Title: Learning from experience: creating leadership capabilities through computer simulated leadership challenges

Authors: Alice C. Stewart, Sylvia Sloan Black, Karen Smith-Gratto, Jacqueline A. Williams

Addresses: School of Business and Economics, North Carolina A&T State University, 331 Merrick Hall, 1601 East Market Street, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA. ' School of Business and Economics, North Carolina A&T State University, 331 Merrick Hall, 1601 East Market Street, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA. ' School of Education, North Carolina A&T State University, 113 Merrick Hall, 1601 East Market Street, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA. ' Russ Berrie Institute for Professional Sales, William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ 07470, USA

Abstract: Leadership is often described as something that is learned from experience. However, experiences do not often occur within a controlled environment where learning and its impact can be evaluated. In this paper, we investigate the efficacy of two types of learning experiences. University students received leadership training of equal length through either Virtual Leader™, a game-based computer simulation, or traditional lecture and case-based training. We examine the performance of the two groups as they participated in the Looking Glass, Inc.® simulation and draw conclusions about learning and leadership associated with each type of training.

Keywords: business education; computer games; computer simulation; decision quality; experiential education; game-based simulation; leadership capabilities; leadership development; schema change; virtual leader; learning; training.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLC.2007.017113

International Journal of Learning and Change, 2007 Vol.2 No.3, pp.250 - 268

Published online: 13 Feb 2008 *

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