How do students conceptualise a “real world” learning environment: An empirical study of a financial trading room?

Universities are encouraging creativity in their learning and teaching provision and a key contributor to this agenda is the deployment of experiential learning. A particular example is the Bloomberg based financial trading room (FTR), deployed by a number of UK Business Schools which affords students with “hands-on” experience of working with real-time financial market information. This research investigates whether this intervention enhances the student learning experience through its simulation of financial market trading and whether these experiences helps students to link class-based financial theory with practice. A group of 222 undergraduate finance students completed a questionnaire focussing on their opinions of the FTR. An exploratory factor analysis identified six statistically related factors capturing student perception of Enhancement and Satisfaction, Networking, Relevance, Resistance, Proficiency and Product Creation. There are high levels of student agreement regarding the overall usefulness of the FTR in absolute terms and this is strongly associated with the factors Enhancement and Satisfaction and Product Creation. The identified student-held FTR perceptions can potentially inform future teaching practice and associated curricula, identifying the extent to which integration of theory takes place and the student perceived FTR value as an effective deliverer of experiential learning and enhanced preparedness for graduate employment.