INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT SOFTWARE: ITS EVOLUTION AND CURRENT STATE OF THE ART IN THE BUSINESS CURRICULUM Development In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 18, 1991 149 INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT SOFTWARE: ITS EVOLUTION AND CURRENT STATE OF THE ART IN THE BUSINESS CURRICULUM Andrew Varanelli, Jr., Pace University Dan Baugher, Pace University Marion Sackson, Pace University ABSTRACT Software support in the business curriculum has changed substantially during the past decade. These changes are especially noticeable in the business policies course where experientially-based learning has often been used. Today, the computer has entered the classroom with the advent of instructional support software. This software allows dynamic demonstration of lecture topics using computer-based projection technology. Furthermore, this software can be beneficial in almost any area of the business curriculum. With this in mind, the authors have developed a state-of-the- art instructional support module for demonstrating the dynamics of PERT/CPM relationships - - a management science topic. INTRODUCTION Properly designed software can enrich the classroom experience and provide the instructor with considerable flexibility in the presentation of subject matter. This paper describes the evolution of software support in the Pace business policies course and the role that instructional support software now plays in this course. It then goes on to demonstrate an instructional support module developed by the authors for use in a management science course. CURRENT COMPUTER SUPPORT IN BUSINESS POLICIES Since business policies courses often make full use of computer-based instruction, they provide a good indication of the computer’s potential in the educational process. At Pace, three modes of computer-based instruction are now in use: dynamic decision making simulations (e.g., business games), software-based case studies solved by students using quantitative tools (e.g. , Lotus 1-2-3) and qualitative tools (e.g., key actor analysis), and dynamic demonstration of lecture topics using computer-based projection technology. The software used to accomplish this last mode is termed instructional support software. INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT SOFTWARE Based on our experience in business policies, it appears that instructional support software will be the new frontier in computer support for business courses over the next decade. It is likely that this software will become a part of future textbook packages just as test banks and transparencies are today. This software can be defined as those programs that faculty members would use to demonstrate specific key points in a lecture. For example, if one were lecturing on sampling, it would be interesting to have a real time demonstration showing how a sampling distribution approaches the true normal distribution as the value of “N”, the sample size, increases. AN INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT SOFTWARE EXAMPLE Instructional support software is most useful when a concept is hard to teach because of the static nature of overheads or other visual aids that might be used. The concepts of project management, namely PERT and CPM, fall into this category. It is difficult to lecture about such topics as predecessor and successor activity relationships while graphing a sample network on the blackboard. Overheads help to some extent but are limited in that they do not show the progressive, step-by-step completion of the network. To solve this problem, the authors have developed instructional software to display PERT/CPM relationships in a real time mode. The software is menu driven and allows the instructor to focus on the theory while the program graphs and develops the activity relationships in the network. Data in the software is geared to a case study, which involves a classic PERT/CPM problem and several levels of analysis (e.g., latest finish time, CPM crashing). The software module operates in two modes: manual and automatic. The manual mode allows the instructor to graph one activity at a time. The automatic mode graphs the entire project diagram. The instructor can plot the network on an activity-by-activity basis explaining each activity’s interaction along the way or switch to the automatic mode and have the network graph completed by the program. Figure 1 shows the first four activities plotted using the manual mode. CONCLUSIONS The integration of the computer into the business school curriculum is as important an advance in business instruction as introduction of the case study. The computer moves the case study from a static picture of a critical incident to a realistic dynamic simulation of that situation. In the future, the authors believe that the trend will be toward the use of real time models, expert systems and computer projection technologies to support class activities. 