Applying constructivist approach to educational business games: case REALGAME

  • Authors:

  • Timo Lainema;Pekka Makkonen

  • Affiliations:

  • Turku School of Economics and Business Administration, Information Systems Science, P.O. Box 110, FIN-20520 Turku, Finland;University of Jyväskylä, Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, P.O. Box 35, FIN-40351 Jyväskylä, Finland

  • Venue:
  • Simulation and Gaming - Special issue: Simulation & gaming
  • Year:
  • 2003

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Abstract

Business organizations and their employees face ever-increasing complexity and accelerating changes. This brings along the need for training models that can transmit knowledge and skills needed in this kind of environment. Business process understanding is especially required. This article evaluates business games in the light of constructivism, a view of learning emphasizing the need to anchor training to everyday activities and concrete contexts, and introduces a new computer-based business game. The purpose of this construction is to give the business game participants a realistic view of business processes and thus enhance participant business process perception. The primary aim of the construction is to present business processes to game participants by providing a natural representation of the real world and a case-based learning environment that fosters reflective practice. Although this article does not explicitly describe a geographically distributed game case, it introduces a game construction based on Internet transmission protocol that can also be used in a distributed manner. But as such, the article argues for the use of techniques that support continuously processed and Internet-based gaming simulations.