Business Simulation Game

There is a desire within the department to establish a Part D management module, for the students to develop a business plan through an interface with a virtual corporation. The business game would run over the course of one semester (10 weeks) with students providing weekly data that a ‘guardian’ would input to the software, which would then provide the students with feedback on their business performance through tutorials.

Skills development in the areas of leadership, management, teamwork, fiscal sense, business judgement and inventiveness.
The project proposal is to investigate what business simulation software is available and to analyse the content in the context of the Aero & Auto module requirements.

EngCETL contacts:
Richard Newman
Melanie King

A scoping study has been carried out and two commercial applications have been evaluated, namely; 'Marketplace Venture Strategy' and 'SimVenture'. A paper has been successfully submitted to the SAGSET (Teaching and Learning through Gaming and Simulation) Conference and we will be presented on 17 July 2008.
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TITLE:
An evaluation of business simulation games for the Management module of the MEng Aeronautical Engineering degree at Loughborough University.

CONTACT DETAILS:
Melanie King
Learning Technology Co-ordinator
engCETL (Engineering Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning)
Loughborough University
LE11 3TU
01509 227196
m.r.n.king@lboro.ac.uk

Richard Newman
Industrial Liaison Officer
engCETL (Engineering Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning)
Loughborough University
LE11 3TU
01509 227199
r.j.newman@lboro.ac.uk

Professor Rob Thring
Head of Department
Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering
Loughborough University
LE11 3TU
01509 227259
r.h.thring@lboro.ac.uk

CONFERENCE THEMES ADDRESSED:
Business games
User studies and evaluation

KEYWORDS:
Business simulation; Employability; Evaluation.

ABSTRACT:
There is a drive within engineering disciplines at Loughborough University to develop the employability skills of undergraduate students and the engCETL (Engineering Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning) has a broad remit to enhance links with industry and to underpin developments in learning and teaching with pedagogic research and technology development. The Centre does this through research and development projects that are proposed by academics within the engineering related departments and carried out in conjunction with specialists from the engCETL team.

Prof Rob Thring, Head of the Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering Department proposed a recent project to the engCETL. His requirement was for some form of business simulation software for the undergraduates to use as part of a management module on the MEng programme. Currently the students carry out a group design project, create a business plan for the venture and take part in a Dragon's Den style presentation / pitch at the end of the project to representatives from the department and industry. However, Prof Thring would like to take this project a step further and provide the students with the opportunity to take part in a simulated business environment where they could explore the idea of setting up and / or running a business as close to the real-world as possible. The intention would be to enliven and enrich the student's learning experience with skills development such as; enterprise, leadership, management, teamwork, fiscal sense, business judgement and inventiveness amongst others.

An interdisciplinary project team has been formed to try and resolve the pedagogic, technical and business aspects that would need to be addressed in order to implement such software within the programme. The approach taken has been to form a set of criteria based on certain curriculum requirements but keep the brief broad and carry out a scoping study of existing software (both commercial and open source) and take account of the academic literature in this area.

After the initial scoping study, initial findings indicate two commercial business simulation games that have potential for use on the course. These are; Marketplace Simulation (http://www.marketplace-simulation.co.uk) and SimVenture (http://www.simventure.co.uk) . An in-depth evaluation will be carried out on the two games. This evaluation will comprise two teams made up of academics, industrial representatives and engCETL staff. The software will be thoroughly examined in terms of what each application can offer to the learning experience of the students, resources to support staff and the costs involved, for example staff time in embedding the software into the curriculum.

The paper will highlight the approach taken, findings and recommendations from the evaluation of the two business simulations. The recommendations will be presented in the context of all engineering disciplines and will cover; appropriateness of the chosen software for the programme level, plans for embedding into the curriculum, potential learning outcomes and assessment methods.

This paper will benefit all those interested in methods for evaluating potential simulation games for suitability within the curriculum and the development of enterprise and employability skills.

July 2008
SAGSET Presentation - Please download the templates for:

Powerpoint presentation

Heuristic Evaluation

Skills Evaluation

Progress: 100%

Paper published in the SAGSET 2008 Teaching and Learning through Gaming and Simulation proceedings of the conference in Nottingham, UK, 17-18 July 2008, pp. 67-75. ISBN 978 0 85358 249 6.