11 Active Learning Activities for your Business

Class
Renae L.
Renae L.
Director of Project Management at Profile by Sanford & Owner at Rast Consulting
Published Feb 25, 2015
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 Below are a few of my favorite Active Learning classroom activities that I have used in my
undergraduate courses. Most of these are focused toward Business related content, however
some can be customized for other areas.

Also, if you have a favorite active learning activity you would like to share, please add it to the
comments at the end of this article.

1. Card Game - Game Theory. 

There are several options for using a deck of cards in the classroom. I like the Game Theory card
game in which I found here: (Link). I have large classes and I can purchase several decks of
cards at the local dollar store for a fun way to learn game theory other than the prisoner dilemma
option.

2. Case Study - Several Topics. 

This is one of my favorite "plan B" activities in my class (when I can't find something a little
more engaging). I locate a case study that is relevant to my topic and customize it to meet the
needs of the class. I start by having the students individually read the case study. Then as a
group, I have them answer questions related to the topic that I have prepared in advance. You
can also add additional questions from the book test bank to the case study to make it more
challenging. You can find case studies on any topic - my favorite topics include ethics and
leadership.
3. Deal or No Deal - Prospect Theory or Risk.

Finding unique games to play in the classroom adds fun and increases engagement. For example,
we play deal or no deal to demonstrate prospect theory. I invite one student up to the front of the
class before I announce what we are playing. Then I tell the class that to demonstrate prospect
theory, we will be playing Bonus Point Deal or No Deal. The one student that volunteered is the
player and can get advice from the class. Their decision to continue or take the bankers offer is
up to them. Whatever they end up with as bonus points (zero is an option) is what the ENTIRE
class will receive. I came up with this idea by reading these interesting statistics on the Deal or
No Deal game found here - (Link). NOTE: you will need to have access to ERIC - an online
database, to read this article. I created a PowerPoint template that I use to move us through the
game. After each decision the student makes during the game, I ask questions of the 'audience' -
"now if prospect theory applied in all scenarios, what would the players decision be here?". I also
bring in statistics from the article on women vs. men and risk taking. The students get really
engaged and there tends to be a lot of 'support' from the audience as the player's decision impacts
all of them. This is a great way to get students moving and cheering and also a great way to get
them to work together. I have an Excel file with the 'bankers' responses and I have a PowerPoint
created to lead us through the game.  They can be found on my Google Shared drive HERE.

4. Communication Pyramid - Business Communication.

This is a unique activity in which you organize your students into a pyramid which signifies a
typical tall organizational structure. The students are arranged so that one student is in the front,
one student sits directly behind the first and 3 - 5 students are in a line forming the back row. The
front student is the CEO, the second student is the middle manager and the back row of students
are the workers. This hierarchy must be followed and students are only allowed to talk through
email (in which we simulate using paper - text messages can be used as well). Each student
receives their individual instruction sheet. The basic objective is to solve the problem, however
only the CEO knows the problem and the objective. Each student's instructions contain a set of
symbols. The CEO's instructions contain all the symbols with one extra. The CEO's instructions
tell them the objective of the game and the purpose to find the one symbol on their sheet that
does not appear on any of the other student's instruction sheets. They have to pass paper (email)
with questions through the middle manager to get the answers they need. The middle manager
will retype the message (write) and send it in their own words to the "workers" behind them. In
almost every instance I have used this, the CEO's fail to share the "purpose" of the activity as
they assume all participants have the same information they have. This causes the 'workers' to
feel left out and a little lost. The students learn that tall organizational structures take a great deal
of work to ensure proper communication happens at all levels, and they learn that email is not
always the best method to communicate. I will often run two or three teams at once, making it a
competition to see who can figure it out first. Then we discuss how the teams differed in their
communication style. I always like to pick on the CEO a little and ask the workers if they knew
what the purpose of the activity was. I have not yet had a CEO that has shared the purpose. Then
I have the CEO read the purpose on their instructions to the workers. We will discuss the
importance of the "why" in business delegation and communication. As the middle manager,
many times they are more in the dark that the workers. We talk about how this role helps in the
communication process (if at all).  The handouts for each student are on my Google Shared
Drive here.

5. Penny Slide - Quality Control/Control Charts.

This is an excellent activity to get students up and moving and working together as a team. In
this exercise teams of students slide several pennies on a table that has been marked with tape at
different distances. This simulates the manufacturing of a product. Each student on every team is
asked to slide a penny 10 times, then they are to document the distance of each penny. The
assumption is that because we are using the same people and the same penny 10 times it should
land on the same length each time. Wrong.. we discuss common cause variations vs. special
cause variations in organizational processes. I also have the teams draft a control chart of their
production rates and identify if their process is "in control". You can also talk about reliability
vs. stability. The student instructions with control chart and questions can be found on my
Google Drive Shared folder HERE.

