The International Simulation &
Gaming Yearbook
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Introducing simulations and games for business
Danny Saunders
A variety of definitions for the concept of 'business' are identified before reviewing the applications of simulation and gaming to business contexts. The recent expansion of further and higher education has implications for experiential learning, including the use of simulations and games for illustrating theory as well as assessing prior experiential learning. It is argued that little successful evaluation of simulation and games has been completed.
Games, simulations and case studies - a review
David Jaques
Games, simulations and case studies have an important role in education and training in putting learning in a context, albeit a contrived one, which creates demands on the student's personal competence, values and attitudes. By involving individual and group interpretations of given information, the capacity to suspend disbelief and a willingness to play with the components of a situation in making new patterns and generating new problems, they promote thinking for the future and the transferability of learning. This chapter discusses the learning principles that underpin games and simulations, gives some useful examples and proposes some practical ideas for those running them. It puts games and simulations in the framework of the experiential learning cycle and reminds the reader of the salience of debriefing in integrating the activity in the minds as well as the hearts of students
The egg game
Sally Brown
The egg game is an activity that can be used in workshops of up to around 40 people to engender discussion about assessment issues. 1 have used it alone and with colleagues during around 15 workshops, and in each case it has proved a powerful technique to engage people in thinking about assessment of process and product, about who is best placed to assess, about criteria for assessment and about the weighting of criteria.
Guidelines for conducting a debriefing session and for developing a debriefing guide
Sivasailam Thiagarajan
The first set of guidelines in this chapter suggests a set of debriefing questions and organizes them into six phases. These guidelines also emphasize the importance of maintaining a balance between structure and spontaneity during the debriefing session. The second set of guidelines is for the development of a debriefing guide for use by the facilitators of a simulation game. These guidelines are organized around seven lists of items to be incorporated with the debriefing questions.
Cash games
Sivasailam Thiagarajan
Cash games are simulation games that involve actual cash transactions to explore interpersonal concepts and skills. This type of game achieves high levels of instructional and motivational effectiveness. This chapter provides a general procedure for conducting and debriefing cash games, along with some cautionary notes. It also gives detailed instructions for a cash game, ME AND MY TEAM, and provides basic information on seven others.
Business gaming: An historical analysis and future perspective
Thomas F Burgess
The evolution of business gaming in the United Kingdom is described with the aid of a framework that divides past and recent developments into a number of discrete phases. Computer technology's important influence on both business gaming's diffusion and on its features is evident in the framework's phases. Discussion of technological progress and empirical research on users' needs are combined in an exploration of business gaming's further evolution. Game users identified three major areas that could benefit from improvement: realism of business scenarios, player support and tutor support. Improvements in the first two elements are evident in the incoming phase of games, while improvement in the latter element is more difficult to achieve. Two major obstacles are highlighted as standing in the way of advanced tutor support systems: the lack of suitable software tools to construct such systems and (he difficulty of capturing the required knowledge content.
This chapter examines past, current and future developments concerning business gaming in the UK. In particular it focuses on software support for business gaming. Materials originating from various sources, including the author's recent research, are drawn together to build a historical view of the development of business gaming. This framework then forms a foundation for discussion of future developments in business gaming.
Chalk and Cheese? Executive short-course vs academic simulations
Jeremy J S B Hall
This chapter discusses the differences that exist between the use of computerised business simulations on executive short courses and their use on academic full-time programmes. It argues that these differences are such that the simulations designed for one domain are not effective for the other. Although it specifically addresses the differences in the context of simulations, much can be generalised for academic programmes vs executive short courses. This is especially true for the suggestion that the central difference between the academic programmes and executive short courses is their respective focus on content and process. Further, the core need for academic simulations is learning effectiveness as proved by examination. For executive short-course simulations these needs extend to include efficiency and consistency.
The target zone simulation: an example of active learning
Maryann 0 Keating and Barry Keating
For the past 30 years experimental economists have provided the profession with interesting results in a variety of simulated environments. This chapter is a report on a modification of one class of these research experiments which allows an instructor to simulate a particular market behaviour in the classroom with the aid of a laptop computer.
