Teaching Tip: Teaching Business Process Concepts in an Introductory Information Systems Class: A Multi-Level Game-Based Learning Approach

This research develops an effective methodology for a core business introductory information systems course to teach business process concepts and the role of information systems in business processes. The developed methodology also helps students properly diagram an organization’s business processes. The methodology uses an experiential learning approach: Multi-dimensional Game-based Learning. Initially, students learn elementary business processes and modeling concepts, e.g., start, end, activity, and gateway. Advancing to a more complex process during the second level, student teams learn the concept of process activity responsibility, e.g., role, pool. The last level challenges student teams to manage a company in a simulated business environment using an SAP® Enterprise Resource Planning system. Students learn the relationship between information systems and business processes and the concepts of data flow, encapsulation, event, and parallelism. A survey of the student’s perception and the researchers’ ad hoc observations demonstrates the effectiveness of the developed methodology

Cross-Level Moderation of Team Cohesion in Individuals’ Utilitarian and Hedonic Information Processing: Evidence in the Context of Team-Based Gamified Training

Firms currently use teams extensively to accomplish organizational objectives. Furthermore, gamification has recently attracted much attention as a means of persuading employees and customers to engage in desired behaviors. Despite the importance of teams and the growing interest in gamification as a persuasion tool, past researchers have paid little attention to team-based gamification from a multilevel perspective. Based on motivational consistency theories, we hypothesize that at the team level, team performance has a positive effect on team cohesion. Drawing on the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), we further hypothesize two cross-level effects in the context of team-based gamified training: first, that team cohesion positively moderates the relationship between utilitarian perceptions (i.e., perceived quality of learning) and attitude; and second, that team cohesion negatively moderates the relationship between hedonic perceptions (i.e., perceived enjoyment of learning) and attitude. We tested our research model using an enterprise resource planning (ERP) simulation game involving 232 participants in 78 teams. The results of ordinary least squares and hierarchical linear modeling analysis support our hypotheses. This study makes three substantive contributions to the team literature and to the ELM in the context of team-based gamified training. First, it theorizes and empirically tests the effect of team performance on team cohesion at the team level. Second, it extends the ELM by examining the cross-level moderation of team cohesion on human information processing. Third, it demonstrates that the utilitarian and hedonic aspects of information technology do not influence user attitudes equally

Gamification for servitization

The study described in this paper has set out to explore gamification from a servitization perspective to understand the opportunities and research challenges. A systematic literature review has been conducted to capture key characteristics of differing forms of gamification processes in a servitization context. The findings of our study focus on two area: (1) structural, organization’s physical bricksand-mortar attribute and (2) infrastructural, policies and practices in how structural aspects of servitization are to be managed. Six key findings are presented and collectively these contribute to our understanding of the broader gamification technologies that can help to transform servitization. The contribution of our research is twofold. First it captures a set of theoretical framework for analysing gamification in servitization context. Second, it provide an in-depth roadmap in how gamification can be applied to target major challenges in servitization

Innovation in project management education - let’s get serious!

More educators use serious games (e.g., games where the primary objective is learning rather than enjoyment) to enhance learning due to benefits such as improved understanding and engagement. However, using serious games within project management education is not well understood. The aim of this research is to investigate project management serious games in higher education: i) determine the extent of gamification in PMI-accredited project management programs, and ii) survey university students about their experiences playing project management serious games. Two separate mixed-method studies reveal insights about serious games in higher education and where innovations may be leveraged. Traditional statistics were used to analyze quantitative data, and coding was used to analyze the qualitative data. The results from a global survey of ten PMI-accredited university programs suggest that serious games are embryonic but promising. A case study at one university reveals that students enjoy learning through games but caution against using games to formally assess students’ learning. The paper concludes with recommendations for further research and development

Effects of Simulation Games on IS students’ Work-readiness: Instructors’ Perspectives

Work-readiness is becoming a strategic priority for Australian higher education institutions (HEIs), with a shift from conventional teaching strategies towards experiential teaching techniques to boost students\u27 learning experiences. One of these techniques is to employ simulation games to give students a risk-free, real-world reproduction of the soft and hard skills required by the information systems (IS) business. This exploratory research examined instructors’ perceptions of the impact of simulation games on the work-readiness of information systems students. We conducted semi-structured interviews with instructors who run ERPsim game laboratories in Australian HEIs. The Work Readiness Integrated Competency Model (Prikshat et al., 2019a) was used to map the three kinds of learning outcomes resulting from these analyses: skills, knowledge, and attitudes. The mapping revealed that simulation games have the potential to foster the development of certain skills and attitudes required by the IS industry

