Experiential Learning

As a continuation of my previous blog on latest trends in education, I am writing about something that is attempting to change the delivery of MBA education. With this blog, I would also like to share my own experience as an MBA student and how the change has helped me for good.

As some of you might know, traditional MBA education is mostly what we call as death by case studies. I too went through this process and am still doing it. Trust me, it gets really boring and mundane if you have to do it every day for your course duration. I am not an exception. Just when I started losing focus, two back to back courses of IT management and decision making using a new teaching methodology came with a breeze of fresh air. Now you might be wondering as to what was different in these courses. Well, these courses used simulations in the teaching process. The method focused on experiential learning though simulations of real life business problems. The simulations were products of two companies – Capsim and Knolskape. Let me tell you about my experience with their simulations and the other offerings of these companies.

1. Capsim

This was a simulation we did for our decision making course. In this simulation, six teams competed against each other, each team running a company in the sensors industry. The simulation included eight rounds. In every round, teams were supposed to take decisions regarding all the aspects of a business including marketing, R&D, HR, training, and finance. The whole idea was so interesting that for the duration of the course we eat, drank and dreamt only about Capsim. I still remember when we went to the birthday party of a batchmate and all we talked about was Capsim. The competition was intense and we were hooked onto it. Looking back I think this was an excellent idea about learning by doing things. Apart from regular courses, Capsim also runs an international challenge were teams from all over the world compete against each other. A huge participation in this challenge is again a testimony to the success of this teaching methodology.

2. Knolskape

Knolskape offers business simulations in a variety of aspects including risk management, change management, crisis management, pricing, IT governance, etc. We participated in a simulation related to change management. Here again, it was so different from the usual boring case studies. In change management, we learnt about convincing the key stakeholders in bringing a change in the organizational systems. This simulation was so close to real life scenarios where some people in the organization would like the change, some will fight tooth and nail against it as if there life depends on it. Then there were some people with whom one has to lobby to convince the key decision makers. Now, we all have seen or experienced organizational politics. Some have succeeded with politics while most have just burnt their fingers. This simulation very nicely taught us how to handle these bloody wars in the safe environment of a classroom.

Knolskape is getting significant attention due to its unique offerings. It has recently received a Red Herring Asia Top 100 Award and is amongst NASSCOM Top 10 Technology Startups.

With this, I would like to end this post. Hope I have provided some new information to you. Stay tuned for more updates on the latest trends in education.