Assessing the learning experience in a business process re-engineering (BPR) course at the University of Bahrain

Purpose - The main purpose of the study was to assess students' perceptions of cognitive, affective, and interactive benefits in a business process re-engineering (BPR) course using five adopted teaching tools: role-playing, case studies, group assignments, electronic collaboration, and invited lecture. Design/methodology/approach - A list of 18 closed-ended questions and one open-ended question was distributed to a sample of 46 undergraduate students at the University of Bahrain's College of Business Administration who participated in the study. Findings - Descriptive statistics (mean scores) revealed that role-playing was the most useful technique in the improvement of students' cognitive, affective, and interactive skills, followed by group assignments, case method, invited lecture, and electronic collaboration respectively (except for the improvement of cognitive skills where the invited lecture prevailed over the case method). ANOVA results revealed that there were no significant differences in perceptions of cognitive benefits between most teaching tools. The only significant variations detected were between the web-based tool on the one side and the rest of tools on the other. Significant differences were also found in perceptions of affective and interactive benefits for almost all teaching tools. Originality/value - The best practices resulting from the adopted teaching process are expected to form a blueprint for benchmarking design of a BPR course or a course in other business subject areas.