Experiential learning to foster tacit knowledge through a role play, business simulation

We present a role play business simulation that fosters experiential learning of the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC). A web portal simulates stakeholder-to-student interactions during the analysis phase. The simulation generalizes to other business domains by overcoming learning constraints such as non-collocated and asynchronous students, few real-world clients, limited time of stakeholder, etc. Through this experience, the vast majority of the students attained the learning objectives, learned how to analyze business problems, how to identify system requirements, and how to propose solutions. The students report that the simulation was realistic, engaging, and interesting. It also helped them learn tacit knowledge skills and increased their motivation to learn.