EXPERIENTIAL LEARNDJG IN DEMAND ANALYSIS FOR AN AGRICULTURAL COMMODITY Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Learning, Volume 24, 1997 EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING IN DEMAND ANALYSIS FOR AN AGRICULTURAL COMMODITY Dennis M. Conley, University of Nebraska ABSTRACT Students are expected to take responsibility for their own semester-long research project that is complemented with lecture material and lab activities. Increasing complexity and higher expectations proceed through the semester. The experiential component has students demonstrating trials, errors and progress. INTRODUCTION A Master’s level course titled, “Commodity Demand and Price Analysis,” is offered in our graduate program for students majoring in agricultural economics or agribusiness. As the teacher, I had come from industry into an academic position. In developing the course, I reflected on my own graduate experiences and outlined the following general objectives. First, disciplinary knowledge should be integrated with real world observations through the student’s own empirical work. Second, much of the responsibility for learning ought to rest with the student. Third was to require demonstration of both oral and written communication skills. These three objectives set up the experiential learning component. The method used for achieving the objectives was to have each student be responsible for their own semester-long research project. The student selects an agricultural commodity and becomes familiar with the balance sheet components included in supply and disappearance, and how they are related to prices. In addition, an assessment is made on the competitive nature of the market, and how government and institutional factors affect it. The student is responsible for finding historical data, developing an econometric demand model for the commodity, estimating the model, evaluating adequacy, generating forecasts and communicating the results. The quantitative analysis uses the Statistical Analysis System (SAS) software. Cooperative learning on the projects, use of SAS, and the computer is encouraged (Conley, 1993). During a normal week there are two periods of lecture and one period of lab work. The lecture and lab periods complement the project activity, and the subject matter increases in complexity to coincide with higher expectations on project development. The student is not allowed to procrastinate until the last two weeks of the semester and quickly throw together a paper. Both professor expectations and peer pressure, which is substantial in a multi-cultural class, keeps the students mostly on task Model Development The bridge building between theory and reality continues with the students developing a model. Many forms of a model are possible to represent demand behavior, but the one advocated is a single equation demand model. When the students start collecting data and think about or try to specify a model, the feedback indicates they are overloaded. The experiential learning process now is very real and uncomfortable. Feedback takes the form of presenting the teacher with the initial problems they have in collecting data. The typical plea is that they cannot find the data, or all the data that is needed. Later on the complaint is that the data differs across sources. They begin to ask questions about what variables to include in their model. How should it be specified? The nature of the teacher’s response is critical during a student’s attempt to upward delegate the problem. A “teachable moment” has occurred, and the best response is to sustain the tension and keep 188 Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Learning, Volume 24, 1997 problem. A “teachable moment” has occurred, and the best response is to sustain the tension and keep the experiential learning process alive. This teacher’s response is rhetorical. What has the student found? Where did they look? What variables do you think should be in the model specification? How would you define the variables? The student is counseled that they probably have never done an extensive search for data in previous academic exercises, but to keep trying. The encouragement is that if they can do it now on their own, then they will be able to repeat it in their professional career with much more confidence. Model Estimation and Reporting The tension increases, and the experiential learning process continues, when students estimate their first empirical demand function. They have expended considerable effort in collecting the data, becoming proficient in using the computer, and developing the demand equation as a function of the variables unique to their chosen commodity. With all this careful effort at building a model, they have high expectations that the empirical results will confirm demand theory. They anxiously scan the SAS computer printout seeking to interpret the prolific output of statistical results. For most students the high expectations come crashing down when the results, which they believe should reflect reality, do not confirm the theory. In many cases, almost everything is insignificant and no causal relationships are evident. It is a sobering experience. The criteria for model adequacy is based on two tests. One asks the student to see if results are consistent with economic theory, such as an inverse relationship between quantity demanded and price. The signs on explanatory variables are checked for this consistency. The second test is based on the statistical results. Harms (1996) in his paper listed eight criterion for what makes a good model. Similar criteria are applied by students in this course. As teacher, the experiential learning process is compounded by having the students give in-class reports on progress and problems. Other class members are asked to offer suggestions that could assist the reporting student on their project. In all projects, students have overcome the initial problem of a dichotomy between theory and reality, and eventually they develop their own credible model (Conley, 1993). Conclusions As students work on their projects by searching for data, gaining a more complete understanding of the demand context for their commodity, developing a model, and reporting results both in oral and written form, does a compound effectiveness take place in the experiential learning process. One outcome from using experiential learning that was not expected, was the opportunity for students to work and learn at their own pace, within bounds set by the teacher. Tension generated by a lockstep schedule for completing assignments, and the inter-student competition, was reduced. Higher expectations from the teacher during the semester, and ultimately by the students themselves, leads them to take more responsibility for learning because of the reinforcing motivation coming from the experiential project. REFERENCES Aigner, J. S. (1991) Advising and Teaching International Students: A Guide for Faculty, 6- 7. Office of International Affairs, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE Conley, D. M. (1993) Multi-Cultural Adaptability Using Experiential Learning in a Graduate Course. Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Exercises, 20, 34-38 Harms C.G. (1993). An Econometric Multiple Regression Case in Experiential Learning. Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Exercises, 23, 96-99 189 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