Using “Hay Day” game to support students learning

Game based learning is one of the innovative approaches to complement classroom teaching. It utilizes game related technology and features to support and facilitate students learning. This paper discusses the deployment of game in teaching Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) topic. After the students attended the face-to-face lecture, they are given a task to implement ERP using a game called Hay Day. Hay Day game simulate the agricultural activities, where students can apply ERP concept to manage the resources in their farm in order to obtain optimum production and profit. Student’s feedback on their experience applying ERP on Hay Day game is recorded using a set of questionnaires with 7-likert scale. At the end of the course the students take the final examination which including the ERP topic. The marks for that topic is taken and compared with previous semester students. The findings show that students are very positive towards Hay Day as a tool for their learning. Furthermore, their achievement on ERP topic is superior compared to the previous semester

Teaching the Digital Transformation of Business Processes: Design of a Simulation Game for Information Systems Education

The ability to manage business processes in the context of the digital transformation is a key competency that should be addressed in Information Systems (IS) education. One possibility for teaching this competency is through simulation games, but the current ones lack a dynamic view on changing business processes induced by the digital transformation. In this paper, we present the design of a simulation game to teach the digital transformation of business processes within IS education. The game simulates the transformation of a bike manufacturing company to a bike-sharing provider, in which students have to manage changes in the production process in teams during different transformation phases. We argue how our game supports central learning objectives for teaching the aforementioned topic and show the benefit of our game design by running a pilot test with students from IS education using the Systems Usability Scale to evaluate the utility of our implementation

Are ERP Simulation Games Assisting Students to be Job-Ready? An Australian Universities’ Perspective

Deep and rapid changes in digital enterprise technology exceed the ability of traditional teaching methods to prepare students for challenges encountered in modern enterprises. Researchers proposed different pedagogical approaches to teach ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) concepts such as ERPsim games to enhance students’ learning and job-readiness. Although the ERPsim studies verified the role of these games in enhancing students’ learning, whether these games contribute to student’s job readiness still needs to be explored. Using the mixed-method approach, this research-in-progress is designed to fill this gap by investigating the role of ERPsim game in increasing skills, learning levels, and job-readiness among university students in Australia. The findings from this study can contribute to the improvement of ERP pedagogical techniques. In addition, this research-in-progress will provide a concrete mapping to align learning outcomes/skills with ICT industry competencies standards as defined in SFIA (Skills framework for Information Age) and AQF (Australian Qualifications Framework)

Are ERP simulation games assisting students to be job-ready? An Australian universities’ perspective

Deep and rapid changes in digital enterprise technology exceed the ability of traditional teaching methods to prepare students for challenges encountered in modern enterprises. Researchers proposed different pedagogical approaches to teach ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) concepts such as ERPsim games to enhance students’ learning and job-readiness. Although the ERPsim studies verified the role of these games in enhancing students’ learning, whether these games contribute to student’s job readiness still needs to be explored. Using the mixed-method approach, this research-in-progress is designed to fill this gap by investigating the role of ERPsim game in increasing skills, learning levels, and job-readiness among university students in Australia. The findings from this study can contribute to the improvement of ERP pedagogical techniques. In addition, this research-in-progress will provide a concrete mapping to align learning outcomes/skills with ICT industry competencies standards as defined in SFIA (Skills framework for Information Age) and AQF (Australian Qualifications Framework)

Instructors’ Perceptions of the Development of Work-readiness through Simulations

The global ERP software market is expected to reach $117.09 billion by 2030 (Biel, July 12, 2022). To boost graduate work-readiness, Australian institutions are adopting new pedagogical strategies by familiarising Information systems (IS) students with this highly sought-after software. One of these techniques is simulation games that provide students with a risk-free, real-world simulation of popular software to develop soft and hard skills needed by the IS industry. This exploratory study employed the Grounded Theory approach to evaluate instructors\u27 perceptions of the influence of simulation games on the work-readiness of information systems students. We conducted semi-structured interviews with ERPsim game laboratory instructors. The authors utilised Work Readiness Integrated Competency Model to map the three learning outcomes from the interviews’ analysis: abilities, knowledge, and attitudes. The mapping demonstrated that simulation games could support the development of specific skills and attitudes needed by the information systems sector