A REVIEW OF MY ABSEL-RELATED WORK Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Learning, Volume 26, 1999 A REVIEW OF MY ABSEL-RELATED WORK Alvin C. Burns, Louisiana State University ABSTRACT Alvin C. Burns, Copeland Professor and Marketing Department Chair at the Ourso College of Business, Louisiana State University is conducted. Dr. Burns’ work covers every year of ABSEL’s existence. It entails thirty-one papers, a best paper award, the Association’s Presidency and the naming as an ABSEL Fellow in 1993. On reflecting on his ABSEL-related work, Dr. Bums notes four major areas of activity-- simulation design and game administration, pedagogical research, the business gaming field’s theory base and the nature of experiential learning. Simulation Design and Game Administration This is an area which I have pursued over my entire career within ABSEL. My earliest papers were descriptions of simulations I had developed and run such as the mainframe game MAILIT (1976). Other games were either hand-scored, the Marketing Channels Game (1977), or written in BASIC as was the case for the Retail Location Strategy game (1982). In the early 1980s I moved onto PC-based student-oriented simulation facilitators such as DIS ‘n DAT (1991), The SPSS Student Assistant (1995) and a game administrator-oriented facilitator Ambition Gradient in 1993. My most recent venture in this area was the running of a simulation on the Internet which were reported in a 1998 ABSEL paper. I am now at an experimental stage of using distance education as a platform for marketing simulations and this will move me into a completely different area of activity. Pedagogical Research My doctoral training included a goodly dose of simulation but it also included a stronger measure of empirical research methods. Accordingly I have created a group of six empirically-based research papers. There is, however, no pattern to this work other than it has always dealt with the effectiveness of alternative knowledge-delivery methods. This work has involved a path-analytic study of the effects of alternative pedagogies (1984), computer-based versus workbook-based methods for teaching marketing principles (1990) and defining the moderated and mediated performance consequences of alternative pedagogies (1992). This body of work also includes papers on communication barriers (1983) and a paper on using single-cases in experimental designs (1985). Overall my work in this area was concentrated between the years of 1979 to 1992 with the peak years being in the mid-1980s. It has also been eclectic and has allowed me to do joint research with my wife Jeanne as well as with Steven Golen and James Gentry. The Theory of Business Gaming This, and the next area of my activities, have been heavily influenced by my collaboration with Jim Gentry. Early in our ABSEL experience, we began thinking of the considerations and factors that combined or conspired to make experiential teaming happen or not happen. These thoughts were first enunciated in 1977. Our next step was the conception of a “model monster” (1980). Our “Grand Plan” was to identify and test all the variables in a theory of experiential learning (1981). This plan was indeed “grand” as we conceived of getting simulation and game users involved in a gigantic field study that would create a database for empirical research in the spirit of the PIMS database. Unfortunately we hit a brick wall at the operationalization stage (1980) as we could not find or generate consistent or common operational definitions of the variables, particularly the definition of learning. The “theory’s” resting-place is in the ABSEL Guide (1988) 298 Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Learning, Volume 26, 1999 where it served as a model for categorizing the field’s research streams in existence at that time. The Nature of Experiential Learning One of my recent concerns has been on experiential learning per Se-- what is its nature and how can it be influenced in a positive way? Beginning with some of my early works, such as “Do We Learn from Experiences?” (1983) and Megatrends (1984), this area has again been very heavily influenced by Jim Gentry who instigated this research stream and has perpetuated it over the years. As joint authors we are in the growth stage of this area with contributions to ABSEL appearing each year from 1996-1998. We may be on the right track as our efforts have resulted in a lead article in Simulation & Gaming (1988). In that paper my “tension to learn” theory, which had previously been presented as an ABSEL workshop, appeared. This theory, the rules of learning are definitely different. It is a brave new world in a great many ways. I know the technical side of such skills as programming html pages, setting-up PowerPoint presentations and uploading files. But being the master of learning in this environment is a daunting, but not discouraging, task, and I am definitely a neophyte in this area. The real, daily challenges I am facing in my role as an educator deal with questions such as the following: • What is the proper role of the Internet as a business course facilitator? • What are students’ expectations for the Internet to help them learn? • What non-Internet learning concepts apply to Internet-facilitated courses? • What are the learning “rules” for today’s students? however, remains theoretical as no empirical test has been conducted on its efficacy On To a New Quest I am now wrestling with how to structure and run a course in an Internet support environment. For 1998 the Louisiana State University Marketing Department had as its goal a 100% movement into multimedia classrooms. This year our new goal is one of conducting “paper-less” classes where the Internet is the host of all our PowerPoint files, handouts, syllabi, announcements, assignments, assessment materials and whatever else can be put on the net. In doing this I am finding the landscape is far different from the course-by-PowerPoint scene. Everything seems different-the students, the media and the classroom. Most importantly • How can we motivate passive students to become active learners? In future years I hope to share these myriad issues with my ABSEL colleagues. 