The role of the instructor in business games: A comparison of face-to-face and online instruction

Abstract

This study analyses the role of the instructor in the e-learning process fostered by a business game. To achieve this objective, a comparative analysis was conducted with two groups of students regarding their perceptions of the instructor's role in a business game. The first group was composed of 33 participants and facilitated by an instructor in a face-to-face process. The second group was composed of 23 participants and facilitated by the same instructor online. Our results indicate that the students' assessment of the role of the instructor is clearly different in both cases: the face-to-face group valued the relevance of the instructor's role in the learning process more highly than the online group. Our findings also highlight the importance of the instructor's role in improving the students' learning experience and suggest that extra efforts by online instructors are needed to maximize the e-learning process through business games in management training. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.