Simulations, assessment and student learning

This paper reports on the use of a simulation in an introductory operations management course. Much of the literature on simulations treats them as a teaching method. In this paper, the simulation is used for student learning assessment. It was found that student performance was not very good and that financial performance in the game was not related to performance on tests. As a result of these findings it is proposed that simulations assess a different type of student learning. This is called the ability to interpret in a largely unfamiliar context. An additional exploratory experiment with an extra simulation round was conducted. Evidence from this additional experiment indicates that simulations might be an excellent method to assess this new indicator.