299 Table of Contents Volume 26, 1999 ABSEL's Historical Research Interests Back From the Future: An ABSEL Merlin Exercise for the Year 2005 The Contributions of ABSEL During the 1980's ABSEL's Contributions to Experiential Exercises in the 90's ABSEL's Contributions to Experiential learning/Experiential Exercises: The Decade of the 1970's Business Simulations - Algorithms and Model Enhancements: A 25 year Review A Study of the ETS General Field Test as an AACSB Assessment Tool and the Impact of Experiential Exercises and Simulation on Learning A Framework for Assessing the Competencies Reflected in Simulation Performance Developing A Learning Culture: Assessing Changes in Student Performance and Perception Financial Simulation Using Distributed Computing Technology Analyzing Managers' Judgements and Decisions with an Educational Business Simulation Understanding Your Business through Home-Made Simulator Development An Examination of a Reanalysis of the Impact of a Market Leader on Simulation Competitors' Strategies Applying Shocks to TE Simulations: A Demonstration Increasing Efficiency of Management Skill Assessment A Testbank for Measuring Total Enterprise Simulation Learning Developing Leadership Skills - Video Live! LEADSIMM: Collaborative Leadership Development for the Knowledge Society A Team Approach to Producing Multi-Media Laptop and Video Formatted Presentation Tinkertoys Revisited: Exploring Trust Based Relationships Overall Dominance in Total Enterprise Simulation Performance Success or Bankruptcy: The Relationship between Personal and Goal Orientation and Simulation Performance Assessing the Effects of Feedback: Muti-method and Muti-directions in Multi-pedagogical Courses The Missing Ingredients in Experiential Learning Purpose and Learning Benefits of Business Simulations: A Design and Development Perspective Building Capabilities for Change through Laboratory Simulations Modeling Innovation as a Process of Design in Educational Business Simulation The Need to Measurer variance in Experiential Learning and a New Statistic to do so Assessing Effectiveness of an Experiential Oriented Course Over Time Developing Participant Satisfaction Models of Experiential Exercises in Business Education Perceptions of Learning in TE Simulations Students' View on the Use of Business Gaming in Hong Kong Management Gaming's Lost Opportunity: Meditations about the Russian Experience and Prospects for the Future Unanticipated Enhancements in the Business Strategy and Policy Game when Running in Windows 95 Using a Business Game to Demonstrate Broad Business Concepts A New Model for Business Courses (Getting the Student Connected) Seeing the Forest and the Trees: Integrating Knowledge Using Large Scale Simulations in Capstone Business Strategy Classes Is It Here To Stay? A Roundtable Discussion of the Inter-Group Interaction Interactive Tools Used in Applying Financial Concepts Strengthening Essential Skills through a Finance Exercise: Calculation of Beta A Model of Currency Exchange Rates Understanding Currency Exchange Rates: A three-part Exercise Student Experiences in the World Intercollegiate Business Game Competition Student Experiences in the International-Collegiate Business Policy Game Competition Using Boards of Directors in Simulation Environments: Comments From Board Members Sharing Best Practices: Teaching Smarter, Not Harder Star Power: A Simulation for Understanding Power and Empowerment The Marketing Game: A Marketing Principles Simulation Alexander Islands: GSSM Tiny Business Simulator on the WWW Putting Strategy into Strategic Business Games Industry Analysis, Porter's Five Forces Model and Strategic Group Maps in the Business Strategy Game Simulation The Use of Concept Mapping to Improve Student Performance and Understanding of Strategic Management Concepts: A Comparison of Techniques Transformational thinking in the Organizational Behavior Course: The Use of Metaphor as an Assessment Tool Creation of a Virtual Learning Community for the Global Virtual Enterprise Project Inter Institutional use of Educational Resources: Joint Use of Management Simulation Games Business Insights: Theory and Practice with the Aid of a Business Simulation Progress: An Experiential Exercise in Development Marketing The ABC's of teaching the Theory of Constraints to Undergraduate Business Students Demonstrating Principles of Organizational Purchasing Behavior through an Experiential Exercise The Virtual Manager: A Different Simulation for Managing Complexity When the Rules are changing and Chaos Breeds Innovation: Recapturing the Value of Constructive Thinking and Play in Simulation Training The Pitfalls, and Potential, of Actual Events as Problem Drivers Using Business Games to teach Environmental Awareness and Green Management: The International Experience with the ENSIM Game A Review of my ABSEL-Related Work Simulation of Government: A Workshop Using GEO Creating Internet-Based Games Using Perl and JavaScript Who's on First? Exploring the Concepts of Problem-Based Learning, Experiential Learning, and Lifelong Learning Students Learn Customer Service and Selling while Conducting Research So You Want to Run an NFL Football Team–An Honors Interdisciplinary Project Supervised Internship: The Employer's Perspective Using Computer Assisted Simulation to Teach International Business Strategy: A Case of the Multinational Management Game (MMG) Multi-Cultural Experiential Learning: A Computer Simulation in China An Appreciative Stance on Diversity as We Move into the 21st Century: A Timeline Exercise to Identify Key Experiences in Good Work Relationships between Black and White Peers A Day in the Life of an Interactive, Real Time, and Internet Delivered Course: A Demonstration Comparing Internet Search Engines: An Experiential Learning Exercise Total Enterprise Simulations and the Internet: Assessing Student Perceptions and Preferences Teaching Accounting Information Systems in a Practicum Format Providing Experiential Learning in Accounting through a Field Study Payroll Project A Spreadsheet Based Business Simulation Game Computer-Behavioral Simulations Training for Project Managers Simulation Scenarios - Rationale and Illustration