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Playing a business simulation is one of the most memorable and meaningful educational experiences you can give to students. Complement this experience with an assessment and grading methodology that best aligns with your curriculum.
This document identifies a number of common methods so that you can choose one or a combination of options that best match your desired approach.
🧭 Summary of Assessment Methods
Choose one or a combination of the options in the table below that best match your preferences. Consider creating a rubric that assigns a percentage to each assessment method. The options are listed in no particular order and are detailed further in this document matching the blue numbers.
Simulation Participation and Performance
0 Written Reports & Presentations
0 Book and Other Activities
0 1️⃣ Participation
Participation means making and saving decisions for each period of the simulation.
How It Works
For example, if a simulation is set to advance 10 periods, but a student only saves decisions for 7 periods, the Participation Score would be 70%.
Implementation
Participation-based grading is ideal for practice simulations. It can also be used as a partial grade for non-practice simulations.
There are two ways that participation-based grading can be implemented:
Require students to save decisions every period. Missing a period results in a lower grade. This is the best approach when scheduling is not an issue and students will have plenty of time to make their decisions. Require students to save decisions a minimum number of periods. This is useful if students may not have time to make decisions every period. For example, if a simulation is advanced every day for 6 consecutive days, you may only require a student to save decisions on at least 4 of the 6 days in order to get full marks. This provides students the flexibility to fit the simulation around their schedules. Some students may play only 4 periods while others may play all 6.
Playing a practice simulation is highly recommended. We strongly suggest that you assign a small grade (perhaps 5% of the total) to a practice simulation for PARTICIPATION only. This assures that students will be motivated to play, but not worried about performance. Individual play is much better than team play for practice.
With a graded simulation, consider setting a percentage of the grade on participation. For example, 40% of the grade is solely based on saving decisions in all periods of the simulation. This assures students of a strong base grade that is entirely within their control simply by putting some effort into the activity.
The SAVES MADE & MISSED REPORT automatically tracks the number of periods in which students saved their decisions and you can generate a score automatically, as shown below. Find this report under VIEW ALL REPORTS.
Tutorial Quiz
Simulations can include a Tutorial Quiz which prompts students to answer 13 questions about how to use the simulation. Answers are easily found as the purpose of this quiz is to encourage students to view the Tutorial Video and User Guide before playing the simulation. Instructors may choose to include the results of the Tutorial Quiz in student grades. Results are visible in the STATUS REPORT and RUBRIC REPORT. Only include the Tutorial Quiz with the first simulation.
2️⃣ Performance Metric
Scores are provided for all key business metrics in the simulation, such as Net Profit or Share Price.
A single overall score is provided for each student based on a scoring metric selected by the instructor, and students are ranked according to this metric. Scoring metric options include Net Profit, Share Price, Revenue, Units Sold, Market Share, Brand Equity, Advertising Effectiveness, Brand Equity, Human Resources, and Employee Morale. Net Profit or Share Price are the recommended scoring metrics. Other metrics should only be used if a simulation is being used for a specific instructional purpose.
How It Works
The above metrics are scored on a scale from 0 to 100% where the business with the highest value is assigned 100% and all other business scores are normalized accordingly. For example, a business with $10 profit is assigned a score of 100% and a business with $3 profit is assigned 30%. Each score is updated every period, based on cumulative results for the entire duration of the simulation.
Implementation
The score described above should not be directly used as a grade, because it is possible for unprofitable businesses to receive a score of 0%, even though they may be applying a reasonable amount of effort. Instead, the grade should be based on a percentile comparison or other level-based method. For example, a maximum grade of 5 points for performance could be based upon the following levels:
The metrics are visible in a number of reports, including the Status Report, Performance DEBRIEF Report, and Coaching Report.
3️⃣ Rubric Score
The instructor (Simulation Manager) has access to a Rubric Report. The Rubric Report scores student performance on multiple business metrics demonstrated and evaluated in the simulation.
How It Works
The Rubric Report enables you to generate a balanced score for each business based on a combination of metrics. You may choose a percentage for each metric for a total of 100%.
SAVES MADE
Demonstrates that the student has participated in each period.
PERFORMANCE SCORE
Based on the primary scoring metric of the simulation (usually Net Profit).
HUMAN RESOURCES
The HR Score earned by the student for their business.
ETHICS
The level of Ethics set by the student for their business.
RESULTS SCORE
Based on 10 business metrics that measure student decision making and performance results — see below.
The Results Score assesses player performance on the 10 business metrics listed below. Scores are based on cumulative results. Each metric is scored on a scale of 0 to 10 with all combined totaling 100.
Implementation
The Rubric Report is automatically generated and can be viewed by the instructor at any time. Students can view their own Rubric Reports (but not the data for other students) from within the Performance Report.
Instructors may also choose to create a custom grading formula by copying GoVenture reports and pasting them into Excel or other spreadsheet.