The simulation may be run with a minimum of equipment (a laptop computer and some economic 'trading cards') and may be completed within a single class period. By slightly modifying the parameters which the instructor may select, a number of different economic principles and/or results may actually be experienced by the students. The particular situation we illustrate in this chapter is the manner in which a market converges towards equilibrium when price ceilings and price floors are imposed.
Simulation gaming for sales management training and a demonstration
John R Dickinson and A J Faria
Compared with other methods of instruction, whether in management training programmes or university courses, simulation gaming is relatively new. While recent in comparative terms, however, simulation games have been in existence for nearly 40 years. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the usage of simulation games for sales management training and to describe a newly developed sales management simulation and illustrate its use in a sales training programme.
Preparing hospitality students for management through simulation and gaming
S Lyn Fawcett
This chapter examines the operationalisation and effectiveness of a computer-based restaurant management simulation exercise. The exercise is based on a program and support system developed at Cornell University in New York State. The description of the exercise is given mainly from the perspective of the academic facilitator with some input from the perspective of the participant. However, for the examination of the effectiveness of the exercise the key perspective is that of the participating student. Direct reporting of written student feedback, informal interviews and observation of students are utilised as sources of data in attempting to give a balanced evaluation from the consumers' point of view.
The analysis and design of a synchronous groupware simulation for the teaching of cost accounting
Carey Gray
COSACC provides a software accounting system for planning and control, based around a dynamic business simulation operating in real-time which requires the participants to use and understand the concepts of historical accounting records, budgets and standard costing. Learning is reinforced by the motivation of working in groups and competing against other teams. Problem-solving strategies have not only to be formulated but also implemented.
COSACC is the latest software based on the author's previous experience and evaluation of the BUSGAM series of networked business simulations over the last five years (which won a prize for innovation in teaching in 1990). Novel features include both competitive factor and product markets. Up to nine different products can be made from a maximum of nine material factors plus labour. The software is Microsoft Windows v3. 1 -based and should run on most networks. The benefits of this innovative educational technology are matched with the pedagogical aims of small group experiential learning, and learning from analogy by considering learning transfer to the workplace.
What makes a good primary classroom board game?
Jack Oakley
A number of sub-groups of successive cohorts of postgraduate students training to be primary teachers were asked to play a large number of educational and other board games as part of an examination of simulation and gaming in general. The aim was to see whether it would be possible to determine the characteristics of a 'good' primary classroom board game. Despite expected variations, considerable and perhaps surprising consensus was achieved both within and between cohorts.
2001 and beyond: planning the transformation of teaching and learning in higher education
Mantz Yorke and David McCormick
Higher education institutions are coming under increasing pressure to redesign their approaches to teaching and learning in order to at least maintain quality and standards during a period of developing constraint on resources. The problem was admirably articulated in the MacFarlane Report (CSUP, 1993), and requires strategic thinking of a high order if the challenge is to be met successfully. This chapter describes a workshop which sought to address the strategic imperative from an institutional point of view, and which required teams of senior staff, drawn together in imaginary institutions, to construct outline bids for support to address the challenge laid down in the MacFarlane Report. The evaluation of the workshop indicates that it was successful in achieving its aims - but the workshop's true value will depend on the extent to which it has an influence on thinking in real institutions.
Building a new curriculum for architecture
Julienne Hanson
Twenty architecture teachers from all over the UK attended a recent half-day workshop on architectural education at the Bartlett, University College London, to discuss the implications of a new architectural curriculum proposed by the profession's governing body, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). As a way of focusing attention on course structure and to stimulate debate, teams engaged in a simulation in which they enacted the roles of senior staff of a hypothetical new School of Architecture. The teams were set the task of designing their 'ideal' architecture course and, in realising their objectives, they were invited to satisfy or challenge the RIBA's proposed architecture curriculum. Presentations were required to be to a common format to facilitate comparison. The teams produced radically different course structures, which varied markedly in tempo and pacing as well as in course content. The workshop enabled teachers to 'brainstorm' the many and varied issues which underlie the provision of architectural education today, and to see how these impact on course design and delivery, and in shaping the student's learning experience.
