Digital serious game to engage business students in active lectures: a pilot study

Purpose This study aims to investigate an integrated approach that stimulates engagement and interaction in the online learning environment. A simulation game was developed to support the specific learning objectives (LOs) of the lecture and give students the opportunity to apply relevant practical skills (management and group decision-making). The simulation is designed to engage students, facilitate group work in teams and actively apply the knowledge from the lectures. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative research methods and a pilot version of the simulation game in an actual classroom setting were used. The primary LO was to apply decision-making in groups and experience the consequences of decisions on business success. The students were assigned randomly to five groups representing different competing companies. Findings This study revealed that a simulation game with a reduced scope can facilitate interaction and participation in online lectures. It demonstrated that it is possible to obtain the main benefits of simulation-based learning with a simple game that consists of few decision variables and requires minimal training. Research limitations/implications There are limitations to this pilot study, some of which need to be address in future research. One limitation is the small number of participants (21). Another limitation is that all participants were from a class at an Asian university. While adding to existing research that focused primarily on Anglo-America and Europe, this study’s approach should be evaluated with more subjects from varying cultural backgrounds to validate the findings. The evaluation could be improved with more participants but also additional questions to measure how and why this study’s approach benefits learning success. E.g. it should be explored what component of decision-making or group learning was most significant. With this, it would also be interesting to explore incremental learning and learning across groups along the study duration. Practical implications The simulation game can be used in business education. Students enjoyed the interaction with their peers and the instructor. The students stated that it was a good learning experience for them and they made good learning progress. Originality/value The prototype demonstrated the general feasibility and the smooth handling of the practical application and integration in online lectures. The aim to develop a serious simulation game for online classes was achieved. It was possible to obtain the main benefits of simulation-based learning with a simple game that consists of few decision variables and therefore requires minimal training and time.