The Use and Non-Use of Business Simulations, Games and “In-Class” Experiential Learning Exercises: The Initial Report

Abstract

This is the initial report from a research study centered upon both the use and non-use on various forms of student-centered educational experiences. The full study is to attempt to discover some of the reasons these methodologies are not used by many business-school faculty members. The data from this study was collected by a survey of faculty teaching in business school programs throughout the United States. It collected information from both current users, defined as faculty members who have used at least one of these methodologies and faculty members who did not use these methodologies. The student-centered learning actives studied included computer-run business simulations, manual business simulations, 3-D, video-style business games, board games, in-class experiential learning exercises or an undefined learning experience. If a subject reported that he/she had not used any of the methodologies, he or she was directed on to that part of the questionnaire that provided insight on why they did not use any of these methodologies. The median time that respondents took to complete the survey was between 10 and 12 minutes, as the respondents were requested to select only one of the above types of exercises and base their responses on a single course in which the selected exercise was used.