Facilitating Online Business Simulation Debrief to Promote and Improve Learning and Professional Practice

Abstract

This paper focuses on improving learning outcomes from Online Business Simulations (OBS going forward) that typically focus on behavioural aspects of successful professional practice. These include simulations for the development of skills such as influencing, leadership, negotiation, stakeholder management, etc. In most of these simulations, learners engage (either individually or as part of a group) with a virtual real-life scenario in which learners take decisions to meet a particular or set of objectives following certain rules governed by certain conditions inbuilt within the simulation. There are four basic reasons why tech-enabled experiential learning simulations have become popular. Firstly, it is seen as a creative and innovative way to increase student’s interest in learning (Mawhirter and Garofalo, 2016); secondly, OBS provides learners with an immersive and risk-free environment to make situation specific decisions thereby enabling them to make the association between their theoretical and practical knowledge (Bell & Loon, 2015). Thus, as Shaffer (2004) claims, modelling learning environments on authentic professional practices (i.e., the practices of running a business) enables learners to develop deeper understanding of their domain and prepare them to better cope with business realities and complexity. Thirdly, the new-age OBS also helps track learner progress and offer targeted feedback on skills the learner can choose to improve on and receive specific training resources. Fourthly, the current generation of OBS are device agnostic and make learning possible anytime anywhere – which is most conducive for adult learners / working professionals on the go.