Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP) are very large and complex software packages that run every aspect of an organization. Increasingly, ERP systems are being used in higher education as one way to teach business processes, essential knowledge for students competing in today's business environment. Past research attempting to measure learning business processes with ERP has been inconclusive and lacking in rigor. This paper reports on a comprehensive research study that uses a critical realist approach to measure business process learning from experiential ERP. Using a business simulation game as a proxy for understanding business processes, students from a US undergraduate program in three separate classes, one using ERP experientially, are assessed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The data analysis uncovers a causal mechanism for learning, complemented by an understanding of the factors that trigger or suppress that mechanism in particular cases. The results validate the efforts of those using ERP in the classroom, and reaffirm other educational business school endeavours to teach business processes, with educational implications as follows. First, before attempting to learn business processes, students must have an understanding of core business concepts. Second, hands-on experience of ERP systems indeed helps students understand business processes. Third, students are showing that they can use the knowledge gained in university classes and apply it to making business decisions. Fourth, students should be encouraged to use all information possible for making business decisions instead of relying on their personal understanding of today's current market or on their own business intuition.

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This essay examines what is necessary for business school professors to encourage deeper learning in their students. Business faculty (and academia in general) are improving student involvement by using pedagogies of engagement (e.g., problem-based learning, team-based learning, POGIL) or integrating techniques that improve engagement (e.g., flipped classes, reflective writing). Adoption of these approaches is a step forward, but little has been written about the specific factors across techniques and pedagogies that can actually deepen learning. This essay utilizes a seven-point framework for deeper learning, applies it to the teaching of managerial decision-making, and makes recommendations for fostering deeper learning among business school students. The authors cite specific examples of business school teaching that illustrate traditional methods and deeper learning methods. The goal of this paper, therefore, is to present seven factors (Ambrose, et al., 2010) that work to deepen student learning—independent of any specific pedagogy or adopted technique. These solutions span across any business school discipline and can be easily integrated into a college class to foster deeper learning.