Lotus 1-2-3 software run on microcomputers and received equivalent lecture and demonstration instruction. The short-term goals of this study were to identify and interpret the structural elements of the experiential component involved in learning electronic spreadsheet applications, from the learner's point of view, relative to exposure length. The overall, longer-term, goal of this research is to utilize the results of this initial empirical step in the expansion of useful information for developing teaching materials and approaches to enhance educational processes involving experiential learning. ANALYTICAL APPROACH The data were analyzed using factor analysis and comparisons were made of the results. A multivariate analysis approach was considered reasonable because the study involved an analysis of the relationships among variables, particularly the interdependence of variables. Since the focus of this study was an attempt to confirm the presence or absence of latent constructs of student perception relative to specific spreadsheet tasks, factor analysis was deemed appropriate. A questionnaire designed to provide assessment of proficiency was administered to learners in both the short-term and long-term groups. The questionnaire used a Likert-type scale with proficiency levels ranging from one to ten, with one representing the lowest level of proficiency. Proficiency was measured for ten common spreadsheet tasks: loading the software, saving files, replacing files, changing cell label alignment, writing simple formulas, writing formulas using built-in statistical functions, using relative and absolute cell addressing in formulas, copying a range of cells, moving a range of cells and editing the contents of a cell. The questionnaire was completed by a random sample of 41 students in the short-term group. All 41 students from the long-term group completed the questionnaire. The frequency distributions and mean responses for each group suggested that learners in both groups felt that overall they had a relatively high proficiency in all tasks. FACTOR ANALYSIS RESULTS The factor analysis procedure began with a study of the correlation matrix to assess the covariance relationships or linear association among the variables. The correlation matrix was used in this study because although the units of measure change by one on a scale of one to ten the differences in proficiency levels from one 9 Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 24, 1997 number to the next are not commensurate. Therefore, the variables were standardized by using the correlation matrix. Factors were then rotated to allow a more precise interpretation of the factor pattern. The Group 1 correlation matrix revealed strong relationships between a number of short-term group variables. Twelve correlations of .5 or higher were reflected for Group 1, with the strongest correlation (.909) between the variable “formula” and the variable “function.” Two variables had moderate correlation with three other variables: The variable “replace” had correlations of .528, .55 1, and .640 with the variables “cellref.” “copy,” and “label,” respectively; the variable “label” correlated at slightly higher levels of .603 with “cellref.”, .659 with “formula.” and .722 with “function.” The Group 2 correlation matrix indicated that nearly all variables for the long-term group were highly correlated. All but five of the correlations were .5 or higher. The strongest correlation (.848) was between “move” and “copy.” The three variables. “save,” “copy,” and “edit.” correlated with all other variables at .5 or higher. FACTOR EXTRACTION AND INTERPRETATION The purpose of factor extraction is to determine the factors that identify structure. The inclusion of all factors accounts for all the variance of each variable so that a unique factor serves no purpose. However, since a primary goal of the research was to summarize the data, factor extraction was performed. Green (1978) suggests that the rotation of factor loadings leads to a “more interpretable orientation and recomputation of factors scores in the new orientation.” Variables that load heavily on a given factor are correlated in a multivariate sense. This study utilized a combination of the factor extraction approaches along with factor rotation to extract factors for each group. COMPARISON OF THE TWO GROUPS A comparison of the 3-factor rotated factor matrices for Group I and Group 2 show that for both groups the variables “function,’ “formula,” and “cellref’ load heavily on Factor I. This suggests assigning the variable “label” to this group also because in the Group I rotated factor matrix “label” loaded heavily on Factor 1. In the unrotated factor matrix for Group 2 “label” also loaded heavily on Factor I. The loadings suggest a common factor of the type data management tasks. The variables “move,” “copy,” and “edit” load on the same factor in each group, but the factor number is different between the groups, i.e., for Group 1, the three variables load on Factor 2; and for Group 2, the three variables load on Factor 3. This does indicate that a common factor exists for the three variables. The common factor type for these variables is of the type range management tasks. The variables “save,” “load.” and “replace” exhibit loadings on the same factor in each group, but like the variables discussed in the previous paragraph, the factors numbers are different by group. Therefore a common factor of the type file management tasks is suggested. CONCLUSIONS The short-term goals of this study were to identify and interpret the structural elements of the experiential component involved in learning electronic spreadsheet applications, from the learner’s point of view, relative to exposure length. Structural elements, based on underlying latent constructs, were identified. These factors were termed: 1) file management tasks, 2) data management tasks, and 3) range management tasks. These experiential components were interpreted as common to both short-term and long-term learning groups. Although the measurement of spreadsheet tasks performance required for the further analysis of latent constructs identified herein was necessarily delayed, this study, provides a theoretical foundation for measuring the relationship between proficiency in completing selected tasks over both the short term and the long term REFERENCES Available on request. 