6. M & M's Production Activity - Quality and Inspection.

Because of the cost of this activity, I only do it with smaller groups or classes. I purchase a small
bag of M & M's for every 2nd student in the class. I have them team up in pairs and hand a bag
to each team. I give very detailed and specific instructions on how to open the bag, how to
'produce' each M & M, my expectations on how to move the M & M from the bag, etc. The
second person in the pair is the inspector. I tell the students that I am only interested in my teams
producing red M&M's. They are only to produce red ones. I have the teams 'produce' 10 red
M&M's. Of course very few red ones are actually produced. I document these and give
encouragement to do it again. Results are similar. Then I threaten them to do better - I tell them
that they will fail this activity, and possibly the class, if they don't start producing as I expect
(simulating a management style here). They start producing more M&M's, of course the results
are the same. Then I show encouraging management posters in Power Point. Encourage them
with words like "There is no 'I' in Team" "Quality is our Mission", etc. (we have had these
posters in our office at sometime.. :)). I then ask them to produce their M&M's again, logging
their outcome... of course the results are the same as the previous two activities. I use this to
initiate a discussion on the value of inspection, the impact of management on the process,
etc. We then talk about management theories and styles that actually do work in organizations.

7. Organizing Data Exercise - Balanced Scorecard.

In this activity I ask students to organize data into a balanced scorecard format. We select a topic
we all know - for example the school they are attending. We talk about opportunities the school
has to improve. I document this list on the board. We then identify four main categories of the
business/school, for example - Financial, Customer, Business Process, Learning and
Growth. You can adopt any category here; there are plenty of examples of Balanced Scorecards
on the internet to model from. We then talk about strategy - Objectives, Measures, Targets,
Initiatives. Next, the students identify 4 main 'opportunities' from the board, one for each of the
categories. We use each of these to fill in the objective, measure, target, and initiatives that can
be done in support of that opportunity. Finally, they will evaluate the strengths and weaknesses
of the measures used. This can be done as a large class discussion/activity, or with small groups
and have them compare at the end of the class the scorecards.

8. Self Assessments - Several Topics.

Self assessments are a great way to engage the student by having them evaluate their own
perspectives or skills in a topic area. For example, using Fiedlers Least Preferred Coworker scale
to identify what type of leader they are. Or having them answer questions related to diversity to
help them assess hidden biases they may have - I found a great set of questions here for that
purpose -(Link). I then read back the answers and most students are very surprised by the
answer. We then compare scores with each other, discuss the results - surprises, etc.

9. Current Events - Several Topics.

I like to find current events, cases, or newspaper articles and remove the ending/outcome from
the article. I break the class into teams and have them evaluate it and decide how the situation
could be resolved using different leadership techniques. For example, how would a scientific
manager handle this situation? Or would a telling or participative manager work best here?
Another great event to review is the NASA Challenger issue and an opener to talk about Group
Think. For my business law class I like finding strange law cases, remove the decisions, then
have the students use their knowledge of the materials they were asked to read prior to class to
identify how the cases were decided. For a great activity in business communications I will find
the same news article on Fox News and on MSNBC (for example) and identify the differences.
This is also a good way to demonstrate how to be critical when evaluating online information.

10. SWOT Activity - Internal and External Strategy Analysis.

One common activity related to organizational strategy is to have the students perform a SWOT
analysis. I often have them perform the analysis on the school they are attending as most have
several opinions and are familiar with it.
11. Videos - Several Topics.

I love watching this video of Steve Jobs (Link) and have a discussion on how Apple is
organized... are they a tall or flat organization. How does that structure align with their corporate
strategy? Or watching this video that someone created on the stages of team development
(Link). I will then ask the students to evaluate their own team (active learning team/sports
team/etc.) and identify where they are at on the list. Or bring humor into the class and have fun
watching this fun video on GroupThink (Link) . There are several groupthink active learning
activities out there. One I found recently was to ask 5 students to come to the front of the class
and give them all unmarked containers of plain flavored yogurt with the labels removed. Prior to
the start of class however, I have already talked to 4 of the 5 students that volunteered. I told the
4 students that I was going to ask them to come to the front of the class and have them taste plain
yogurt. However, when I ask them what flavor the yogurt is, I want them to answer
strawberry. The fifth student that comes up will not be coached and will not be aware of this. In
most cases the fifth student tasting the plain yogurt will answer strawberry because the four prior
to them did. Finally, another favorite video to show is David Letterman talking about his
transition to GE (Link). We then discuss the differences in the corporate culture between NBC
and GE. What are some of the objects signifying the different cultures?