How to bring learners to write cases
Michel Saint-Germain
This chapter presents an original experience of writing cases by adult learners. Students registered in a graduate programme in educational administration were requested to write cases starting from a personal critical incident. Using Kolb's model as the conceptual foundation, the process implies the writing of the initial descriptive sequence, the writing of the initial conceptual map, the selection of a pedagogical intent, the writing of the final conceptual map and the rewriting of the critical incident from a new perspective. The underlying assumption is that the 'real world' should be at the outset of the learning process for adult learners. This process of case writing is a way to enhance the experiences of the adults in such a way that it permits reflexive observation, conceptualization and the acquisition of a new knowledge built on experiential and theoretical contents.
Simulating an environmental regime in multidisciplinary undergraduate courses
Tony Evans and Tim Jewell
Pressures on British higher education have prompted a general reappraisal of teaching methods, and the development in Southampton of a simulation-based course to complement more traditional lecture/seminar-type courses. The need for lasting, and multidisciplinary, solutions to global environmental problems provided an ideal focus for the simulation's emphasis on skills learning. A course was therefore designed to integrate lectures providing a range of perspectives (including the political, legal, economic and scientific) with a simulated international treaty negotiation. With an emphasis on teamwork, the simulation required the participants to be responsible both for the structure and progress of the negotiation, and for the outcomes of the course. The course convenors had an on-going monitoring and feedback role, but avoided extensive intervention other than by invitation. Assessment of individuals working within teams and of transferable skills presented particular complications, but these were successfully addressed. Although design and preparation were relatively onerous, the longer-term savings are clear, while the educational value of the course itself has been clearly established.
Designing statistics courseware for interdisciplinary study
Jim Freeman, Ed Redfern and Sarah Bedford
Simulation is a tried and tested vehicle for conveying abstract statistical information to students. Its ability to demonstrate - with powerful graphical support - derivation of key theoretical results makes it a literally indispensable modern teaching aid. This chapter describes efforts by a government-led consortium of UK universities to develop a range of (largely simulation-oriented) statistics courseware materials for use with non-specialist students.
Improving the quality of learning
Alan Cudworth
By drawing on the work of Perry (1970), Ward (1992) and Bowden (1966) the author emphasises the need for innovation in universities through the use of simulations and games. Traditional views and even the physical layout of teaching rooms have to be overcome if this is to be accomplished, and three strategies are proposed for the achievement of change.
CARIBBEAN FISHERMAN: some reflections on the development of a simulation game
Rex Walford
The author of an operational game entitled CARIBBEAN FISHERMAN considers the way in which the game originated from a research article. The game in its simple form is described. Experience in playing the game has led to the formulation of other rules, and the extension of its context. Other styles of simulation exercise have been linked to the original game. The game is viewed as a basic idea capable of much flexibility, rather than as an entity in itself.
Interactions among the elements of a model of design for virtual activities
Michel Saint-Germain and Danny Laveault
Games, simulations, role plays and cases can be labeled as virtual activities because they are a representation of a reality. Oriented toward the decision-making process, virtual activities permit experiments and favour transfer of knowledge, processes, products and values. This chapter presents an overview of the interactions among the elements of a model for designing such activities. Even if most of the elements, such as the elaboration of the conceptual model, the elaboration of a prototype, the testing, the modification and the dissemination have already been mentioned at some point in the literature, their interactions have not received much attention. Systemic interactions are found at the outset among elements such as the understanding of the phenomenon to be represented, the identification of the context and the elaboration of the conceptual model. They are also found when a potential user looks at the implicit world view of a virtual activity and tries to find if it is suitable for his or her purpose. The interactions are more sequential when one moves from the conceptual model to the elaboration of the prototype.
Group training with the TEAMWORK GAME
Matti Vartiainen and Virpi Ruohomaki
This chapter describes the TEAMWORK GAME which has been developed for teaching principles of group work in industry, office and administration. The game is a part of a group training programme. The aims of the TEAMWORK GAME are to increase group members' abilities and skills to work in groups and to increase the group's functionality by creating common working principles. The TEAMWORK GAME simulates certain group characteristics, some aspects of group work, and developmental stages of the group formation. The simulation is realised as a board and card game. There are between three to eight participants and a game leader. A game lasts from two to four hours. Participants proceed by casting a dice, answering questions, discussing and collecting points. The debriefing during and after the game is used to conceptualise the actual problems in a group as well as to solve them.
