TO USE OR NOT TO USE EXPERIENTIAL TECHNIQUES THAT IS THE QUESTION Experiential Learning Enters the Eighties, Volume 7, 1980 106 TO USE OR NOT TO USE EXPERIENTIAL TECHNIQUES THAT IS THE QUESTION Ralph F. Catalanello, Northern Illinois University ABSTRACT This paper attempts to focus on some of the benefits and costs of utilizing experiential techniques from the perspective of the instructor. Benefits such as reduced boredom, increased status and improved teaching effectiveness are proposed, while costs such as time and effort requirements, variances in student expectations and limited peer support are identified. Interdisciplinary approaches are suggested as potential answers to reducing costs and increasing benefits. INTRODUCTION One problem from a management perspective regarding the use of experiential techniques is whether from the perspective of the professor the inducements offered as rewards are reasonably equivalent to the contributions required of him as an instructor. While the advantages and disadvantages of experiential learning have been and continue to be discussed from the point of view of the student (consumer), the purpose of this paper is to focus the panel discussion on some of the costs and benefits an instructor (producer) might wish to assess before utilizing a nontraditional Instructional methodology. It is well recognized that change of any magnitude and significance brings with it some very real and imagined costs. Experiential learning represents change and it does have costs, but it also offers an instructor some potential benefits. Benefits One benefit that an instructor may receive from using a simulation or experiential exercise is renewed stimulation. Boredom does not seem to affect all instructors equally, however, just as with our use of job enlargement in industry one might expect that change for the sake of change could provide some positive individual benefits. Tt might be debated, of course, whether experiential instructional approaches should be viewed as job enlargement or job enrichment but in either case a break away from traditional methods or routines may renew lagging instructor interest. A second though sometimes illusive benefit to the instructors using experiential learning in their courses is the status attributed to those engaged in innovative instruction. It is difficult today to find a university that doesn’t offer grants or awards to individuals willing to develop or apply new instructional approaches. Clearly, the introduction of a simulation or experiential exercise is a frequently extolled innovation in many business courses. Whether an instructor wishes to consider innovativeness as a benefit depends upon the impact lie perceives it having on his self or public image. One final benefit which must be alluded to is the potential improvement experiential techniques may have on teaching effectiveness. While some may wish to differentiate between that part of the instructional process controlled by the instructor (teaching) and that part controlled by the student (learning), it is sufficient to say that support for the use of simulations and experiential exercises in instructional efforts can be found in empirical research. Of course, the significance of the benefits relative to the associated costs has been questioned by other researchers but most observers tend to agree that simulations as well as experiential exercises may teach students of business some important skills and techniques as or more effectively than traditional lecture and discussion methods. Costs Although users of simulations and other experiential techniques often find issues upon which to disagree, one very real cost that most users will attest to is the time demands associated with start-up. It is evident to most instructors that doing something different requires additional effort. However, if the system is not use to accommodating the possible unique requirements of various experiential techniques, little things like class time in sufficient length to accommodate a complete exercise, rooms with moveable chairs, same day or half day turn around on an overloaded computer all become major hurdles in the path of the unsuspecting instructor. It is intuitively clear that traditional lecture discussion class formats place fewer demands on the support system and the individual instructor. Another similar cost that an instructor may anticipate paying is associated with attempting to satisfy the varying expectations of students. While it may be true that students enjoy simulations and experiential exercises, their enjoyment is not always expressed in positive evaluations of the instructor. It is often difficult to convince cost-conscious business students that nonlecturing instructors in a classroom should be paid or given credit for teaching. The author is familiar with an ongoing analysis of evaluations associated with a capstone course required of all business majors which consistently shows significant variance between academic disciplines. Specifically, accounting majors tend to rate all aspects of this capstone course, which involves a simulation, much lower than marketing or management majors who previously have participated in experiential exercises as part of their normal course work. The fact that students may develop certain learning expectations from prior educational experiences may suggest that the costs to the instructor who violates these expectations may be very low or very high. If a student likes experiential learning, he often likes it a great deal; if he dislikes it, he hates it and the instructor. Certainly, a final problem that