An E-learning Approach for Teaching Mathematical Models of Negotiation Analysis

We describe a web-site containing material and tools for learning mathematical models of negotiation analysis and discuss students' experiences of its use. The site is part of our general e-learning decision making site, www.dm.hut.fi. The negotiation analysis section provides an introduction to the theory and gives online practice in negotiation support. The material consists of theory sections, case studies and assignments. It also includes quizzes for self-evaluation and video clips illustrating the use of the Joint Gains software. Models of negotiation analysis are especially suitable for e-learning because of their interactive nature. The Joint Gains is an interactive negotiation support system for multi player multi issue negotiation problems and it is intended for real-life negotiations. Here, we apply the Joint Gains as an interactive tool for active learning through role-playing experiments. " Introduction to game theory and negotiation " learning module was evaluated in a mathematical modeling web-course. The experiences were encouraging and mainly positive; the students are willing to work in similar learning environments in the future.