SimVenture - Teaching Guide
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To make best use of SimVenture it is advised that you and other staff who may be teaching with SimVenture obtain copies of the software at least two months ahead of when you propose to teach with the resource. This preparation time will help you to understand the software and how it can be used. The time will also help you to prepare your own teaching materials if you feel you need them. Some teachers/lecturers have also involved students at this stage since they feel younger people will be able to understand and interpret the software more quickly. Whilst this may not be your preferred approach it does have a number of benefits including:
The software comes with an extensive 'Help' section, which covers every topic. Included within the Help section are 10 audio-visual tutorials as well as written documentation, which can be printed. The purpose of providing Help in more than one format is to ensure people with different learning styles can understand how SimVenture works. However, there will always be people who choose not to read the Help section and simply want to 'Dive in' and learn by doing. How do you best manage this situation? All experience with SimVenture to date shows that best learning results are obtained when students are allowed to make decisions about their own virtual company within a clear teaching framework. When you first introduce students to SimVenture it is advisable that you put people into pairs or groups of no more than four people. People working on their own at the outset may not understand/be overwhelmed the learning environment and as a result are in danger of losing confidence and interest quickly. Likewise, larger groups don't allow everyone to contribute and people can end up on the fringes of a group and feel excluded. Tip! One approach is to start by delivering SimVenture yourself from a central screen that all students can see. Whilst this does give you control and a central focus for students, you need to be careful not to go on for too long because students will want to play with the software and make their own decisions. Ideally, you can deliver this introductory session for no more than 20 minutes and then allow students to explore SimVenture in their pairs or small groups. SimVenture is a platform that allows students to explore and investigate the world of business in an engaging and rich environment. However, best practice teaching indicates that running a business or completing specific business scenarios or tasks within the software is only one part of the overall experience. The structure for teaching with SimVenture can be broken down into three parts: The first recommended phase is to let the students explore the software in a supported environment. For example, you can deliver a short introduction using a central screen as a focus and then ask the students to get to know the software in their pairs or small groups (it is recommended that you always start on the 'Easy' level). To do this, you can either ask the students to complete specific tasks in unison so they all get to understand how decisions are made and months played out. Alternatively, you can provide an opportunity for students to spend up to 20 minutes exploring the software for themselves. The structure of your introduction will depend on the ability of your students, but tests indicate that the more able the students the more likely they are to want to work within a flexible framework. During this first 20 minutes you need to be available to provide support and advice. After this period it is advised that you stop the session and ask for feedback as well as question the students about what they have found out. Some useful questions to test student knowledge and understanding of the software at this very early stage are provided below:
You can of course add to this list. The important issue for students to show they have some understanding of the world of the simulation. You are likely to find during this first feedback session that some students struggle to concentrate on the discussion and instead will be distracted by SimVenture. To counter this you may wish to take students away from their computers - however, if you have keen learners, why discourage them! The battle for student attention can be an issue but the whole philosophy behind SimVenture is to make learning about business a fun and engaging experience. Following the first feedback session you may need to spend some time explaining specific issues to some groups whilst letting others explore the software in greater depth. It is a good idea at this stage to set people who are more confident with SimVenture some mini tasks so they can work alone. For example, you can ask people to complete 3 simulated months or a specific task within the game such as market research, some aspect of training or raising some money. SimVenture allows people to work at different speeds. However, the goal of the first session (lasting between 60 & 90 minutes) is simply to ensure that people have a basic grounding in the software and understand how it works. Whilst you may feel that your group needs a second session to embed the learning, you are very likely to have 'stars' within the group who can help you to help other people. Following the introduction you are now in a position to teach using SimVenture. The software allows you to do many things but in principle your work will fit into one of two things: A - Provide students with a big picture learning experience by allowing them to run a business. This allows students to understand the big picture and as a result make sense of the different strands of theory more easily. B - Support your theoretical teaching by getting students to examine and play through specific business subjects. This allows students to see how business issues work in practice and their impact on other issues across an organisation. A - Run a Business It is recommended that people work in groups of two, three or four to start. Not only does this mean that you are encouraging team-working, communication and decision skills, but people also work in a mutually supportive environment. It is important that you provide an objective for each session, which can be real or simulation time-based. For example, each group must get to the point where they decide to run their business full-time. Alternatively, each group must run a business for 12 simulated months. Since SimVenture is such a flexible learning resource, the objective setting is up to you and you can make decisions based on the calibre and interest within the group. Note. For evaluation purposes, SimVenture automatically tracks the performance of any user or group on a month by month basis. By selecting 'History' on the line at the top of the page you will be