Author: Richard Tunstall, rtunstall@glam.ac.uk

JISC e-Learning Activity Area: Technology-enhanced Learning Environments

Higher Education Academy Subject Centre: Business, Management, Accountancy and Finance

This case study illustrates...use of specialist software, an effect on learning, an effect on student personal development, student satisfaction with e-learning, innovation in learning and teaching, staff satisfaction with e-learning, use of gaming/simulation

Tangible Benefits

What tangible benefits did this e-learning approach produce?

This learning tool was specifically intended to develop formative learning opportunities for students, both due to the nature of the course problem (which was not summatively assessed) and due to the innovative nature of the tool which was thought best tested on a non-assessed element of the course in its first use.

Following qualitative and quantitative in-depth feedback, students appeared to broadly support the use of the game, suggesting that it was at least as valuable to learning as tutorials and lectures. Furthermore the game was the preferred method expressed by most students for absorbing a case study (75% agreeing or strongly agreeing 10.71% not sure); Comments (from recorded verbal feedback) included;

'It's a better way of learning than reading the case study...' and 'I seriously think there is no substitute for experience and this is the closest you can get - through a game'

After exposure to the game students expressed that they would like further opportunities like this in other modules (78.57% agreeing or strongly agreeing 12.5% not sure). Students reported;

'One thing I liked about the game - it was very general - I found it very...integral to the course...', 'I think it's good to have as an option to have it in a module especially in areas where it's particularly difficult so you can read over it and re-iterate over and over again it might give you a different perspective...But like I think if this was like on an area you were going to do like an assignment on.'

while one made the point that;

'I wouldn't mind some opportunities but if we have it all the time we're just going to get fed up with it like normal case studies, so like a balanced diet.'

Students also expressed a preference for the tool as a form of active over passive learning; regarding the benefit of the game over reading texts, one student suggested in terms of the e-learning tool in relation to didactic teaching and reading texts;

'...I prefer (the game) - because I don't think that someone standing in front of the class, you know speaking, speaking is enough to learn sometime we need to learn by ourselves, and its not just reading only books, sometimes its by, you see something and see what is happening, it help you to learn and remember it more. Doing something, because you are part of it you are doing something, you know because doing something you want to go ahead and see what is happening, and it draws your attention you observe, you know observations come more close than just listening to (the lecturer) just speaking, speaking, you might fall asleep but if you're playing a game you won't fall asleep.'

Finally in relation to relating theory to practice one mentioned;

'You can also see the theory being applied to real life, because sometimes they give you points and you say - maybe that's not possible, so then you see it in the game and I thought 'yeah that really happens.''

Academic staff were very enthusiastic for the e-learning tool, both within the delivery team, where staff were both impressed with the tool and grateful for the way in which it was embedded into traditional teaching methods, and more generally across the Business School where some staff requested the use of the tool in other modules and courses.

The game platform was deliberately designed to be reusable, and two further game/case studies have been developed; one as a training simulation for a nursing course (based around a virtual hospital), the other as an induction game for all new students at the university (based around a faithfully produced virtual model of the entire campus). Other environmental possibilities are limitless; a shopping mall; a haunted castle; a sports field; a motor race course. While current versions include human-like avatars on the same scale, other more creative uses could be developed; ships at sea, insects in a field, vehicles in a city.

While current major developments require the input of a multimedia team, small edits are possible in existing games - for instance game missions and individual characters speech as well as other text can be altered quickly, as was experienced in a second iteration of the game.

While the current game depends on the specialised platform developed at Glamorgan, it is possible to develop future versions with other institutions and share the resulting games/case studies/simulations with others, as illustrated by the example provided in this case study. All versions of the platform are internet-based, with low computer specification requirements.

Did implementation of this e-learning approach have any disadvantages or drawbacks?

Initial disadvantages came with the amount of development time required to design the game (around 3 months of academic staff time and 6 months of multimedia developer time) and the associated cost of staff time. However this time was largely perceived to be due to the innovative nature of the project, and it was expected that future iterations of the tool would take much less time to develop, due to the reusable design of the game platform.

Largely reports of dissatisfaction from students appeared to originate from students wanting more and we acknowledge that we could have offered richer information sources and game environment (which would have added further complexity). However limitations in project resources meant that in this instance this was as far as we could go, though intended future developments of the platform may provide opportunities to build on student feedback.

A further concern was that the final tool could not be modified without the support of the multimedia development team, however as new iterations of the tool platform are developed, it is intended that an academic staff interface should be developed to provide easier modifications for a wider variety of uses. In the meantime, the existing game platform has proved to be very useful in allowing the multimedia team to develop new versions for other courses. Interestingly, while the original tool was developed to focus on a specific set of questions, its intentional complexity has allowed it to be used in other course contexts within the Business School, as is typically in traditional case studies.

How did this e-learning approach accord with or differ from any relevant departmental and/or institutional strategies?

The tool did fit within the universities blended learning strategy, particularly within the 'e-enhanced' model. There was no specific blended learning strategy within the Business School at the time, so in this context the e-learning tool developed was beyond the school's strategy. Since the tool's development, it has been embedded in an additional three modules. As part of this it has become the central part of a core module within the Business School's main new undergraduate programme, which has a specific strategic focus on enhancing delivery through blended learning. The tool platform has been developed through a further two iterations, initially for a nursing simulation and currently for an induction simulation for all new students at the university, and new opportunities for collaborative development are actively sought.