Games as an Interactive Classroom Technique: Perceptions of Corporate Trainers, College Instructors and Students

This two-part study investigates perceptions of interactive classroom teaching techniques for adult learning. In the first part of the study 62 college faculty members and 45 corporate trainers were surveyed about their teaching and training methods. The survey had two main objectives: to determine rates of classroom techniques used, and to determine influences on teaching styles. Trainers used a greater variety of teaching techniques in their presentations, such as visuals and interactive exercises including games, and spent less time on lecturing than their college faculty counterparts. Both groups identified their temperament as the main influence on their teaching style. Several other influences on teaching style were cited with similar frequency by the two groups, but trainers reported using mentors and instructors’ guides more frequently than college instructors did. In the second part of the study, five faculty members were mentored to change traditional lectures to interactive games. A review of their perceptions of success and difficulty in using such activities in the college classroom, their students’ perceptions of the exercise, and student performance identified both benefits and costs. Suggestions are made for strategies to successfully implement games in the college classroom, based on consideration of these benefits and costs and the survey results.