ENCOURAG ING STUDENT PARTICIPATION DURING INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC PROGRAMS Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 8, 1981 219 ENCOURAG ING STUDENT PARTICIPATION DURING INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC PROGRAMS Charles A Burden, Georgia State University Active student participation is essential for Students to derive maximum benefits for an international study program. As we will indicate in Part II of this presentation, a fair grading system that includes a recognition for participation is an important element that encourages academic involvement. This statement, therefore, will not dwell on grading, but will consider other means for encouraging participation, academic and otherwise. First, students may not know each other very well prior to the beginning of the program. We have found that two formal organizational meetings are advisable before departure on the program. While most of our critical information about the program is disseminated both personally and via a brochure, a first collective meeting is held to allow students to see all of their fellow travelers and to reinforce information concerning grades, clothing, extra money, insurance, demeanor (discouraging any illegal drug usage, for example), etc. This meeting is held about three weeks in advance of departure. A second formal meeting of shorter duration is held about 10 days later to review the above information and answer the inevitable student questions that will arise. At this meeting emphasis is placed upon 1) academics, to be sure that the students appropriately recognize that the program is a serious academic one, and upon 2) demeanor, that is, that we are guests in another country and are highly visible. Then, within the last week before departure, the faculty holds a social with a theme focused on the country to be visited, with cheeses and other food and drink from the locale. Native magazines, posters, and brochures are in abundance, along with (usually homemade) directing signs in native jargon identifying the essentials (W.C. for toilet, for example). Probably most of the students are now beginning to be comfortable with each other and the faculty, and are willing to become more active members of the group. Once on the trip, participation is encouraged in a variety of ways. Students are briefed just before each formal visit about what is to be seen, and the faculty may suggest some useful questions that may be asked of the local speakers. One or two faculty suggestions of questions just prior to hearing a lecture leads to many additional student questions during or after a lecture, we have found. In essence, a theme or framework allows students a focus and whets their interest. No matter that the theme has been suggested before the trip or the day before: students need encouragement just prior to hearing a speaker. Their enthusiasm is much greater with a little help just before the Site visit or lecture, and their retention is greater if there is a short, informal debriefing just after a visit “about what we just heard.” Brief reinforcement of this nature can cause some students to carry forward an informal discussion on their own for hours. For students who may still be reluctant to actively participate on the formal part of the program, the faculty may ask questions about a recent visit. This type of program is a rare opportunity for faculty to be able to gently encourage participation, as faculty and student are together often in “off hours” and at meals and in other informal settings. Even the shyest Students may open up on a study program of this type. Finally, faculty should make every effort to cause the students to feel comfortable in the new environment during the early part of the program. A comfortable student is much sore likely to be a good participant. Environment orientation from simple maps to menus, coupled with assurances that the students can handle themselves in a strange environment much better than most of them believe, will go a long way in causing students to become good participants, and sore than likely, good learners. Table of Contents Volume 8, 1981 The Promotion: Human Sexuality in Organization The Simulation of Chaos Leadership Development in a Simulated Urban/Suburban (U/S) Environment Tomed: A Computer Game Emphasizing Social Responsibility/or/why the Pop-Top Can? Integrated Brain Activity and the Manager's Job: Utilizing the Troika Model What does R2 Have to do with a Product Management Course? An Analysis of the Effects of Jungian Problem-Solving Style Dimensions on Marketing Decisions Bargaining Behavior in Personal Selling and Buying Exchanges Extending the Simulation Product Life Cycle A Generalized Algorithm for Designing and Developing Business Simulations Operationalizing a Test of a Model of the Use of Simulation Games and Experiential Exercises Pygmalion and Perception: An Experiential Exercise Behavioral Consequences of Reward Regarding Employee Absenteeism in an Industrial Setting: An Operant Conditioning Approach The Simlab Program: The Use of Experimental Simulation and Process Analysis for the Development of Management