Title: Gaming the system: the effect of media richness on student team interactions in a business simulation

Authors: Joseph N. Roge, Jerald Hughes

Addresses: Computer Information Systems, College of Business Administration, University of Texas Pan-American, 1201 West University Drive, Edinburg, TX 78539, USA. ' Computer Information Systems, College of Business Administration, University of Texas Pan-American, 1201 West University Drive, Edinburg, TX 78539, USA

Abstract: To best manage Information Technologies in education, it is necessary to understand their impacts on student performance within particular contexts. This study uses theory of media richness to examine impacts of online delivery systems on educational outcomes. We compare e-mail (lean medium), to face-to-face communication (rich medium), within the context of a college-level business simulation, the Executive Game. Results indicate that differences attributable to choice of IT-supported media interactions exist. We conclude that educators can better manage instruction by matching strengths or weaknesses of the IT tools used, in terms of media richness, to particular learning tasks.

Keywords: management in education; communications; student interaction; student teams; business simulation; media richness; educational information technology; executive games; ICT; student performance; e-mail; email; face-to-face communication.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMIE.2011.037758

International Journal of Management in Education, 2011 Vol.5 No.1, pp.109 - 124

Published online: 12 Feb 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article