TEACHERS' IMPRESSIONS OF EXPERIENCE-BASED LEARNING: A STUDY OF THE BENEFITS OF BUSINESS GAMES

Abstract

Conventional teaching methods treat students as passive agents, meaning their lectures are a less than involving experience. There is a clear mismatch between experience-based learning (an “on the job” approach) and the traditional lecture structure. A business game was given to a group of 18 teachers from the undergraduate Business Administration course of a Federal University, in an attempt to disseminate an educational philosophy that tackles the issue of passive learning. Management Education, Experience-based Learning and Business Games were used as the theoretical cornerstones, with the teachers’ opinions recorded and statistically analyzed using multivariate methods of multidimensional scaling. Two dimensions appeared: a) guidance for action and b) guidance for analysis. It was concluded that, regardless of the teachers’ academic backgrounds and subsequent specializations of their disciplines, the business the business games gave its participants the chance to integrate technical and human dimensions in the decision making process. Course coordinators are advised to identify the opinions of their staff and provide them with experience of business games before including this educational tool in an undergraduate program, so that the functional areas can be integrated an