‘Learning to be’ – piloting the use of a role playing serious game to teach Operations Management.

Abstract

Today’s constantly changing economic environment demands that graduates possess skills of flexibility and adaptability when launching and managing their careers. Policy documents on employability make specific mention of the entrepreneurial mindset, the foundation of which is cognitive adaptability, or the ability to be dynamic, flexible and self-regulating in uncertain task environments. Developing these skills requires that students are offered opportunities to learn how to ‘be’ something as opposed to simply learn ‘about’ something; essentially experiential learning - that is practising in a real situation. This paper reflects on the use of a role play serious game that allows students to be Operations Managers. Feedback from students revealed the extent to which they immersed themselves in the game, many confessing to being addicted, losing sleep over deliveries and orders, and generally being ‘in the game’, evidence that they had learned to ‘be’ through the experience of running a business.