taken to the summary screen showing the results from the most recent month. Using the calendar in the top left-hand corner you can review any one of the months that have been run in the game to that point. In the top right-hand corner is the 'Print' button. Use this to print out all months that are required for review and evaluation. The evaluation mechanism is a valuable tool especially if you are also asking groups to record in the Notepad (see Tools) how and why decisions were made. On that note, experience to date shows that group sizes have different benefits. A team of two will work quickly and no-one is likely to be excluded; a team of three requires more group dynamics; a team of four people means that the four main functions within the game (Finance, Organisation, Sales & Marketing, Operations) can be neatly divided between the individuals. Once students have been introduced to SimVenture and become confident using the simulation you can vary the starting point. Using the 'Save & Load' functions, you can run a simulated business yourself and then ask students to start where you have left off. Using this technique you can set a whole new range of objectives for students in order to reinforce learning relevant to a particular part of the course. The SimVenture team is also creating 'Scenarios' which provide alternative starting positions for you. These Scenarios are available on the main screen at the start of any game. You will find students develop skills that allow them to play at higher levels and also on their own rather than in a group. It is up to you to judge the timing of progress for each individual and the class. However, whole group interest is best maintained if more skilled players are used to help others who find the simulation environment more challenging. B - Supporting business theory SimVenture is a powerful teaching resource because it puts the learner at the heart of the process and forces them to make decisions and see how all consequences play out. Simply by playing SimVenture students will develop a much greater understanding of how business works. However, there will be times when you want to use SimVenture to reinforce a particular piece of theory. One way to do this is to ask students to all perform the same task, run one month and then discuss the arising consequences afterwards. The following example shows how such a method could be applied to market research. You want the group to focus on the subject of market research. To start (assuming SimVenture is loaded and computers are showing the office Home screen), ask students in their groups to go to Research Strategy, read the 'Market Research' summary box and then click the image to take them to the 'Market Research' page. Before going any further you can have a short discussion about the importance of market research, its relevance to business and the consequences of an organisation ignoring research. Within SimVenture students have the option to use a consultant to do market research or complete the market research on their own. The choices have different consequences in terms of time and money spent. Before students make either choice you can discuss the merits of each decision within the game and also in practice. Then ask students to make their own choice and finally ask them to 'Run the Month'. Finally, ask the students to return to the Market Research page where in the red Game Box is the option to view the Market Research report. By selecting the report students can then see the various market segments within the simulation. This data provides an opportunity to discuss a range of further issues and implications as well as choices and decisions that students can then make. Here are few typical questions that might be asked of students:
You can encourage students to make a segment choice and record all their notes within the game's Notepad (see Tools). As with all SimVenture games, every piece of recorded information or diary note can be stored and reviewed within the Notepad function. Save and Load As mentioned in the previous section (A), you can also use the 'Save & Load' or 'Scenarios' provided within the game to get students to focus on specific business issues. For example, you may run a business yourself for several months and get it to a point where it is has significant cashflow problems. The challenge you want to put to the students is for them to focus on managing and resolving the issues and in so doing learn about the theory you are keen to teach. Ask students to load your saved game (you may need to give the file different names so that each group can load the game) and if possible provide a short written brief summarising the situation and what you want students to do. You will need to outline tasks to complete as well as how much simulated and real time is available for use. For evaluation purposes, it is also a good idea to request that students record their thoughts and reasons for decisions in the Notepad at the end of each simulated month. This process can be repeated for an infinite variety of scenarios. You can even use this process as a basis for competitions or group challenges. Whatever you decide to do, the work being completed by students is preparing them to complete the third and final part of the SimVenture experience. Since SimVenture contains a Notepad and a monthly evaluation mechanism, all of the information is available to students to make presentations or review business performances in a tutorial. Presentations can focus on both the business's performance as well as the group dynamic. Below are some notes on both types of presentation. Business Performance These presentations should focus on how a group ran a business and what was achieved. It is recommended that printed monthly performance data be shared with you and/or other people in the audience as part of the presentation. Importantly, SimVenture users cannot change performance data once a month has been run. As such, the printed monthly information provided for any presentation tells a truthful story. Unlike other business presentations where decisions and comments can get lost in hypothesis and half-truths, students must share and bare their business soul. Team Performance These presentations should focus on how a group performed as a team and what individuals learnt about themselves. You can direct the group to provide feedback how you wish, but if you can link performance to any team-working theory (i.e. Belbin's model of group behaviour) then this element of the learning experience can be as strong as any other part. SimVenture is available to purchase now from tutor2u. Personal, Single Computer & Network Licences are available. You can also request a demonstration version, enabling you to take SimVenture for a test drive! |
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