Experiential Study of Performance in a Basic Management Course

Abstract

"The experiential mode of instruction is a relatively recent development in the academic community. On-the-job training has been used extensively in an industrial sector but for many reasons our academic sector resisted this action-oriented instruction. Many academics have taken the experiential mode of learning as an exercise in innovation with little substantive evidence regarding the educational worth of the various techniques. Some research has found positive evidence for one type of experiential learning, computer simulation. Boocock’s [2] studies, used computer simulation as a substitute for a more conventional classroom approach which typically involved reading material, listening to a lecture on the material and then discussing the material. It appears, as a result of the present study, that benefits may also be derived when computer simulations are used in conjunction with the conventional lecture-discussion method. "