AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO COMPUTERIZING THE BUSINESS CURRICULUM Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 17, 1990 195 AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO COMPUTERIZING THE BUSINESS CURRICULUM Diane M. Hamilton, Glassboro State College Robert D. Lynch, Glassboro State College Linda W. Ross, Glassboro State College ABSTRACT The New Jersey Challenge Grant program gave business school an unprecedented opportunity (and $850,000) to design an ideal, integrated approach to “computerizing” the business curriculum. This project includes 1) computing facilities; 2) faculty training and development; 3) curriculum revision; 4) a comprehensive database and case study environment: and 5) computer integration into courses. This paper describes the components, their relationship, and the rationale underlying the project. BACKGROUND Glassboro State College Adopted an ambitious plan “to create a learning climate that simulates a technologically advanced business firm and its information rich environment.” Our short-range objectives were to redesign curriculum around the concept of the management and use of information through an integrated decision-support system, and to provide intensive hands-on computer experience in all courses. While strengthening students’ quantitative, analytical and reasoning skills, we aimed to heighten awareness of the organizational and interpersonal context for decision-making and to enhance communication skills. COMPUTING FACILITIES Five state-of-the-art facilities were designed. In 1988, we opened an complex of three computer facilities, two of which can be used for scheduled classes. Eighty IBM PS/2 model 50 microcomputers and Proprinters are housed in these three labs. A network carries a set of basic business application software and allows restricted access to course- specific software and data. Faculty offices are equipped with a workstation connected to the LAN. Two more computerized facilities will be completed in 1990: an auditorium equipped for video and film, and a simulation lab and breakout rooms equipped with microcomputers. FACULTY TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT Faculty training offered one of the biggest obstacles of our efforts. Installation of computers in faculty offices provided privacy and convenient self-paced learning. LAN enables faculty communication from office-based computers. Funding is earmarked for travel to professional conferences or off-campus training and to conduct on-campus training programs. CURRICULUM REVISION Faculty agreed that core business courses should emphasize higher-order analysis. Familiarity with computer operating systems, advanced work processing, electronic spreadsheet are prerequisites for entering business students. We require a course in Computer Literacy and offer three elective one- credit end-user computing courses. We developed a systematic plan to incorporate specific computer exercises in each core course and within the specializations. COMPREHENSIVE DATABASE AND CASE STUDY ENVIRONMENT We wanted students to see the relationship of functional areas within a business. We recognized that a computer is best able to help students develop independent thinking, problem-solving and integrative skills when it acts as a simulator. Faculty designed a complex case study which using an imaginary firm we call “Glassboro, Inc.”. Underlying the case is a database composed of functional data sets (production, marketing and sales, accounting and finance, and human resources) for this multinational enterprise. Course-specific case studies that use the Glassbro, Inc. data base are developed by faculty. The narrative uses the southern New Jersey region and the history of its glass-making economy as a context for the firm’s evolution. The authors provided the opportunity for the development of cases within both large and small organization environments by giving Glassbro Inc. the structure of a conglomerate. This allows case writers the flexibility of basing their cases upon a variety of real world business organizations and situations. Cases are fictionalized within one of the divisions of Glassbro Inc. All students entering the School of Business Administration purchase a copy of a 30 page Annual Report for Glassbro Inc. Students are introduced to the Glassbro Inc. financial data in introductory accounting classes. The scenario is explored in more depth as they advance through other business courses. Exercises and case studies are still being designed. COMPUTER INTEGRATION INTO COURSES At the heart of our project is the integration of computer assignments within most courses offered by the School of Business. A key concern of faculty was finding appropriate teaching materials to implement computer integration. A member of the MIS faculty worked with all faculty members to help them develop effective integration plans. Formal course embedded computer integration began during fall 1988, and both student and faculty feedback on the effectiveness of the computer activities was collected. During this semester ten classes were evaluated. Overwhelmingly students reported that the activities helped them learn how to use a computer, as well as understand the way computers are used in the business world. Seventeen classes were evaluated during the spring 1989 semester. These evaluations revealed that an increasing number of students had computer skills at the beginning of the semester. CONCLUSION Inclusion of all faculty, regardless of their expertise, has been an important key to our success in generating faculty commitment. During the first week of our grant project, we held a two-day planning retreat attended by all but one of the school’s full-time faculty. Project coordinators presented options and called for votes regarding hardware and software purchases, curriculum and academic policy, the nature and design of the Glassbro, Inc. simulation, and faculty development. A steering committee, is responsible for guiding the plan’s implementation. Table of Contents Volume 17, 1990 The Impact of Decision Support Systems on the Effectiveness of Small Group Decisions - Revisited The Relationship Between Financial Performance and Other Measures of Learning on a Simulation Exercise Use and Effectiveness of an Analogy-Based Expert System Suggestions for Computerized Business Authors Dealing with Power: An Experiential Exercise Using Movie and Personal Diary Analysis Techniques A Model for Developing Student Skills and Assessing Outcomes Through Outdoor Training Computer-Aided Exercises Versus Workbook Exercises as Learning Facilitator in the