HOW DO WE MEASURE THE ‘LEARNING’ IN EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING AND HOW DO WE BEST STIMULATE IT? Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 23, 1996 HOW DO WE MEASURE THE ‘LEARNING’ IN EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING AND HOW DO WE BEST STIMULATE IT? James W. Gentry, Phil Anderson, Alvin C. Burns, Hugh Cannon, Anthony J. Faria, Ron Frazer, Jerry Gosenpud, Leigh Lawton, Ray Nulsen, Richard Teach, and Bill Wellington The measurement of “learning has been dealt with from a wide variety of perspectives in ABSEL. The organization of the session will involve a series of short paper presentations of the authors’ perspectives, followed by comments from the discussant (Hugh Cannon, who will also act as discussion facilitator). Given the differences in perspective being presented, the discussion is expected to be lively. THE GAMING LEARNING PROCESS Bill Wellington and Tony Faria, University of Windsor, Ray Nulsen, Xavier University By making decisions that are more consistent with the environment defined by the game parameters, it is assumed that the game player has learned how best to adapt to the simulation environment. The results of the study suggest that simulation play primarily results in operant conditioning with cognitive learning playing a secondary role. MEASURING SUCCESS IN BUSINESS GAMES Richard Teach, Georgia Tech University Measuring success in management simulations by the accumulated profits is pleasing but irrational. Business professors like to explain that maximizing stockholder wealth is the ultimate goal of business and thus profit maximization is the best measure of success. When this economic concept is moved into the gaming environment, it makes many assumptions about the underlying design features of business simulations. ‘LEARNING’ IN TOTAL ENTERPRISE SIMULATIONS Jerry Gosenpud, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater “Learning” is hard to pin down partially because it is a process, which we can see only indirectly. We can see the behavioral changes that result from learning but we cannot see the learning itself. Defining and measuring learning in simulations is especially difficult because how one learns and what is learned are often different across individuals. A summary of the research program of Gosenpud and Washbush will be presented; it concludes that there is no easily identified relationship between performance and learning in the simulation. HOW DO WE MEASURE THE ‘LEARNING’ IN EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING Phil Anderson and Leigh Lawton, Univ. of St.Thomas Their perspective: (1) There are no direct measures of learning at higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. (2) There is an absence of good proxies for measuring learning at higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. (2) There is need to (a) test proxies with (b) process and performance measures at (C) multiple points in time during the simulation experience. HOW DO WE MEASURE THE LEARNING IN EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING J. Ronald Frazer, Emeritus, Clarkson University Measuring the learning that takes place is considerably more difficult than in a traditional course, however, because the learning is so varied and different from one individual to another. The major advantage of simulation gaming over pedagogies such as case studies comes through the intensity provided by the competitive setting of most games. Because of this intensity, the students seem to retain the knowledge acquired to a far greater extent than is usual, even to the extent that we have to be concerned about their having learned the wrong concept. EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING’S ROLE IN MOTIVATING STUDENTS: A MODEL BASED ON CURIOSITY James W. Gentry, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Alvin C. Burns, Louisiana State University The focus in education on cognitive elements tends to overshadow motivational aspects. Loewenstein (1994, p. 93) notes that ‘educators know much more about educating motivated students than they do about motivating them in the first place.’ Loewenstein (1994) developed a model of curiosity based on the notion of manageable gaps in one’s knowledge. We argue that the use of experiential learning can indeed be highly motivating as long as it provides manageable information gaps between what one knows and what one wishes to know. 197 Table of Contents Volume 23, 1996 Modeling Advertising Effectiveness Simulation as an Aid to Learning: How Does Participation Influence the Process? Administering Business Simulations in Transitioning Economies: The Introduction of Simulation Gaming to Estonia Business Simulation Games: Current Usage Levels. A Ten Year Update The Relationship Between Interpersonal and Task Cohesiveness and Performance in a Business Simulation Game The Design of an ITS-Based Simulation: A New Epistemology for Learning Correlates of Learning in Simulations How Do We Know where we're going if we don't know where we have been: A Review of Business Simulation Research Making Cash Flow Come Alive and Sensible in the Classroom Enhancing Simulation Learning through Objectives and Decision Support Systems An Analysis of Deliberate and Emergent Strategies Relative to Porter's Generic Differentiator and Cost Leader: A Bias and Variance Modeling Approach Introducing Ethical Dilemmas into Computer-Based Simulation Exercises to Teach Business Ethics CEO Strategic Locus of Control Effects on Game Performance and Playing Behavior The Relational Database As a Link between Operations and Cost Accounting Goal Setting over Time in Simulations Computerized Business Simulations: A Workshop Exploring the Tutor's Role, Task & Needs Strategic Analysis of the Product Portfolio with the COMPLETE PPA Package: A Strategic Market Planning Tool Draft Standards and Registration Procedure for Assessment Instruments Perspectives on a New Generation of Business Games An Economic Multiple Regression Case In Experiential Learning Changing Institutional Norms and Behavior, Not Culture: Experiential Learning Comes to Myanmar Strategic Management and the Case Method: Survey and Evaluation Individual Differences in Internet Attitude and Use Long Live the Plan - or Should It? Examining the Impact of Detailed Strategic Plans on Organizational Performance Do Your Students Really Read the Manual? A Computerized Contextual Tool As A Surrogate for the Traditional Student Manual Pilot Analyses of Self-Peer Evaluations in an Experiential-Exercise Human Resources Management Course Leader Behavior Feedback: A Learning Exercise Dilemma-Dilemma: An Exercise for Teaching Significance Of Communication Computer Mediated Conferencing: Technology and Classroom Learning Multimedia in the Workplace: Who is really using it and where is it Headed? Using Experiential Exercises for Collecting Research Data: Integrating Teaching and Research Interactive Distance Learning as a Tool in a College's Theory and Practice The President's Decision: An Experiential Exercise in Decision Making Integrating Computer Literacy Skills in the Undergraduate Curriculum: The Advanced Accounting Experiment Imperatives for the Transfer of Experience-Based Training Deciding How to Decide The Internet as a Pedagogical Tool Internet Scavenger Hunt Two Management Exercises Based on Committee Work Multimedia in the Year 2000: How Will It Affect Our Lives? Bootstrap Benefit Segmentation: Finally A Way to Teach Benefit Segmentation without Primary Data or Those Fancy Statistical Methods Multimedia and Learning: Is There A Connection? A Changing Business Policy Collaborative Learning Through Real-Life Assignments in Accounting Classes The Necessity Of Incorporating Local Cultural Aspects Into International Business Experiential Exercises Utilizing Cultural and International Landmark Constructs to Assess Business Student's International Awareness Legal Issues related to the Use of Application Blanks: An Experiential Exercise The Family in the Classroom: An Experiential Exercise for Teaching Issues Related To Expatriate Assignments Using Internet Resources to Enhance Teaching of Information Systems Courses: A Demonstration Proposal Chalkboards to Chipboards for Teachers and Consultants How Do We Measure The Learning In Experiential Learning and How Do We Best Simulate It?