Game Theory Applications in Business Simulation Games

Perspectives on Computer Gaming in Higher Education Perspectives on Computer Gaming in Higher Education Edited by: Anna Wach-Kąkolewicz, Roberto Muffoletto Bogucki Wydawnictwo Naukowe Poznań 2016 Reviewer: Agnieszka Iwanicka, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland The project has been funded with support from the European Commission under the ERASMUS+ Programme. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the informa- tion contained therein. The chapters have been written by Partners of the ERASMUS+, Strategic Partnership project “Virtual Game Method in Higher Eduction” 2014-1-PL01-KA203-003548 granted to the Consortium managed by Aleksandra Gaweł from the Poznań University of Economics and Business for the period 2014–2016. The editors and project manager are grateful to the reviewer and all authors for their contribution. We would like to express our gratitude to the Euro pean Commission for making this project possible and for co-financing the launch of this book. Copyright © by Authors, Poznań 2016 ISBN 978-83-7986-116-3 Bogucki Wydawnictwo Naukowe ul. Górna Wilda 90 61-576 Poznań tel. +48 (61) 833 65 80 e-mail: [email protected] www.bogucki.com.pl Printed by: UNI-DRUK Contents Anna Wach-Kąkolewicz, Roberto Muffoletto Introduction ................................................. 7 Anna Wach-Kąkolewicz Constructivist Approach in Teaching in Higher Education .............. 11 Karolina Daszyńska-Żygadło, Michał Pająk Educating About Complexity and Sustainability Through Serious Games .. 21 Artur Tomaszewski Game Theory Applications in Business Simulation Games ............. 35 Iurii Novak, Nataliia Verniuk, Inna Novak Business Simulation as One of the Virtual Education Methods at Universities in Ukraine ......................................... 51 Yuliia Fernos, Oleksandr Shkolnyi, Nataliia Verniuk Collaborative Teaching and Learning in Logistics Education ............ 61 Blanca Miedes Ugarte, Celia Sánchez López, María de la O Barroso González Strengthening Students’ Social and Environmental Awareness Through Business Virtual Games ........................................ 69 Kandela Õun, Merle Mägi, Airi Noppel Learning Business Through Simulation Games. Survey Among Students Who Played Developed Games ................................... 89 Tiina Tiilikka, Arja Hemminki, Arja Haapaharju Game-based Learning in Entrepreneurship Studies in the Social and Health Field ........................................................ 103 Sergiusz Strykowski Scenarios for Virtual Management Games .......................... 125 Aleksandra Gaweł The Management of Virtual Games During the Education Process ....... 139 5 Anna Wach-Kąkolewicz, Roberto Muffoletto Introduction Gaming has a long history in education. It is a history of pedagogical and theoretical conflicts. These conflicts have centred not on gaming itself but on the nature of education, knowledge identification and transmission, evaluation, meth- odology and power. I have included the notion of power because all educational matters may be reduced to conflicts based upon power and control. Control over the learner, the teacher, and the curriculum: its delivery and its evaluation. Con- flicts, ideological in nature, may be traced back to Dewey and his student centred learning environment that was in opposition to the Thorndike behaviourist (connectivism) system centred approach. Vygotsky and Montessori, as well as others have entered in the discussion on rational instrumentality and cognitive development in relationship to a process that is structured upon system design and a system of control. Serious models of gaming in education (and here we would include simulations), whether it is in early education or higher education demand upon the institutional system a shift from an instructional framework to a learning one. Instructional frameworks and designs focus on a means-end out come (instru- mental rationality) where as a learning paradigm considers process and experience as the key elements. Distance education provides us with a good case. Traditionally distance education (with its roots in the 19th century in the form of correspondence models) attempted to mirror the designs and expectations of traditional classrooms where the teacher/instructor was the centre and holder of knowledge and power. Early, and in many contemporary, computer based instructional environments we find “self-paced learning packages” or computer generated, delivered and evaluated individualized instruction. In both cases the learner is “acted upon” by a system focused (paradigm) on outcome-based education. Change the paradigm to a learning environment and the value of process takes precedence over fixed outcomes. There is a shift from behaviourism to constructivism, from system to learner, and from behavioural outcome to reflection and understanding. This paradigm focused on the learner and a learning environment challenges the status-quo, institutional expectations, and centres of instructional 7 Introduction control. The point is, that the instructional/learning paradigm shifts effect the total system bringing about systematic changes in institutional behaviour and expectations. It is in context that this collection of essays on computer gaming in higher education not only offers an alternative to the traditional classroom format but also a challenge to the institution. If designed as a “student-centered learning environment” the game needs to be student centred, a collaborative (not individualized) practice, based on problem identification and solution(s), and is focused on process over product. This challenges not only the institution but the faculty as well. How will faculty move away from the podium and being the voice of authority? How will students be re-socialized to their new role as collaborator, decision maker, problem-identifier, question-asker, and reflector? Gaming in education offers the learner and the institution (We refer to institution because it is an institutional challenge) a rich and challenging opportunity “if” the theoretical and political issues are recognized and addressed. The danger is that education wears a new set of clothes but repeats the same behaviours. This book is the result of work carried out by an international team of academ- ics from Polish, Estonian, Finnish and Spanish universities in the project Virtual Game Method in Higher Education (project number 2014-1-PL01-KA203-003548), implemented within the Leonardo da Vinci Transfer of Innovation programme. To get broader overview of the issue, we also invited other authors to cooperate in creating this publication. In the first part of the book the authors explain to the reader general insights on the game method in higher education. The second part is focused on experience with the virtual game method through the GAME project, research results and the technical description or the games itself. In the opening chapter Anna Wach-Kąkolewicz describes a constructivist approach in teaching in higher education. She presents learning-teaching process in the behaviourist and the constructivist paradigm, pointing at surface and deep approaches to learning, both connected with the way classes are designed and with the adopted teaching model embedded in a certain paradigm. She particu- larly appreciates student-centred approach and designing classes according to constructivism alignment, showing as the example Kolb learning cycle as the framework for teaching in higher education. The essence of the next chapter written by Karolina Daszyńska-Żygadło and Michał Pająk is that serious games can create new learning opportunities for students. They present the problem of sustainable development education in the light of the complexity of the issue and potential usage of serious games in the learning process. They postulate that dilemmas connected with sustainable development arise from the complexity and interactions, both current and histori- cal, between stakeholders and other people or institutions involved in the process and environment. In the authors’ opinion such coupled issues create challenge in education process that can be addressed through simulations and serious games. The third chapter, by Artur Tomaszewski, presents the game theory applications in business simulation games. This article introduces and describes game 8 Introduction theory with special emphasis on its two game models: a two-player non-zero- sum game and the bargaining set model. The author clarifies the similarities and the differences between game theory and simulation games and shows examples of the use of games in business. In the final part of the chapter the author describes two selected business simulation games. In the fourth chapter written by Iurii Novak, Inna Novak and Nataliia Verniuk business simulations are described as one of the teaching strategies at universities of Ukraine. The authors point out that in Ukrainian universities and business schools it is more often believed that business games are a great way of studying topics that are difficult to manage only by reading textbooks. They show the potential and usefulness of business simulations in increasing students knowledge and skills as well as other features like creativeness, motivation, enterprising. Yuliia Fernos, Oleksandr Shkolnyi and Nataliia Verniuk in their chapter focus on a collaborative virtual teaching and learning in logistics education

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