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"When educational drama conventions are used in business learning contexts, memorable way. Some students have even described the use of drama as CLASS ACT At the University of Western Sydney in Australia, business students learn marketing concepts in an innovative elective course that unfolds more like a theater performance than a typical management class. Glenn Pearce, senior lecturer in marketing, uses improvisational drama techniques to convey marketing concepts such as the ethics of new product devel- opment, new trends in advertising, and consumer behavior. During the weekly three-hour drama workshop, students study costuming, prepared roles, defined spaces, and still images—and how they apply to marketing. In one class, students re-enact with it. ■ z divided into roles relating to the music industry, meeting and advis- ing on the international marketing of an Australian rock group. This drama convention explores issues such as export marketing, services marketing, and catering to the youth market. To add to the authenticity of their roles as rock stars, the four students playing band mem- bers dress in appropriate costumes that include wigs and musical instruments. Pearce believes the drama convention is particularly effective at alerting students to the cultural dif- ferences that sometimes need to be bridged in international- ization. "Some students have even questioned whether the band's name and song titles would translate in a cross-cultur- al sense," he says. Such drama techniques are highly effective teaching resources, Pearce believes. "When educational drama conventions are used in business learning contexts, students engage with subject matter and learn in a deeper, more At the University of Western Australia, business students learn marketing techniques through an elective drama workshop class. Here they use the drama convention "still image" to convey a key learning point from a marketing case study. 38 BizEd JULY/AUGUST 2003 a real-life situation in which a Mexican restaurant offered free lunches for life to those who had the company's logo tattooed on their bodies. To explore the marketing issue of "new advertising media," the class is divided into pairs of con- sumers and tattoo artists. After non- toxic pens are used to "tattoo" the motifs onto selected students, the tat- too artists become journalists who interview the consumers about their decision. "I then take on the role of editor and debrief the journalists to see what insights have been gained into ethics, consumer behavior, and advertising issues," Pearce says. In another scenario, students are meaningful, and more memorable way," he says. "Some students have even described the use of drama as 'disguised learning'—learning you do when you don't think you are learning." Since students frequently discuss the drama after class—with other students and with friends and family members—they continue to think about the lessons they've learned in class, which reinforces learning, he says. Pearce also believes that, when engaged in a drama- based unit, students read classroom material with a different attitude than they bring to reading for con- ventional classes. He says, "When reading case studies for a drama- based class, students bear in mind three things: what the case was about, what issues in the case could be brought to life through dramatic re-enactment, and what drama conventions that have been used previously might be applied to this case." Pearce also uses drama as a that, in terms of student learning, this technique is more bene- ficial than conventional assessment tasks such as the presenta- tion of a written or oral international marketing plan." Students in a drama-based course tend to view the instruc- tor as more of a theater director than a lecturer, says Pearce, which contributes to "a relaxed and supportive classroom that is conducive to learning." Not only do students appear to be having fun in class, he says, but high levels of weekly atten- dance suggest that they enjoy the course and don't want to miss any part of it. Many business schools are looking for ways to enhance active learning by making students more responsible for what happens in the classroom. If he were asked to name his most effective tool for interactive learning, Pearce no doubt would say: The play's the thing. way to assess learning in his inter- national marketing class, which he calls International Business Theatre (IBT). "IBT involves grouping stu- dents into theater troupes, randomly assigning each troupe a country, then getting them to write and per- form a play that integrates unit the- ory and highlights key aspects of doing business with that country," says Pearce. "My research suggests