Simulation-game-based teaching: A comparison between face-to-face and online teaching

Due to the pandemic-related online teaching, simulation games also had to be transferred to online teaching at short notice. Due to the complexity of simulation games, the challenge was particularly significant. This article uses evaluation data from 124 simulation-game-based seminars to analyze the similarities and differences in the use of face-to-face and online simulation games in university teaching. The comparison shows statistically significant but relatively small differences in several dimensions (e. g. teacher behavior, student engagement, teamwork). The online/face-to-face comparison only shows clearer differences in the case of haptic simulation games. The authors conclude that the transformation of simulation games to online teaching can be considered successful overall.