and Organizations Designs for Research on Simulation-Games, Cases, and Other Experiential Exercises The Role of Students in The Case Method Weaknesses in Research Design Critical Variables in Research on the Educational Value of Management Games Research Questions for Cases Research on the Learning Effectiveness of Business Simulation Games - A Review of the State of the Science The Effects of Valuation Techniques on Holding Cost During Inflationary Periods: A Simulation Exercise The Operations Simulation - A Study in Game Development Applying Guided Design to the Production/Operations Management Course: A Progress Report and Evaluation Terminal Data Entry and Retrieval Systems Simulations and Microprocessors Microcomputers and Related Technology for Simulation Gaming Microcomputers - A New Technology for Innovations in Business Simulations Microprocessor Controlled Interactive Video Simulation Business Game Design: From Theory to Practice The Success of a Computerized Simulation in Microeconomic Pedagogy The Test Preview Game: Applying the Game Show Format Providing a Real World View of the Personal Function: A Simulation Finding an Effective Means of Teaching Managerial Behavioral Skills: Two Different Experiential Teaching Methods Compared A Management Development Program Based on the Experiential Learning Model Participant Type Differences in Response to Experiential Methods: An Informal Look Preparing Student Groups to Participate in Experiential Group Projects: An Organizational Development Approach An Instrument for the Assessment of Learning Dimensions: A Progress Report of the Learning Dimension Scale (LDS) An Empirical Analysis Relating the Learning Style Inventory to Memory and Logical Ability Teaching Styles in Simulation Experiential Learning Versus Traditional Teaching Styles Student Perceptions of Effective Teaching Behaviors Problems in Evaluation of Experiential Learning in Management Education Students' Perceptions of Learning by Simulation A Relative Evaluation of Experiential and Simulation Learning in Terms of Perceptions of Effected Changes in Students Overview of Computer Based Business Games in Business Policy Classes Behavioral Decision Theory and Business Policy Giving Accounting Students Writing Experience as Job Preparation Getting to First Base with MBO: An exercise for Writing and Evaluating Objectives Dimensions of Conflict in Experiential Learning Consumer Alienation and Perceived Relevance of the Business Simulation Using the Self-Reference Criterion to Simulate Culture in Internationalized Business Course Experiential Learning in a Cross Cultural Setting- The Practice of Simulation Approach to Business Education in Japanese Universities Student' Perceptions of the Use of a Computerized Simulation in Teaching Management Information Systems Using the Case Study Approach to Develop a Microcomputer Bases, Fully Integrated, Data Base Driven, Management Information System The Case Study as a Tool for Organizational Change: Applying the Steel Ax to the Designers of Management Information Systems Toward a Theory of Teaching Business Policy A Case Study in the Use of Experiential Learning (A Management Game Simulation) to Enhance Student Understanding of Strategy Evaluation and Policy Formulation Suggestions for Integration of the Business Administration Core Publishing Opportunities and Requirements for Business Simulation and Experiential Learning Materials How do we Apply Experiential Learning Intercollegiate Case Competitions for M.B.A. Students: Initiation and Implementation Teaching Business Policy and Strategy Using the Incident Process The Learning Co-Op Approach to the Core Policy Course Meeting the Managerial Skill Shortage - Is Academia Up to It? An Empirical Analysis of Experiential Learning Reinforcement International Experiential Learning: Experience is the Best Teacher Encouraging Student Participation During International Academic Programs European Summer Study Program: Can you, Should you, What Does it Take? Travel Seminars in Europe: How can I Direct One? International Experiential Learning: Student Evaluation ABSEL: Empirical Findings on the State of the Association Sensitivity of Performance Scores in Business Simulations Improving the Learning of a Business Simulation Game by Increasing the Process Content Student Participation in Deciding Performance Criteria for Grading in an OB Course: An Exercise and a Case Study Markup for Profit: A Simulated Self-Administered Experience in Retail Pricing The Investment Decision Game: An Experiential Learning Approach to Stock Market Decisions Through Gaming CHIPS: A Marketing Channels management Game External Validation: An Experimental Approach to Determining the Worth of Simulation Games Teaching Performance Appraisal Skills: An Experiential Approach In Support of Experiential learning: Results of a Follow-Up Survey The Introductory Management Course: Taking Theory Application One Step Further Decision Efficiency and Effectiveness in a Business Simulation The Implications of Cognitive Processing Variables and the Complex Decision Simulating the Simulation for Enhanced Player Rationality Simulation/Experiential Learning Audit