Using an Ocean Shipping Game to Teach Transportation Fundamentals to Supply Chain Management Students

This article illustrates the benefits of off the shelf simulation software to increase learning for students in the classroom. Furthermore, the use of a computer game presents a unique opportunity for increased understanding of transportation fundamentals in a fun environment. Another benefit is that the use of the simulation helps Millennial learners to gain understanding beyond a basic lecture type environment by experiencing the problems, opportunities and solutions sets applied in a realistic transportation simulation. The overall effect is students appear to retain more about specific business practices through a game experience when compared to lecture formats of the same concepts. Finally, the paper demonstrates how to better position the simulation beyond just the game mechanics to ensure the students are learning key transportation fundamentals and overall business practices.