Could Video Games Replace Teachers At Business Schools?

Students of Business Schools may no longer have to listen to long boring lectures by Professors, learn from textbook examples or worksheets.

Instead, they may soon be able to learn while playing video games or get the latest trends from people occupying senior positions in firms who are more hands on with considerable experience ready to impart their experiences in the profession.

“One Day”, is a new video game developed by John Beck, who teaches strategy at Hult International Business School. The game has been developed by Beck’s educational consulting company, North Star Leadership Group,

The student gets the role of a new employee at an airlines company. While waiting in the airport longue to board a flight, an e-mail from the boss asks him to devise a new strategy.

He has the choice of gathering inputs from airline staff, customers and publications kept on the book racks that contain information about the airline industry and company’s performance. He has to take notes and at the end arrive at a decision about the future of the company before catching the flight.

The game is still in the development stage and would be ready for classroom only by next year, says Huffington Post. Video games have hitherto been restricted for teaching elementary concepts like spelling, basic math and typing.

Beck says it’s not about replacing professors but of getting rid of 90% of what the professors have to do now. With these types of technological innovations, Professors would be free to do research and devote more time to specialized classes rather than having to spare time for introductory classes, he opines.

In higher education, it has been difficult to bring in video games till recently because there may be more than one answer.

While both groups ended up with identical scores, the game players performed slightly better. Beck says it’s not about replacing professors but of getting rid of 90% of what the professors have to do now.

John Beck laments the fact that most MBA programs rely on teaching methods honed decades before the personal computing revolution. “For 30 years I’ve been thinking the system is so broken. The case studies model dates from the 1920s, and the lecture model from the 1850s.”

Beck, conducting an experiment at Hult International Business School, chose 41 students of an MBA level course in business strategy and divided them into two groups. While one group attended class room lectures by a professor in the traditional manner, the other was allowed to play the video game.

While both groups ended up with identical scores, the game players performed slightly better. Beck says it’s not about replacing professors but of getting rid of 90% of what the professors have to do now.

With these types of technological innovations, Professors would be free to do research and devote more time to specialized classes rather than having to spare time for introductory classes, he opines.

Wally Hopp, Sr. associate dean for faculty and research, Ross school of Business, University of Michigan feels that the Professor-centric education orchestrating the experience for the student may be replaced in future with the focus on learning experiences themselves, much more diversified both in terms of where and when the student accesses them to focus on what the student needs.

It will be more like apprenticeships, with the business school faculty helping students use the knowledge they have acquired by greater use of technology, he adds.

Yet another trend is top executives venturing into academic jobs bringing some real world perspectives ino the classroom.

One such person is Randall Zindler who has eight years of work experience as former Chief executive, Medair, an international humanitarian aid agency prior to joining Lancaster University Management School. He also has had stint as consultant to industry and non-governmental organisations.

As head of Lancaster’s Leadership Centre, he spends only few days in a month on the campus, conducting most of the teaching online, even while travelling or from his home in Lausanne, Switzerland. He says it helps him stay connected with latest business trends that prove beneficial in teaching.

Lancaster University has 35 people like Zindler out of full time staff numbering 221. Companies backing the University as well as students are increasingly pressing for such appointments from outside the academic stream.

Prof. Angus Laing, University Dean, refers to them as “academic practitioners” who have teaching abilities as well as business experience.

This particular type also helps academic research in not only having papers published in journals but also in developing practical aspects to have an impact on business world.

Finance aspects also play a role. Bob Reid, chief accreditation officer for the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), an industry body, says while there is pressure for greater access to education, it is not matched by increases in tuition fees.

Thus In 2013, the AACSB suggested schools consider employing up to 40 per cent of its teaching staff from the industry and winds of change may be sweeping across corridors of business schools. (Source: Financial Times & Huffington Post. Image courtesy Huffington Post)