VIDEO — Rubric Report for Grading
4️⃣ Strategy Journal
GoVenture CEO includes a Strategy Journal where students can identify their strategies. The Strategy Journal includes a JOURNAL feature and a NOTES feature.
How It Works
The JOURNAL feature (shown below) presents students with a series of options to choose from. This provides a simple and structured way to help direct students to think strategically.
For example, if selling automobiles, does the student want to sell automobiles with average features at a low price, or does the student want to sell luxury automobiles at a high price? The JOURNAL helps students identify their intended strategy.
The JOURNAL does not affect the results of the simulation. The JOURNAL records student intent so that intent can be compared with actual results. Adjustments can then be made to more closely align with an intended strategy, or the strategy can be adjusted. The JOURNAL can be can be set to be optional or required — required is recommended.
The Strategy Journal NOTES feature enables students to blog about their decisions as they play each period of the simulation. This provides a useful historical record of student thinking and can form part of an assessment. Past entries cannot be edited. NOTES can be can be set to be optional or required.
A maximum of 2,500 characters (approx 400 words) can be entered in the Journal for each period of a particular business. To view student Strategy Journals, in the Manage tile choose ALL REPORTS > Performance Reports and scroll down to the very bottom of the report.
Implementation
The Strategy Journal is built into GoVenture CEO and students can access it under the MANAGEMENT screen when playing. Instructors can make the JOURNAL and/or NOTES features optional or required by setting this option when the simulation is being created. Instructors should also inform students of their expectations. When a feature is set to required, students are unable to SAVE their decisions in the period unless and until they complete the Strategy Journal. A warning message is displayed to prompt them to complete the Strategy Journal. When the NOTES feature is set to required, the simulation can only detect if text has been typed into the NOTES field. The text is not analysed in any way for quality or minimum quantity. Instructors can view student Strategy Journals using ALL REPORTS > Performance Reports (scroll to very bottom of report)
Instructors and students can view the COACHING REPORT to assess how aligned business results are to the strategy identified in the Strategy Journal. A chart shows if each strategic item is On Target, Close to Target, or Off Target.
5️⃣ Student Experience Report
Instructors may choose to have students prepare written, live, or video presentations or reports on their experience playing the simulation. A Student Experience Report template is available for instructors to customize and provide to students. 21 questions are included (samples shown below) which can be downloaded, edited, and sent to students (using your school LMS or other method). Consider including limits on the length of each answer or the entire report. Templates are available for written report and slides. These links are for instructors— do NOT share these links with your students: Click the links above and choose FILE > Download
6️⃣ Team Evaluation
If students are playing a simulation in teams, you can have them submit peer evaluations of their teammates' performance using the Team Evaluation. This may be useful for identifying strong and weak contributors for grading or other purposes. Students do not see each other’s evaluations. Instructors may want to consider having students complete the Team Evaluation multiple times so that underperforming students can be made aware of their deficiencies with sufficient time to improve. Instructors must turn this feature on to use it — in the Manage tile, choose Performance Quizzes The Team Evaluation provides a points system an alternative scoring method with 1.5 points for Great, 1.0 points for Good, and 0 points for Not Good or Don't Know.
7️⃣ Competency Quiz
The Competency Quiz is a multiple-choice test created by the GoVenture CEO system. The Competency Quiz is personalized for each student. Students must gather answers from their actual simulation results, in addition to answering questions on business theory. The Competency Quiz can be required for each unique simulation that is played, but can only be taken by students once the simulation has ended. Instructors may want to consider including the Competency Quiz after a practice simulation to help students discover early on where they may need improvement. If used for such purpose, a small participation (not performance) grade should be awarded for completing the Quiz. Time Required— The time varies based on the number of question modules enabled. See the type and number of questions in the table below. On average, 1 minute per question should be allocated for completion. Global Statistics are available to allow instructors to compare their student performance to other students around the world. Instructors must turn this feature on to use it — in the Quizzes tile, choose Manage Quizzes. Competency Quiz Questions
0Business Theory Questions
8️⃣ Learning Guide & Activity Book
Included with GoVenture CEO is a Learning Guide & Activity Book that helps students learn the fundamental concepts of business. The 160-page Guide is easy to read with large text and many examples to make fundamental business concepts easy to understand. Students can use it as a reference for topics they need help with, or read it from cover to cover to gain practical business wisdom. The Guide includes many fill-in-the-blank tables that students can complete and submit to the instructor for grading (see green input boxes below). The Guide is available as a PDF when students and instructors log in to GoVenture.
9️⃣ Ethics Report
Instructors may choose to have students prepare written or oral presentations or reports on ethics. An Ethics Report template is available for instructors to customize and provide to students. 5 questions are included which can be downloaded, edited, and sent to students. Consider including limits on the length of each answer or the entire report.