SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL PRACTICES OF FACULTY: A DATA-BASED WORKSHOP Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 12, 1985 SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL PRACTICES OF FACULTY: A DATA-BASED WORKSHOP Irvin Summers, Indiana State University Steve Parker, Southwest Missouri State University Charles W. Boyd, Southwest Missouri State University ABSTRACT Most of the responding ABSEL members use computer- based simulations and/or experiential exercises. They have beliefs concerning both the value of these learning tools and student grading importance. They do not, however, utilize these beliefs in determining the student’s grade. The workshop will consider the data below plus write-in comments in an open discussion format. INTRODUCTION During the past several ABSEL meetings we have per- ceived a need for a workshop pertaining to the uses and perceptions of Simulations and Experiential materials in both the undergraduate and graduate classrooms. During August 1984 we mailed a questionnaire to the entire ABSEL membership; 53 were returned, and 49 were usable. This is about 25 percent of the membership and may or may not be representative of the membership. Findings 1. Teach Policy: Graduate, 15 Yes 25 No; Undergraduate, 25 Yes 21 No. 2. Use Computer Simulation Policy: Graduate, 11 Yes 5 No; Undergraduate, 23 Yes 4 No. 3. Use Computer Simulation in other Courses: Graduate, 10 Yes 24 No; Undergraduate, 12 Yes 25 No. 4. Grade the student’s performance: Graduate, 16 Yes 3 No; Undergraduate, 30 Yes 3 No. 5. Percent of student’s total grade: 6. Percent Number Graduates Number Undergraduates 0 33 20 10 1 3 15 0 2 20 2 2 25 2 2 30 1 4 35 1 1 40 2 4 45 1 0 50 4 4 55 0 2 75 0 1 85 1 0 100 1 1 6. Use experiential exercises in any course: Graduate, 13 Yes 22 No; Undergraduate 26 Yes 17 No. 7. Grade the experiential exercise: Percent Number Graduate Number Undergraduate 0 41 36 10 2 3 15 1 1 20 1 4 30 2 3 40 1 2 50 1 0 8. Perceived Grading Importance of simulations: (1 high, 6 low scale) Graduate Undergraduate x x Attendance 3.83 3.67 Analysis of results 2.64 2.52 Firm’s financial performance 2.16 2.41 Test game knowledge 3.96 3.80 Reaching objectives 3.16 3.00 Firm function team 3.24 3.27 Peer evaluation 3.41 2.94 9. Negative features of simulations: (1 high, 6 low scale) Graduate Undergraduate x x Boredom 5.08 5.11 Frustration 4.12 3.74 Not real enough 4.35 4.54 Too real 4.69 4.64 Poor participation 3.78 3.10 Students too involved 4.26 4.36 Difficult to grade 3.89 4.08 Too much class time 4.72 4.79 Not related to course 5.00 5.33 Too much of professors time 4.23 4.15 Processing problems 4.22 4.41 10. Simulations perceived learning value: (1 high, 6 low scale) Graduate Undergraduate x x Sythesis 1.85 1.84 Learn accounting and finance 2.15 2.10 Learn forecasting 2.63 2.54 Learn written analysis 3.30 3.18 Learn operations management 3.50 3.32 Learn oral presenta- tion 3.37 3.29 Teamwork 2.41 2.40 Learn routine decision making 2.48 2.59 Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 12, 1985 11. Grading importance for experiential exercises: (1 high, 6 low scale) Graduate Undergraduate X X Attendance 2.96 3.13 Test manual contents 4.26 4.21 Participation 2.39 2.26 Learn to write 2.86 3.00 Peer evaluation 3.22 3.17 12. Learning value of experiential exercises: (I high, 6 low scale) Graduate Undergraduate X X Synthesis 2.72 2.34 No synthesis 5.00 4.97 Learning obvious 3.12 3.13 Learning not obvious 4.30 4.43 Learning less pain 2.71 2.65 Learning more pain 4.64 4.43 Faster learning 3.76 3.43 slower learning 3.48 3.81 Easier transfer 2.89 2.61 Harder transfer 4.50 4.70 Interaction learned 1.89 1.97 Interaction not learned 5.29 5.11 Knowledge of self 2.42 2.34 No knowledge of self 4.63 4.74 13. Negative about experiential exercises: (I high, 6 low scale) Graduate Undergraduate X X Can’t measure learning 3.39 3.67 Students don’t learn 5.16 5.34 Difficult to grade 3.23 3.05 Students just play 4.42 4.39 Colleagues dis- courage 4.85 4.82 Not perceived as teaching 4.16 4.08 As one might suspect most ABSEL members who teach business policy utilize a computer simulation. Very few, however, utilize the student’s performance as a part of the grade. The utilization of experiential exercises appears to be less than simulations and also influences the student’s grade less. The firm’s financial results and analysis of those results