Business simulations are often associated with live classrooms involving group decisions, instructor guidance, and real-time discussions. But what happens when they are used in asynchronous online courses, where students don’t meet live and instructors aren’t walking through the results with them in real time?
At the University of the Cumberlands, Professors Maeghen Kuhn and Stephanie Thacker are proving it can work, and work well.
Kuhn and Thacker teach fully asynchronous business courses, meaning students work through materials independently, on their own schedule, without live sessions. In that environment, simulations like BizCafe, HRManagement, and CountryManager offer a hands-on learning opportunity where students make decisions, see the outcomes, and reflect on what happened. And all of this happens without real-time instructor input or group work.
“We run on eight-week terms, totally asynchronous, all folders open,” Kuhn explains. It’s backed by a thoughtful approach to course design.
“You have to evaluate all the content in the course,” Kuhn says. “To decide where you want [the simulation], when you want it, and how much. It’s all different puzzle pieces… what assignment do I prepare this with? Do I want them doing a reflection? A huge project at the end? Weekly quizzes?”
The point, she says, is not to just add more content but to integrate the simulation meaningfully.
Learning Without Live Instruction
In a synchronous classroom, students might rely on live feedback or peer discussion to gauge how they’re doing. In an asynchronous simulation-based course, instructors need to build in other ways to help students process what’s happening and why.
That’s where feedback and reflection come in.
Thacker explains: “I always tell my students, it is a learning opportunity. This is where you’re going to learn more by failing in this safe space… I go in and give detailed feedback, these are some things that you need to be looking at for the next rounds.”
The instructors aren’t grading students on how well they “performed” in the simulation, but on what they learn from it.
“We assess on what they learn in the simulation,” says Kuhn, “not how they did in the simulation. We grade based on completion of the simulation and then reflecting upon what they do.”
Reflection is key and it’s one of the most important ways to keep students engaged in an asynchronous course.
As Thacker puts it: “Completion does not mean I sat down for 20 minutes and clicked through and made decisions and that was it… You have to actually put in the work, put in the effort.”
Why Simulations Work for Asynchronous
For Kuhn and Thacker, the value of simulations in asynchronous learning is about career preparation. It goes beyond engagement.
“We try to make sure students don’t just have that background knowledge that we can look up on Google or now with AI,” says Thacker. “We want them to have that ability to apply that knowledge… because we know that’s the best way to prepare them.”
That’s especially important in asynchronous settings, where students need to take initiative and think critically without the structure of a live classroom.
Kuhn sums it up: “We do not believe in failing students because they failed the simulation, because that’s the whole point… Most likely, if you’re failing in the simulation and you try again, there’s potential that you will learn more than those that were successful each round every time.”
Advice for Other Instructors
If you’re an instructor or course designer considering simulations for asynchronous courses, Kuhn and Thacker offer this advice: don’t treat it like a plug-and-play add-on. Simulations work best when treated as a meaningful part of the course. Designing the experience intentionally, framing it as a real-world challenge, and building in time for reflection helps students get the most out of it.
“Don’t just throw it into an already existing course,” says Kuhn. “You’re going to overwork your students, you’re going to overwork yourself, and students just aren’t going to be interested in anything.”
Thacker adds: “Try it before you buy it… You don’t get feedback until students are completing it, and then you’re trying to go through it as they’re going through, and it just doesn’t work.”
Their final word of wisdom?
“You have to be strategic about it,” says Thacker.
