ABSEL RESEARCH - FROM ADOLESCENCE TO ADULTHOOD Simulation Games and Experiential Learning in Action, Volume 2, 1975 3 ABSEL RESEARCH - FROM ADOLESCENCE TO ADULTHOOD Bernard Keys Tennessee Technological University One mark of the mature adult is the ability to sift through the multitude of meaningless activities and experiences that cross his path each day and to reflect only on those that truly have significance to his goals in life, allowing him to set future priorities accordingly. The Second National ABSEL Conference was characterized with just such maturity. One of the significant areas which ABSEL members have sifted and gleaned from this year’s experiences is that dealing with the learning process as it applies to experiential environments. My comments will apply exclusively to this priority. Not only were all of the presentations more mature--building on thoughts of last year and available research since then--but certain persons have taken unto themselves the pursuit of a continuing and exhaustive research on various aspects of experiential learning. (I am sure this is true in other areas of interest as well.) Developing Untapped Learning Environments. In the presidential address I quoted Byrne’s disappointment with the progress of what he calls the soft behavioral areas of business administration, as opposed to the quantitative and financial areas. It appears that James Schreier, Richard Beatty, George Milkovitch, and other ABSEL members are creating behavioral exercises that will assist in closing this gap just as the Georgia State gaming group has been closing the gap between pure mathematics and applied problem- solving in the quantitative areas. (My chosen topic will not permit the mention of numerous other breakthroughs being made by ABSEL members.) Milkovitch’s work on “human asset accounting” should delight Rensis Likert’s proteges. Defining Learning. Ralph Roberts and Steven Field raised the questions: “Of what does learning consist in games? Can it be perceived by students?” They stimulated my own thinking about the need to distinguish successful performance from successful learning in games. This made me think once again of the need to structure and delineate parts of games and experiential techniques that deal with either content, experience, or feedback. Perhaps if we define learning better we can begin to analyze, measure, and improve it much more efficiently. For the time being, I am intrigued with Eugene Byrne’s definition “... to learn experientially is to internalize learning.” The Sequence of Learning. DeHayes and Perkins raised the interesting question of whether there is a need to follow certain sequences in learning business strategies. Students enrolled in their blocked group of courses, finance, marketing, and operations research, must follow certain patterns in analyzing and working through the case. Perhaps there is an orderliness to learning in such a case that we have omitted in some of the business game programs. This sequence of learning question will require meticulous records and careful analysis such as the “learning journal entries” suggested by Sam Certo of Indiana State University. Simulation Games and Experiential Learning in Action, Volume 2, 1975 4 The Timing of Learning. Duane Hoover, who assisted us in defining experiential learning at last year’s meeting (like the professional comedian far beyond the amateur state of simply learning new jokes), is now looking at the timing and quantity of experiential learning suitable for certain groups of students. He points out that less mature students are not prepared for a 100% experiential learning course. Byrne and Wolfe of SMIJ are telescoping down on this question even more intensively in terms of an experiential learning model, and the definition of learning styles which they are refining. The Management of Learning. Several presentations brought out certain deterrents and stimulants to learning in games. Leo Parrish suggested that teams that “play to win” often don’t “play to learn.” I will let you read his rationale for this perceptive thought. Byrne and Wolfe are exploring the effect of learning styles, group mixes, and success in games. Obviously, if winning does not mean learning, we have another dimension which may require creative management at this point. What a rich environment for group research! Truly, Sam Certo, appears correct when he says the last unexplored frontier of management in existence is the classroom! But we must not be discouraged--remember Clark Rogers’ quote that “...it usually takes a whole century of analysis to provide one day of synthesis.” There is further hope in Rogers’ provocative thought that “simulation might do for planning what the computer has done for mathematics...“ He also brought us Dick Moore’s optimistic note “. . .that simulation may be the ‘Future’s Language’ .“ Maybe the synergy and imagineering of ABSEL experiential teachers will shorten the cycle required for synthesizing the efficient Management of Learning Environments.” Table of Contents Volume 2, 1975 ABSEL Research - From Adolescence to Adulthood, Framing the Future of Business Simulation and Experiential Learning Inventory Simulation - A Time Sharing Television Output Simulation OMSIM: An Operations Management Game An Experiential-Cognitive Methodology in the First Course in Management: Some Preliminary Results Experiential Training Methodology, Traditional Training Methodology, and Perceived Opportunity to Satisfy Human Needs Operational Problems and Solutions of Business Gaming: A Primer One Experience with the V. K. Gadget Company - An Introduction to Managerial Accounting A conversational Marketing Mix Exercise The Use of Program BAYES in the Teaching of Sample Size Determination in Survey Research An Experiential Study of Performance in a Basic Management Course Using Student Opinions in Evaluation Results with a Business Game Some Impacts of Varying Amounts of Information on Frustration and Attitudes in a Finance Games Player Performance under Differing Player Configurations in the Investment Game: Some Preliminary Observations Integrating Across Functional Areas with a Computer-Assisted Case Using Computer Assisted Cases for Marketing Research Instruction ACQUIRES: ACcounting QUick Information REtrieval System A Simulation Approach to Data Processing Controls Motivating Simulation Game Performance and Satisfaction with Group Performance-Contingent Consequences The Educational Impact of Supplementary Personal Interaction in Computerized Business Games The Minnesota Manpower Management Simulation Games RAISE II, A Personal Simulation Management in a Test Tube: A Small Group Laboratory Simulation A Methodology for Measuring Decision Making in a Business Game A Case Study of a Capital Investment Simulation Combining Experiential and Clinical Methodologies in a Small Business Management Program Results of Using Gaming to Teach Ethics and Social Responsibility Business and Society: An In-Basket Simulation Crisis versus Non-Crisis Simulation Gaming Warm-up Company: A Business Simulation Business Simulations: Competition or Learning A Computerized Management Training System for Franchized Dealers Mode I Stores, Inc.: Computer Supported Cases on the Marketing Research and Problem Solving Process Experiential Learning in Statistics Through the Computer The COMPUSTAT Analysis System as an Instructional Resource Research on Experiential Learning: Enhancing the Process A Comparison of Lecture-Case Study and Lecture-Computer Simulation Teaching Methodologies in Teaching Minority Students Basic Marketing Student Evaluation of Reaction to a Marketing Simulation Game Under Varying Circumstances The Validity and Usefulness of Packaged Models in Game Play The Effectiveness of Experiential Methods in Training and Education: A Review Guidelines for the Future Development of Business Games The Future Potential of Structures Learning Exercises Turning Them on to Management by Turning Them Out to Managers with Video Tape Recorders