@) | age INNOVATION ABSTRACTS ie:

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iz 2G Published by the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development
? With support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and Sid W. Richardson Foundation

 

 

 

 

ON THE VALUE OF SIMULATED REALITY

Readers may remember Terry O’Banion’s "On the Value of Reinventing the Wheel," (Jimovation Abstracts,
Vol. VIII, No. 9) which reached my desk the week I was writing this article. You will recall that Dr.
O’Banion defended the instructor's effort to create a resource which, although similar in appearance to other
published materials, works for him or her in the classroom. Restating O’Banion’s justification for duplicating
the wheel, we find that by creating our own model we take responsibility for it and become obligated to
make it work. We learn from our mistakes—the process of creation then is what makes the tool work, not
the object produced.

We are inundated with published objects from which to select course materials, but usually none seems
ideal for our particular use. This is because we are not owners of the process. The object works for the
innovator because he or she owns the process. For this reason, the innovation I present to you, although
highly valuable to me, may not seem plausible to you. But the experiences associated with implementing
this innovation are worth sharing.

Teaching accounting at Kalamazoo Valley Community College, | have discovered that learning occurs best
© when students are actively engaged in the learning activity. But it has been obvious to me that the problem
assignments and practice sets so often used in accounting courses often fail to explain and develop the
concepts I wish to teach. Student experiences with these assignments never quite translate to productivity
~ on the job. And since training students to be productive in the workplace is our primary mission, | turned
to the question: "What else could I try?" "Simulate the workplace," the Accounting Muse whispered, "and
create jobs for students here; let them make their mistakes in school before real productivity is lost." That's
not a new idea, I thought. But I quickly began reinventing the simulation wheel!

A Simulated Industry

| turned to developing the idea of incorporating a simulated book-publishing industry into the classroom.
Many hours of thought and many more hours to develop systems and forms to support this simulated
book-publishing industry were required. [The reader will have to be imaginative, for in retrospect I cannot
imagine where the time came from. But as teachers are aware, no matter the number of hours involved in
pre-planning, the students, once they are into the simulation process, find only the quirks which we failed
to consider. |

A class of 40 cost accounting students eagerly grasped the idea of running a business. Compared to the
rudiments of repetitious, random problem solving which normally occurs in the accounting classroom, the
simulation idea was an exciting adventure. Six individual corporations were formed. The students analyzed
the availability of orders in the marketplace (a product of my imagination). Decisions were made to invest in
plant and machine capacity: choosing among various color presses, binding equipment, and photoplate
makers was necessary. It was gratifying to see so many people thinking about solving problems—even
though they were not real. Their urgency seemed a matter of life or death; yet life was not at stake, only the
pride of being number one in the profit and loss column. Was this simulation of reality in America? You

oO bet it was!

The weeks rolled on; materials were purchased, books produced, sales made, and commissions paid.
Quickly, it was time for books to be balanced and income statements prepared. Life was humming along
just like Reagan’s economy. Teaching was not just enjoyable; it was exciting!