are rated as the most important grading criteria for simulations. Evidently the respondents perceive nothing as especially negative about simulations. synthesis of business school learning and learning to use accounting and finance are perceived as the most important learning aspects of simulations. Not surprising is that participation is the most important grading criteria for experiential. exercises and that “Group Interaction Skills” is rated the most valuable learning factor. Again, the respondents do not perceive anything especially negative about experiential exercises. Summary While some aspects of learning, from either simulations or experiential exercises are perceived favorably--and some activities are perceived as important to grading--grading of either the student’s input to simulations or experiential exercises is rare. Most do not include these factors in their grading scheme. Table of Contents Volume 12, 1985 One Step Beyond Naiveté: Laboratory Simulation of Strategic Management Predicting Performance Over the Course of the Simulation Congruency of Critical Performance Factors in Simulated and Real World Environments: An Exploratory Study Stimulating Learning and Creating Course Involvement Through the Use of Debates A Novel Approach to Writing Texts ABSEL Revisited: In-Class Student Involvement Increases Learning Bus-Sim Micro: An Introductory Business Simulation Demonstration Solutions Diversified: And Experiential Introduction to Management Information Systems Simulating Rigorous Analysis in Stimulation Gaming The Use of Decision Support Systems (DSS) and Operations Research/Management Science (OR/MS) Techniques to Enhance the Learning Experience of Students Participating in Computerized Simulation Problems Associated with the Administrative Use of Student Ratings Enthusiasm Awareness in the Experiential Classroom Participation Expectations of Students in Experiential Settings Using the Computer as a Planning Aid in an Applied Marketing Course Integrating Microcomputers in the Marketing Curriculum Through the Use of Marketing COMPUPROBS Giving Students Experience in Team Report Writing Description and Results of an Experiential Approach in the Teaching of Business Policy Using Real World Experiences as an Experiential Activity: the Page Technique A Guide to Writing Microcomputer Simulations The Development of a Microcomputer Distributed Processing Business Game A Monte-Carlo Approach to Interactive Gaming Single Case Experimental Design as an Alternative to the Conventional Approach Learning Theory and Research Design: How Has ABSEL Fared? Criticisms of the Use of Simulations in Economics: A Rebuttal Using the General Management Game in the Business Policy Course General Management Policy Simulations: Which Games are Popular, and Why do Professors Stop Using Games? Business Policy Content and Teaching Methods: Comparisons of the Hegarty and Summers and Boyd Findings Let's Talk to the Experiential Authors A Computerized Logistics Game for Micros Effects of Contextual Factors on Bargaining Decisions of Experiential Group Representatives The Linking of a Collective Bargaining Simulation and a Business Simulation Game - A Case Study Students are Surrogates in Arbitration Studies AIRWAYS: A Microcomputer Simulation of a Service Industry A Proposed Interactive Inventory Control Simulation Microcomputer Demonstration Exercises for a Course on Creativity and Problem Solving Processing Skills for Teachers, Trainers and Managers Developing the Competencies of Resistance to Stress and Accurate Self-Assessment Raising Elizabeth: Socializing Girls to Aspire to Careers as Managers, Secretaries or Corporate Wives Factors Influencing Perception: Gaining Understanding Through Experience Painless Computer Simulation The Effects of Differential Grade Weights on Business Game Learning levels An Investigation of the Validity of a Recommendation for Experiential Exercise Debriefing Simulation and Experiential Practices of Faculty: A Data-Based Workshop The Live Case Study: Filling the Gap Between the Case Study and the Experiential Exercise A Reactive Microcase Pedagogy Advantages of a Multigame Simulation Course Using the Logistic Function to Score Computer-Supported Games A Simulation Model to Calculate Session Time for Running Simulation Models in a Shared Resource Environment On the Core Size of Small Task Groups and the Cause for the Core Size to Emerge