Experiential Learning for Supporting Learning Effectiveness in Business Education: A Case Study from Egypt

Randa El Bedawy

doi:10.5539/ijbm.v12n5p159

Abstract

Higher education plays a crucial role for developing responsible citizens and accordingly a key priority for educators should be how to prepare their students for contributing to society development. Traditional teaching methods have been insufficient to realize these aims and experiential learning has been recommended for supporting learning effectiveness in higher education as experiential learning plays a crucial role to complement the required capabilities. In business education,experiential learning has focused on the simulation of real world business practices. As experiential learning is a relatively new educational practical approach in Egypt, this study sheds the light on the rational process of experiential learning as well as the study aims to evaluate the benefits and obstacles that educators may face when implementing an experiential approach. The case study presents an experiential learning model based on a business simulation, reflecting its effectiveness to develop students’ learning process and learning outcome. Using qualitative analysis, the study investigates the responses of diverse undergraduate student teams to a business simulation as a new experiential learning approach. The study recommends that experiential learning approach has proven useful for supporting the business students’ effective learning.

Highlights

Along the expansion of globalization and the increasing demand for capable citizens supporting the economic development, higher education generally and in particular the business schools are increasingly developing new educational tools that can support their graduates to face the real challenges of the global business environment (Taras 2013, Buschlen 2013)
This study sheds the light on the crucial use of experiential learning approach for supporting learning effectiveness in business education
The case study demonstrates the positive responses received from various teams of students to the business simulation as a new experiential learning approach and confirming its effectiveness as a valuable learning approach in business education

Summary

Introduction

Along the expansion of globalization and the increasing demand for capable citizens supporting the economic development, higher education generally and in particular the business schools are increasingly developing new educational tools that can support their graduates to face the real challenges of the global business environment (Taras 2013, Buschlen 2013). Educators in higher education aim to provide the market with competent graduates who acquire the required skills and knowledge for working in diverse organizations. Providing experiential learning approaches as business simulations should be recommended as a constructive practical alternative (Piercy, 2011). Capsim business simulation provides the students a good opportunity of a real world experience to completely manage a business and to understand how each department should interact with each other to achieve effectively business goals. To implement a good strategy, each team of students is responsible to manage and coordinate four key departments: research and development, marketing, production, and finance. Capsim business simulation can provide the students a good opportunity to manage a company through a competitive environment (Capsim, 2016). (2013).Experiential Learning – An Effective Approach for GatheringKnowledge and Capabilities in Professional Career.Review of International Comparative Management, 14(2), 310-322.

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