1 2 4 3 5 A B C F Note: 'D' indicates a dummy path Activity Description Immediate Predecessor A Pour foundation - B Construct frame A C Electrical B D Heating C E Plumbing B F Roof B G Siding F H Inside finishing D, E, F I Inside painting H J Landscaping G K Certificate of occupancy I, J Space Continue F3 Manual Mode F4 Paths F18 Quit FIGURE 1 PLOT OF PERT NETWORK USING MANUAL MODE Table of Contents Volume 18, 1991 Personality Types and Total Enterprise Simulation Performance Using DIS 'n DAT as a Decision Support System for a Marketing Simulation Game Theoretical Derivation of a Market Demand Function for Business Simulators The Ethnographic Case Study: An Experiential Approach to Teaching Retail Management Electronic Bulletin Board Systems (BBS): Support Software for Computer Simulations The New Budget Game Negame: A Cross-Cultural Role-Play to Introduce Students to the Familiarization Stage of Negotiations Modeling Short-Run Cost and Production Functions Using Sheppard's Lemma in Computerized Business Simulations Increasing Simulation Realism through the Modeling of Step Costs Predicting Simulation Performance: Differences Between Groups and Individuals A Facility Location Case to Stimulate Classroom Interaction Educational Effectiveness of Business Simulation Gaming: A Comparative Study of Students and Practitioner Perspective Ethical Dilemmas in Experiential Learning: Issues and Strategies A Critical Review and Assessment of ABSEL's Award-Winning Procedures and Protocols Political Risk: A Simulation for Business Practitioners Upside Down: A Cross-Cultural Game in Experiential Learning Gorby's Dilemma: From Communism to Free Enterprise in Two Hours Strategic Market: Planning with the COMPLETE Product Portfolio Analysis Package: A Marketing Decision Support System Career Concepts and Total Enterprise Simulation Performance Experiential Learning in Human Resources: A Performance Appraisal Application Managerial Motivation and Realism Among MBA Student as Viewed through The Looking Glass, Inc. Simulation An Experiential Approach to Teaching Data Analysis Using MYSTAT: Rationale, Procedures and Results Practicing What Was Preached: A Sequential Learning Model put to the Test Student Attitudes about Policy Course Simulations An Investigation of the Relationship Between Simulation Play, Performance Level and Recency of Play on Exam Scores The Effect of Leadership and Cognitive Processing Styles upon Peer Performance Evaluation: Implication for the Utilization of Simulations in Business Pedagogy On the Transfer of Market Oriented Business Games to Socialist Cultures An Application of Financial Analysis of the Business Firm in a Simulated Competitive Environment Collective Bargaining Simulation: An Exercise based on a Familiar Theme Making Business Policy a Strategic Management Experience A Student Exercise for Intergrating the Concepts of Power and Motivation The Boundaries Extended: An Experiment Comparing Dialectical Inquiry, Devil's Advocacy and Consensus Using the Executive Game Using a Simulation Package to Develop a Simulation Exercise in Cost Accounting Success Factors in Experiential Training for Creative Problem-Solving Teams An Experiential Approach for teaching Quality management Critical Success Ratios: A Comparison of Two Business Simulations in a Multi-Year Environment Stocklogs: A Classroom Exercise for Teaching the Logistical Relationship of Location and Inventory The Organizational Leadership Program Simulating Business Decision-Making: Using Statistical Cases for Classroom Exercises Scripting for the Classroom Upgrading the Business Strategy and Policy Game Developing Student Team-Building and Leadership Skills Using Computer-Aided Experiential learning Strategies Organizing and Outward Bound Field Trip An Architecture for Extensible Simulation Games Performance in the Capstone Business Course: What is the effect of Pedagogy, Learning Styles, and Student Motivation? Operational Strategy with Participant-Modifiable Parameters An Example of a Personal Selling Case Transformed into a Role Play Scenario Instructional Software: It's Evolution and Current State of the Art in the Business Curriculum Ascertaining Performance Variables for use in Determining Student's Grades in Courses Employing a Business Simulation Designing Management Seminars Using Business Simulations The Accounting Information Systems Course: Bridging the Gap between the Classroom and the Real World The Good Cooks Guide to Training Excellence: Working with Passion A Demonstration on Multiple Data Collection Methods: Seeing Strategic Issues Through the Looking Glass Simulation Systems Analysis and Design: Why Undergraduate Education gets a Failing Grade Accommodating Organizational Culture: An Evaluation of Management Development Delivery Modes in Varying Organizational Cultures Modeling Total Quality into Business Simulations The Political Futures Game Meeting Meeting Objectives