10 Table of Contents Volume 24, 1997 Incorporating Computer Telephony into the MIS Course A Learner Oriented Infrastructure for videoconferencing Based Distance Education Courses The Identification of Temporally Related Structural Elements of the Experiential Component of Electronic Spreadsheet Tasks Does Involvement Influence Learning from Simulation Participation? Some Relationships with Helpfulness and Performance Outcomes Musings on Business Garne Performance Evaluation Performance on a TE Simulation: What does it represent? The Business Policy Game: An International Simulation - An Assessment Tool Students in Free Enterprise as Experiential Learning The Role of Computer Models in Wargames: A Practitioner's view Using Focus Groups as a Tool to Research Learning: A Demonstration and a Discussion Using Medical Simulations to Teach Multi-Cultural Diversity Using the World Game to Internationalize International Exchange Game Community Services Needs Assessment: An Innovative Approach Introducing Students to Potential Total Quality Management Ethical Dilemmas Privacy in the Workplace: A Situational Analysis Antecedents of Learning in Simulations Demonstrating the Learning Effectiveness of Simulation: Where we are and Where we need to go The Use of Computer Simulations as a Pedagogical Aid in Teaching Management Information Systems Evaluating Simulation Learning in a Distant Learning Instructional Model Financial Engineering of Global Investments The Labor History Game: Playing with the Past Perks Participation Assessing Negotiator's Proficiency with a Negotiation role-play The Art of Negotiating Enhancing Learning and Employee Development through the Assessment of Learning Pedagogy Preferences across selected Dimensions of Culture: A Preliminary Investigation Cooperative Learning: What are we Learning? Effective Use of Mastery Based Experiential learning in a Project Course to improve skills in system analysis and Design Simulations and Learning: Can we prove a relationship? (Seminar) Predicting and Reviewing NYSE Stock Prices by use of Basic Statistical Analysis and Logic Toy Car Depreciation Exercise ABSEL as Home Community: An Interactive Exploration Service Learning: Linking Academic Study to Community Development and Business Enhancement Ability of Efficient Evaluation of Knowledge-Based Management Strategies Corporate Ethics Training Programs Modeling Attributes in Demand Functions of Computerized Business Simulations: An Extension of Teach's Gravity Flow Algorithm Expert Systems Combined with Neutral Networks: Tools to Benefit the Marketing Researcher Computer Game Design: New Directions for Intercultural Simulation Game Designers Consistency in Simulation Performance over Time and Across Simulation Games The Impact of an Artificial Market Leader on Simulation Competitor's Strategies Business Plans, Case Studies, and Total Enterprise Simulations: A Natural Co-existence An Exploration into the Non-Use of Business Simulations The Market Game: Interactive Learning Through Market Simulation Plotting Brand Trajectories with the COMPLETE PPM package: A Market Segmentation Analysis and Positioning Tool Me and Mine Inc: An Exercise in Management Theory Learning to Differentiate Leadership from Managerial Position Business Ethics Survey: A Perspective from the Retail Industry Experiential Learning in Demand Analysis for an Agricultural Commodity Marketing on the Internet: A Pedagogical Exercise College Students Need Simple Computer Simulations, Especially for International Business Courses An Analysis of Student Attitudes, Performance, and Strategies in a Simulation Competition Based on a Controlled Product-Market-Entry Game Structure The Crystal Enterprise: Application of a Non-Computerized Simulation Model in a Process of Organizational Change Threshold: A Windows-Based Behaviorally Oriented Total Enterprise Simulation Coaching Business Game Teams Using a Decision Variable Optimizer Rock and Roll is here to Stay: Enhancing Experiential Pedagogy with Musical Exercises An Example of Business Process Analysis Simulation for Customer Software Support The Use of Business Gaming in Hong Kong Academic Institutions Using the Integrative International Simulation INTOPIA Mark 2000 in a Concentrated MBA Curriculum A Group Experience as an Integrated Part of the Core Management Course Empowered Learning in the Classroom The Inter-Group Interaction: An Innovative Approach to Cooperative Learning Courses that Utilize Student Team: An Approach to enhancing their Effectiveness Thoughts about the Measurement of Learning: The Case for Guided Learning and Associated Measurement Issues Measuring Student Learning Using Business Simulations: A Theory Based Perspective On the Use of PC Fingame in an Undergraduate Finance Course How Managers get Things Done: A Virtual Soundbite Internet Experiential learning in the Principals of Marketing Classroom: A Pedagogical Approach Current Student Perceptions Relative to Business Simulations Beyond Capitalism: Designing Business Policy and Social Justice The Use of Boards of Directors to Evaluate Reports and Presentations in an Undergraduate Business Policy Course Beacon Lumber: An Experiential Introduction to Financial Accounting The Application of Organizational Motivation Principles: The Experiential Business Simulation Motus Manufacturing Avoiding a Bogey: Grading Case Discussions Scientifically Communicating Consumer Behavior II: A Modified Exercise Using Personal Consumption Journals in Condensed Courses Designing Instruments for Assessing the Effectiveness of Simulations, (Seminar) 360º Performance Feedback: Appraisal vs. Assessment The Cafeteria Approach to Managing an Academic Career: Remaining Non-Perishable while Doing Your Own Thing An Experiential Exercise Related to Person-Organization Fit and it's Consequences For Today's Dynamic and Changing World, Business Simulations need to be expanded to encompass Much Greater Complexity: A Demonstration The Incident Process: A Case in Reverse Contextually-Anchored Business Simulations The Energy Factor: Building Motivation in the Simulation Gaming Environment The Design of an Internet Game