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Three New
Learning
Simulations
Enliven
Management,
Economics, and
Operations
In a survey conducted last
spring, 87% of Wharton
students said computer-based tools enhance learning
in class. In Fall 2005,
Wharton's Alfred West Jr.
Learning Lab introduced
three new simulations in
management, economics,
and operations and
information management.
Students who engage in
the simulations and receive
real-time feedback indicate
that computer-based tools
are more effective than both
case-based and lecture-based classes in enhancing
attention and engagement,
retaining material, and promoting
team collaboration.
These new offerings
bring to 23 the total number
of simulations developed
and deployed by the
Learning Lab, which was
founded in 2001 through
a $10 million gift from
alumnus Alfred West Jr.,
WG'66. A total of 28 faculty
authors have developed
new learning tools that have
been used by more than
5,000 Wharton students
since 2001.
RAISE (Raise Allocation
Interactive Salary Exercise),
used by students in
Wharton's Undergraduate
Management 101 class,
was developed under the
faculty leadership of Lori
Rosenkopf, associate professor
of management.
With RAISE students focus
on allocating a salary raise
pool among seven employees.
The simulation gives
students hands-on experience
in the role of corporate
managers who must
allocate limited resources.
Within the simulation,
students make decisions
about which employees
will receive a raise based on
quantitative and qualitative
performance measures
as well as a host of demographic
characteristics and
other idiosyncratic information
for each employee.
"Before RAISE, we
needed several Teaching
Assistants to run the exercise
manually and were not
able to provide the same
level of hands-on interaction
for each student," says
Rosenkopf. "The simulation
automates many of the
calculations and provides
scenario parameters that
can vary by group. It also
introduces additional
prompts to individuals
based on their initial responses
to the scenarios."
The other two new
products are PLANT
(Production Line
ANalyzation Tool), developed
with Operations and
Information Management
Professor Anita Tucker
to help students learn
to improve production
performance, and
Macroeconomic Policy
Simulations, developed
with Professor Andy Abel
to demonstrate the challenges
of making macroeconomic
policy in a world
where fiscal and monetary
policymakers with different
objectives have control over
various policy tools.
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