may represent a significant cost to beginning instructors is support from their peers. Violators of group norms learn to expect some sanctions and at least today on most campuses simulations and experiential techniques are still viewed as “different.” Colleagues, like students, often perceive that instructors receiving high evaluations using nontraditional methods such as experiential exercises obtain their rating because of the techniques, not because of the instructor’s ability and skill. Table of Contents Volume 7, 1980 Symbol Recognition and Correlation for Evaluating Decision Making in Computer Aided Business Simulations Polanal: An Experiential Approach to Decision Support The Use of Time Contracts in Formal Education Indexing Simulation Model Response for Gaming Flexibility Moving Toward A Theory of the Use of Simulation Games and Experiential Exercises Use of Simulation Administration to Achieve Pedagogical Objectives Experiential Learning on the Job - A Business Internship Program Toward the Ultimate Experiential Exercise A Learning Through Managing Program Workshop Using Experiential Materials in Industry Training Sponsored Experiential Learning - An Opportunity Problems and Pitfalls of Externally Sponsored Field Research Projects Viewed form an Experiential Learning Perspective A Modular Approach to Experiential Learning: Classroom & Consulting Using Simulation & Experiential Learning In Industrial Settings Terminations: An Experiential Review Agenda Items -- Board of Supervisors' Meeting - Town of Jori The Objective-Setting Interview in MBO: An Experiential Approach The All-Star World Series Team Exercise: an Experiential Learning Exercise Dealing with Various Organizational Behavior Issues Progress Report on global, A Rich Multinational Gaming Environment Computer Simulation: A Tool to Teach Queuing Theory New Technology for Business Games Technological Frontiers in Computer Simulations for Business Education Simulating the Product Life Cycle on Interactive Terminals On Compensatory Demand Functions in Marketing Simulations The Use of Games at Different Levels in a Single Marketing Course to Increase Game Participation Sun Airlines: A Heterogeneous Consumer demand exercise Incorporating a Group Selection Test An Organization Development Approach to Teaching Organization Behavior CBID: Cognitive, Behavioral, and Interpersonal Development - A Skill Development/Social Learning Approach to Management Development Using a Live Case Via Video Tape A Town and gown Approach Development of Student Generated Cases Using Computerized Text Editing and Database Technology Interdisciplinary Approached to Problems in Utilizing Experiential Techniques To Use or Not To Use Experiential Techniques, That's is the Question Forming Participant Teams in Simulation Gaming The Problems of Motivating Students and Clients in Live-Case Projects Problems of Teaching Leadership Skills Through Experiential Techniques Conflict Style Measurement: Antecedent to Change - A Proposal for an Experiential Exercise Demonstration Fundamentals of Simulation for Newcomers An M.B.A. Orientation Simulation for Managing Time and the Areas of One's Life SimNet Workshop: The International Simulation Network Demonstrates Three New Business Games The Use of a Simulation Model in the Planning and Evaluation of Commercial Bank Operations Probability Assessment and Performance in Business Game Simulations WageSim: A Wage and Salary Administration Simulation Grading as a Teaching and Feedback Mechanism: Modifying Student's Self-Perceptions of Performance Can Business Games Effectively Teach Business Concepts? Development of Multiple Value Orientations in Conflict Resolution Behavior: An Experiential Teaching Paradigm in Labor-Management Relations Course Designing a Competency-Based Peer Assessment Scale for the Evaluation fo Teaching in Higher Education A Method for Evaluating Information for the Equipment Replacement Decision: An Application of Monte Carlo Simulation Simulation: A Method of Appraising Communication Networks in Managerial Decision Making An Evaluation of In-Class Student Involvement Evaluation of the SBI Program from an Experiential Viewpoint: Focus on the Student Differential Predictors of Academic Performance for White and Non-White Samples The Manager's Dilemma: An Unobtrusive Measure of the managerial Sex-Role Stereotype Are Computer Simulations Sexist? The Effect of Group Size on Attitudes Toward the Simulation Associations Between Individual Cognitive Processing Variables and Business Game Performance and Play Students' Perceptions on Managerial Functions After Exposure to Either the Case Method or a Simulation What Business Students Learn from Finance Simulations Attitude Toward Experiential Exercises, The Student-Teacher Relationship, Student Psychological Types, and Performance An Example of How to Design a Research-Based and Classroom-Effective Organizational behavior Exercise Some Issues in Game Design Untested Hypotheses: An Approach to Experiential Learning Evaluation of Simulation Games: A Critical Look at Past Efforts and Future Needs Is Self-Perception Predictable? - Some Laboratory Results An Exercise in Conflict-Handling Behavior The Relationship Between Group Size and the Learning Curve Effect in a Gaming Environment Learning About Organizational Management Through Organizational Management: Closing the Gap Strategies, Managerial Approaches, and Decision Making in a General Management Simulation A Comparison and Evaluation of Similar and Dissimilar Group Scenarios Generated Using Manual Simulation Games Weaknesses of Research Methods in Experiential and Simulation Studies