Abstract
This study explores educational technology and management education by analyzing fidelity in game-based management education interventions. A sample of 31 MBA students was selected to help answer the research question: To what extent do MBA students tend to recognize specific game-based academic experiences, in terms of fidelity, as relevant to their managerial performance? Two distinct game-based interventions (BG1 and BG2) with key differences in fidelity levels were explored: BG1 presented higher physical and functional fidelity levels and lower psychological fidelity levels. Hypotheses were tested with data from the participants, collected shortly after their experiences, related to the overall perceived quality of game-based interventions. The findings reveal a higher overall perception of quality towards BG1: (a) better for testing strategies, (b) offering better business and market models, (c) based on a pace that better stimulates learning, and (d) presenting a fidelity level that better supports real world performance. This study fosters the conclusion that MBA students tend to recognize, to a large extent, that specific game-based academic experiences are relevant and meaningful to their managerial development, mostly with heightened fidelity levels of adopted artifacts. Agents must be ready and motivated to explore the new, to try and err, and to learn collaboratively in order to perform.
Highlights
Technology has been a relevant component in reshaping the traditional approach to instruction in many dimensions, and those more recently involved with education, or training, have the chance to observe the intensity of this movement
This study focuses on alternatives for supporting management education to help learners experience a higher fidelity level by exploring business games, simulation and virtual reality instructional design elements, concerned with implications for both practitioners and academicians
The main research question is linked to simulation fidelity and the presence of game-based educational technology as an MBA program intervention: To what extent do MBA students tend to recognize specific game-based academic experiences, in terms of fidelity, as relevant to their managerial development? Two distinct game-based interventions, controlling for levels of fidelity were explored
Summary
Technology has been a relevant component in reshaping the traditional approach to instruction in many dimensions, and those more recently involved with education, or training, have the chance to observe the intensity of this movement. This study focuses on alternatives for supporting management education to help learners experience a higher fidelity level by exploring business games, simulation and virtual reality instructional design elements, concerned with implications for both practitioners and academicians. Such instructional design elements tend to narrow the gap between the educational experience and the real-world business setting, increasing fidelity (Dabbagh & Bannan-Ritland, 2005) while improving the meaningfulness of the experience (Dewey, 1939), the learning process and its content Fidelity is considered the level of realism instructional artifacts can incorporate from the real world (Alessi, 1988; Backlund et al, 2009) and is linked to the meaningfulness of the learning experience (Dewey, 1939)
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