ABT's Simulations:
- bring reality into the classroom
- use keypads and projected results to engage participants in the hands-on simulated reality
- allow multiple facets of theory to be exemplified and experienced
The real temporary business in your classroom, Discovery has all the facets of a real business in a more accessible form. With roles from supplier to customer, across internal processes, Discovery uses clickers to generate operational data and accounts along the way. Discovery helps participants understand communications, relationships, pressures, processes, and inter-dependencies and may be configured in many ways such as for teaching about managing change, continuous improvement or configuring business for profit,
A simulation that provides participants with the experience of managing in a supply chain. Impulse participants make decisions, with varying degrees of knowledge and information visibility, on how many products to purchase in order to satisfy their customers. They also make decisions on how best to improve their supply chain performance and go on to implement these decisions.
Oligopoly participants learn about game theory and market dynamics. They manipulate their company's price and production volumes to maximise their profits, with varying degrees of information visibility and levels of permitted communication with their competitors.
Why Simulations Work So Well
- Participants' primary interaction is with each other, not the computer model
- Participants' goal can be collaborative to 'make the system better' and/or competitive to 'beat other teams'
- Realistic peer pressures, time pressures, decision pressures, and emotional pressures may all be engaged
- Abstraction of activities into simulated business environments encourages and enables participants to engage in dialogue about their own businesses in a less confrontational manner than would otherwise be the case.
For Participants
- The participative activities bring aspects of real-life situations and behaviours into the classroom
- The simulations are action based/experiential (learn by doing), incorporating Active Learning, Cooperative Learning, Collaborative Learning and Problem Based Learning
- The simulations are simple enough in operation that participants are neither daunted by the complexity of their tasks nor distracted by operating the keypads
- The simulations provide a shared experience and "language" used by businesses that continue to draw parallels, in some cases many months or years later.
For Lecturers and Trainers
- A wide range of live data is available, to focus and support in-class discussions, for later distribution to the participants to reinforce the learning and for research purposes
- Results can improve attendance and timeliness, as well as easing marking and student assessment
- The computer monitors and regulates the simulated business environment
- The learning experience is repeatedly ranked very highly by participants, as demonstrated by top ranking in student course evaluations at London Business School, SAID Business School and others
- The multi-faceted nature of some simulations makes them an ideal "Capstone" case to integrate a range of disciplines
- "Employees cannot ignore the management desire to drive the business forward together" Paraphrased from an HR Manager following the use of Discovery in-house to help drive a new improvement initiative
- Can provide structure for the adoption and use of case study teaching
Key Features
- Use wireless keypads, a single computer and a screen projector to generate a vibrant whole-room interaction
- Simulations bring relevant business issues to life and provide a forum for experimentation, negotiation and discussion
- Participative exercises bring aspects of real-life situations and behaviours into the classroom
- Participants learn by doing
- Group based - the all-important human dimension Learning in incremental steps
- The computer monitors and regulates the simulated business environment
- Participants' primary interaction is with other participants, not with the computer model
- Encourages both co-operation and competition
- Fun and involving , building informal relationships Simple enough to operate that keypad use does not distract from the core intent of the session
- The simple interface and design models and demonstrates tremendously complex concepts
- For time frames of anything between 30 minutes to full day workshops. Typical simulations last for half a day
- Used internationally in education, corporate training, consulting and events settings
- Fast set-up Suitable for 4 to 50+ participants
- The facilitator can configure variables, stop and start the exercise at any time, bring out points using a variety of graphical displays, refer back to session records, with the option to control the session using a keypad so they are not tied to the computer