Teaching Supply Chain Management to IE Students: Mixed vs. Pure Approaches in Simulation Based Training

Background

As education moves away from the traditional classroom, new methods of education are emerging. One of these methods is Simulation Based Training (SBT). Simulators can be used in several ways including interactive learning and competition. In the supply chain domain an interactive simulator has recently been developed which can be used as a platform for students to learn through games. We investigate ways in which these games should be played in order to allow students to get the most out of their experience. In particular, we investigate two approaches incorporating two types of intragroup interaction (cooperative and competitive) using SBT with teams—a pure and a mixed approach—within the supply chain management domain. We examine how a combination of these two interaction types would work in situations wherein both are used in succession.

Hypothesis

Learning is often done in pairs. Doing so is especially useful when students are being taught about interdependence among supply chain parties. In these situations the teacher can choose to have the students interact either competitively, cooperatively, or a mixture of both of these interaction types. The cooperative interaction is considered by many researchers to be more effective. Thus, if one is limited to employing a single interaction type, then using the cooperative interaction is a sensible choice. Yet, using a competitive interaction has its advantages and can be a reasonable choice as well. Lacking is an examination of using a mixture of these two strategies. The first hypothesis is that from a pedagogical perspective, it is more effective to use a mixed approach (both cooperative and competitive) for intragroup interaction when using SBT techniques for engineering education than a pure approach (strictly cooperative or competitive). The second hypothesis is that when using a mixed approach, the order of the two interaction types affects the learning outcomes.

Method

We use a new advanced SBT computerized simulation environment—Supply Chain Simulator (SCS)—which is a web based computer application. It is an educational platform that enables students to gain a better understanding of and experience in managing supply chains. SCS provides an advanced and enjoyable environment for training by enabling the simulation of a large variety of realistic and pragmatic situations. The study examined the effects of this SBT environment on two classes of freshman undergraduates in an Industrial Engineering program. Each student completed four exercises, of which the first and last were individual tasks and the middle two were done by teams. SCS automatically documented students’ performances and the data were statistically analyzed.

Results

Results indicate that when teaching using SBT, a mixed approach for intragroup interaction is better than a pure approach. Moreover, if a mixed approach is used, the order is significant. In particular, we found that it is preferable to start with competitive interaction and then move to cooperative interaction.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that at the training stage, it is better to train teams using both types of intragroup interaction, starting with a competitive interaction followed by a cooperative one.