Table 1 Summary of benefits and drawbacks related to the use of simulation-education tools
From: Simulation-based education involving online and on-campus models in different European universities
Benefits | Drawbacks & Limitations |
Increased motivation for students Koh et al. (2010); Klug and Hausberger (2009) | Combination of entertainment and learning is not immediate Pechenkina et al. (2017) |
Emotional attachment to outcome due to the use of a constructivist approach (Olfat et al. 2013; Connolly et al. 2012) | Games might distract from learning goals Rieber and Noah (2008); Shelton and Scoresby (2011) |
Construction of knowledge in safe environment McManus and Rebentisch (2008); Ören et al. (2017) | Some students and instructors might require special training while working with these technologies Keskitalo (2011); Ören et al. (2017) |
Fosters collaborative work skills Chapman and Martin (1995); Okuda et al. (2009); Shah et al. (2019) | Difficulties to assess its effectiveness Girard et al. (2013); Bellotti et al. (2013); Boyle et al. (2016) |
Affective effects prior to cognitive processes Vlachopoulos and Makri (2017) | Some educators might be reluctant to methodological changes (White 2017) |
Fosters critical thinking, problem solving and decision making Pirker and Gütl (2015); Tzimerman et al. (2014) | Strong guidance might be required to avoid disorganised knowledge Hauge and Riedel (2012); Ören et al. (2017) |