Simulation games in business process re-engineering
Riitta Smeds and Paivi Haho
This chapter describes enterprise-oriented and customized simulation games, which have been used in the management of business process changes in industrial companies. The simulation games, together with other training and project management methods, have accomplished a high participation of all employees in the design and implementation of the new processes. The first results of business process redesign are promising. Simulation games have been used both in organizational and technological restructuring processes (for example, in designing and implementing new production processes, in reorganizing logistic chains, and even in the re-engineering of a whole order- to-delivery process).
THE ENTERPRISE GAME - Real Process Simulation
Esko Savukoski, Susanna Plukka, Vesa Enestam, Minna Savolainen and Pasi Piltonen
This chapter introduces Real Process Simulation, a game tool. This tool is used for developing present systems and processes as well as solving inherent problems. With this tool the real processes (information and material) and their problems can be presented and visualized in a clear and simple manner. The main objective of the game is to achieve complete customer satisfaction in a company. Real Process Simulation concentrates on the development and re-engineering of internal systems and operations. Redesigned processes and operations consequently improve the atmosphere and environment in the company.
A simulation game for the development of administrative work processes
Virpi Ruohomaki
Simulation games can be applied as a novel method for participative development of work in organizations. We are designing a new type of simulation game, called the WORK FLOW GAME, for the development of administrative work processes as part of organizational change. The aim of this chapter is to describe the WORK FLOW GAME and its design characteristics. A case study in administration showed that work processes can be improved effectively and simulation games may have positive effects on participants' motivation, learning and communication. Simulation games are encouraging methods for combining participative development and new interactive learning. Simulation games seem to facilitate the implementation of new information systems and to promote organizational change.
Making the grade - a BP simulation on CD1
Jane Measures
What happened when the multinational, BP, worked with a computer software company to create a business simulation to enhance the general public's understanding of their industry? A game emerged which is 100 per cent entertainment, 100 per cent education and has far wider potential than was originally envisaged. Here we take a look at why we did it, how we did it, what the product looks like, what people think of it all so far and where it may go in the future.
The role of games in the design of human-computer interfaces
Robert Macredie and Peter Thomas
This chapter discusses the relevance of computer-games to the design of computer-based training materials. Previous work on games and how they might be applied to the design of software, primarily in the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), has suggested that features of games may be used to design more effective computer systems (through more motivational interfaces). The chapter will argue the opposite - that game-like features are in fact inappropriate to the design of applications systems and their user interfaces and are more effective in the design of computer-based training materials. Three main arguments are presented to support this: the cultural distinction between work and recreation, the transient motivational effect of games, and the differences in use of computer systems. The chapter ends with a review of technologies relevant to the development of 'game-like' computer-based training materials.
MARSGAP - a marketing simulation game analysis programme designed for use with LAPTOP
T Rick Whiteley
MARSGAP is a spreadsheet-based software program designed as a learning and analysis aid for the user of the LAPTOP marketing simulation game. The program includes (1) a 'what if income statement calculation component, (2) a 'what if cash flow statement calculation component, (3) a break even analysis component, (4) a company decision-value plot component, and (5) a market share plot component. The program is designed to increase participant game involvement and to help improve the quality of the decisions made and the reports submitted by the game participants.
A LANGUAGE FOR EUROPE: some experience with a computer-supported simulation for the English classroom
Allan Martin and Stephen Clarke
This chapter considers the use of a role play simulation exercise, A Language for Europe, designed for the teaching of English to upper secondary school pupils. The simulation requires various interest groups to respond to the proposal that English become the official lingua franca of the European Union by examining source materials, preparing statements, and taking part in a simulated TV debate. The simulation was supported by the use of laptop computers, used for examining sources on disk and for preparation of statements by groups. The simulation exercise was seen as having positive outcomes in three main areas: pupils' learning in English, particularly in the area of knowledge about language; student teachers' gaining experience of central skills of teaching; and the support which portable computers can offer role play simulation.
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