The Role of Winning and Losing within Simulation Games in Higher Education Settings

Gamification is increasingly being used in both business and academic settings to support learning (Werbach, 2014; Simoes, Diaz and Vilez, 2013; Duvernet and Popp, 2014; Muntean, 2011). Games are a move from the traditional pedagogy of content instruction to a more experiential learning model of learning by doing with elements of both formative and summative learning opportunities for students. This paper presents findings from a study which explores the use of an online simulation collaborative serious business game for student learning in a postgraduate marketing module and an undergradute module to explore both the higher order learning and the social skill development of students. This study found that there were many positive outcomes notably the increased engagement of students with theory and content and the development of higher order processing skills. There also was evidence of student perception that the game more accurately reflected the world of business and gave the students a sense of the challenges of actual business decision making and business team dynamics. The findings suggest that there are a variety of wins that students achieved from this game but that the winner group or groups did not necessarily learn the most. So the winners did not take all. The research shows that there was very valuable learning for the students who performed less well in the game but who focused more on their learning