Principles of Marketing Course An Exposition of Guilford's Si Model as a Means of Diagnosing and Generating Pedagogical Strategies in Collegiate Business Education Formal Planning and Simulation Team Performance: A Cross Sectional Approach Cases: Real Organizations in Real Time in the Classroom An Empirical Investigation of the Internal Validity of Marketing Simulation Game An Empirical Evaluation of the Pedagogical Value of Playing a Simulation Game in a Principles of Marketing Course Factors Affecting Effective Teaching of Strategic Planning: Some Preliminary Evidence An Experiential Exercise for Learning About the Relationship Between Organizational Form & the Project Management Process Accounting Communication Skills can be Taught in the Auditing Course Modeling Cost Functions in Computerized Business Simulation: An Application of Duality Theory and Sheppard's Lemma A Life Cycle Analysis of Decision Making for a Strategic Management Team What's the Problem? A Dynamic Model for Teaching Problem Solving Skills Experientially International Currency Fluctuations: Money$im, A Simulation Superstores: A Specialized Retailing Simulation Within a Specialized Marketing Curriculum Factors Affecting Student Perceptions of Learning in a Business Policy Game VC + EL = VL The Name Game: An Experiential Exercise in Intergroup Relations The Effects of Experiential Accounting Work Experience on Student Performance in Intermediate Accounting Courses The Results of Using the Experiential Activity Group Performance Evaluation in a Business Policy Setting Using a Legal Database to Describe the Legal Environment of Marketing (and Business) Matching Environmental Uncertainty and Organizational Configuration An Instructional Computer Simulation of Tampering in QC Executive Evaluation of Student Learning in the Looking Glass Simulation Group Personality Composition and Total Enterprise Simulation Performance An Expert System for Selecting Analytical Techniques for Analyzing Marketing Research Data Effects of Cognitive Styles on Responses in an In-Basket Simulation A Psychometric Analysis of Kolb's Revised Learning Style-Inventory Selecting and Developing Experiential Exercises Using Movies Application of a Real-World Strategic Management Model in the Classroom Demand Equations which Include Product Attributes Consumption as the Objective in Computer-Scored Total Enterprise Simulations The Effects of Decision Format and Evaluation on Simulation Performance, Decision Time, and Team Cohesion The Effects of Computer Related Assignments on Student Performance in Business Administration The Money Game: A Dynamic Simulation Including Random Shocks for Money and Banking Courses Methods for Evaluating Performance on Business Simulations: A Survey The Effects of Synergogy on the Policy Course: Significant Improvements in Student Learning and Teacher Evaluation Conditions and Outcomes of Trust in a Two-Person Bargaining Exercise Bankgame Enhancing Computer Business Simulation with the Use of VGA Graphics An Experiential Approach to Entrepreneurship An Advanced Simulation Method (ASM) for Multiple Objective Problems The Influence of Experiential learning Techniques on Student Recognition of Non-Primary Learning Styles Negotiating Mergers and Acquisitions: A Cocktail Napkin Approach Identification of Unintended Effects in Experiential Laboratory Exercises An Experimental Comparison of Paper and Pencil and Computer Aided Decision Support Tools Porting a Simulation from the IBM World to the Macintosh World A Transaction Cost Analysis of Experiential Learning The Development of Experiential Exercises for Courses in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management The Assessment Center as and Experiential Classroom Exercise Pricing Strategy Algorithms for Playing Business Simulations Organizational Structures for International Operations: An Experiential Activity Simulation Emphasis in the Business School Capstone Course An Integrated Approach to Computerizing the Business Curriculum Cross-Cultural Business Negotiations Exercise Organizational Socialization and Gender Differences in Students at Work Understanding Student Work Experience: A Content-Analytic Approach Introducing Executive MBA Programs with Management Games An Analysis of Improvement in Business Decision Outcome with Sequential Use of Two Simulation Games Teaching Business Policy Utilizing Mass Lecture and Individual Case Labs Potholes Along the Road to Evaluating Learning Outcomes: The Case of Outdoor Management Training Experiential Learning for Interior Design Students: Using CADD, Lotus 1-2-3, and Wordperfect Cognitive Learning Using a Computer-Based, Qualitative Interactive Business Simulation Sex Discrimination: Does the Woman get the Job or Does the Best Man Win? A Search for Visual Aids to Support Experiential Learning Through the 1990's An Experimental Analysis fo the Effectiveness of Student Role-Playing in Sales Training How to Have Students Learn from their Term Projects Self-Evaluation Exercise (SEE): An Assessment of Class Contribution A Study of the Influence of Team Formation on Attitudes and Performance in Management Games A Hardware Based CIM Simulation Laboratory Model Test Substance Abuse in Organizations Micro Computer Training Models Teaching Forecasting, Cash Budgeting and Inventory Model Building Using SBTools A Comparison of the Effects of Experiential Learning Activities and Traditional Lecture Classes An Adjunct Writing Instruction Assistant, The Computer; With an Illustration Classroom Software for ABC Analysis Utilizing Information Processing Technology to Enhance the Business Policy Simulation Experience Progressive Cases Realistic Job Previews Vs. Traditional Job Previews: Experiencing the Differences and Understanding the Consequences Investment Analysis Using the Pragmatic Multiplier Approach A Computer Simulation Interface for Competitive and Firm Analysis Self-Assessment of Ethical Decision Making Predispositions Preparing Managers for Overseas Assignments An Inquiry into Japanese Marketing: Workshop on Teaching Japanese Marketing The Performance Appraisal Feedback Interview: A Role Play for Human Resources Management Teaching Counselor Selling techniques Using Experiential Techniques to Teach International Topics International Management Simulation Gaming: Current Status and Future Developments A Realism Comparison of Simulation Technologies/Methodologies A Time-Efficient Game to Illustrate Concepts Taught in Management Courses and Management Development Programs Teaching the Management of Technology The Concept of Face and the Applicability of Experiential Exercises in an Oriental Culture's