4 min
Play, Learn, Lead: How Aston’s Gamification-Driven MBA Is Redefining Business Learning
Professor Helen Higson OBE of Aston Business School, discusses why gamification is embedded in all of the School's postgraduate portfolio of degrees Give the students something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results. (attributed to John Dewey, US educational psychologist (1859-1952) Imagine you’re the CEO of a cutting-edge robotics firm in 2031, making high-stakes decisions on R&D, marketing and finance; one misstep and your virtual company could collapse. You win, lose, adapt, and grow. This isn’t a case study, it’s your classroom experience at Aston Business School in Birmingham. Imagine you’re participating in Europe’s biggest MBA tournament, the University Business Challenge, where your strategic flair and financial acumen will be tested against the continent’s sharpest minds. Then you’re solving real-world sustainability crises in the Accounting for Sustainability Case Competition, crafting solutions that could be showcased in Canada. What if you could do all this from your classroom seat, armed with only your MBA learnings, teamwork and the thrill of gamified learning. At Aston, we believe the best way to master business is by doing business. That’s why we’ve embedded active learning through games, simulations, and competitions across all our postgraduate programs. The results? Higher engagement, deeper learning, and students who graduate with confidence and real-world skills. Research says gamified learning boosts motivation, lowers stress, and helps students adopt new habits for lifelong success. As educational researchers Kirillov et al. (2016) found, “Gamification creates the right conditions for student motivation, reduces stress, and promotes the adoption of learning material—shaping new habits and behaviours.” This has led to what Wiggins (2016), calls the “repackaging of traditional instructional strategies”. In Aston Business Sschool we have long embraced this approach as a way of increasing student outcomes and stimulating more student engagement in their learning. Our Centre for Gamification in Education (A-GamE), launched in 2018, is dedicated to advancing innovative teaching methods. We run regular seminars with internal and external speakers showcasing gamification adoption, design and research and we use these techniques across the ABS in a wide range of disciplines. (We have included two examples of this work in our list of references.) Furthermore, in 2021 we published a book which outlines the diverse ways in which we use these methods (Elliott et al. 2021). Subsequently, during 2024 we redesigned all our postgraduate portfolio of degrees, and as part of this initiative games and simulations were embedded across all programmes. Why Gamification Works Through simulations like BISSIM, students step into executive roles, steering futuristic companies through the twists and turns of a dynamic marketplace. A flagship programme running since 1981, BISSIM was developed in collaboration between academics from ABS and Warwick Business School, and every decision on R&D, marketing, or HR has real consequences as teams battle each other for the top spot. After each year of trading the results are input into the computer model. The results are then generated for each company in the form of financial reports, KPIs and other non-financial results and messages. Each team’s results are affected by their own decisions and the competitive actions of the other teams, as well as the market that they all influence. This year one of our academics, Matt Davies, has been awarded an Innovation Fellowship further to commercialise the game. Competitions with Global Impact We also encourage students to take part in national and international competitions which have the same effect of developing their engagement with real-life business problems on a global scale. Beyond the classroom, Aston students represent the university in major competitions like the University Business Challenge (in which ABS had the highest number of UK teams this year) and the Accounting for Sustainability (A4S) Case Competition, for which we are an “anchor business school”. Here, theory gets stress-tested against real-world scenarios and top talent from around the globe. The result? Award-winning teams, global experience, and friendships built under pressure. At the heart of this approach is Aston’s Centre for Gamification (A-GamE), dedicated to making learning interactive, motivating, and fun. Regular seminars, fresh research, and close ties to industry keep the curriculum evolving and relevant, so students graduate ready to lead, adapt, and thrive in any business environment. Why does it matter? In a volatile, fast-paced economy, employers appreciate agility, teamwork and decisiveness. At Aston, every simulation and competition is geared towards sharpening these skills. Graduates emerge not only knowledgeable, but prepared for the job market. Engagement Our students have been embracing these opportunities. Six MBA/Msc teams developed their A4S videos, hoping to reach the final in Canada early in 2025, and three teams out of nine reached the national UBC finals. Additionally, the BISSEM simulation has just finished inspiring another group of MBA students (particularly as the prize for the winning team was tickets to a game at our local Aston Villa premiership football (soccer) club, currently riding high in the league!). Typical feedback from non-Finance specialists is that they suddenly surprised themselves during their participation in the simulation and were reconsidering the options of taking a career in Finance. It seems that our original purposes have been met – increased confidence, passion, deep learning and engagement have been achieved. To interivew Professor Higson, contact Nicola Jones, Press and Communications Manager, on (+44) 7825 342091 or email: n.jones6@aston.ac.uk Elliott, C., Guest, J. and Vettraino, E. (editors) (2021), Games, Simulations and Playful Learning in Business Education, Edward Elgar. Kirillov, A. V., Vinichenko, M. V., Melnichuk, A. V., Melnichuk, Y. A., and Vinogradova, M. V. (2016), ‘Improvement in the Learning Environment through Gamification of the Educational Process’, International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 11(7), pp. 2071-2085. Olczak, M, Guest, J. and Riegler, R. (2022), ‘The Use of Robotic Players in Online Games’, in Conference Proceedings, Chartered Association of Business Schools, LTSE Conference, Belfast, 24 May 2022, p. 79-81. Wiggins, B. E. (2016), ‘An Overview and Study on the Use of Games, Simulations, and Gamification in Higher Education’, International Journal of Game-Based Learning (IJGBL), 6(1), 18-29. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJGBL.2016010102
