A systematic review of educator interventions in facilitating simulation based learning

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review published research to discern the trends in instructional practices and interventions that educators employ to augment simulation based learning in business education. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative research was conducted using a systematic review of scholarly articles that satisfied inclusion criteria, such as the study reported on a business simulation, discussed educator interventions and instructional practices, was focused on higher education or training, discusses a computer-based simulation and was published between 2007 and 2017. Findings Overarching themes evident within the data included: didactic interventions, preparation activities, prompting student reflection, coaching and mentoring, providing feedback, structuring teams, assessments, encouraging collaborative learning and fostering student engagement. Originality/value Although there are many systematic reviews of simulation-based learning literature, specifically within the fields of medicine and nursing, most focus on summarising the evidence that simulations are an effective tool to enable learning. To the best of knowledge, there has not been a systematic analysis of the instructional approaches or educational interventions that educators’ choose to include in the structured design of simulation-based courses in business education. This study begins to address the issue of how educators and technology synergistically aim to deliver valuable student learning opportunities.