Have you ever heard someone say they went to the University of Life. It’s a slightly cynical way of suggesting that life experience is a far better way of learning than formal education.

It is of course true that life can teach you things that can’t be learned in the classroom, but only if you pay attention. And many people go through life and don’t!

We have become very good at teaching people what they need to know but less good at explaining what that knowledge is for. And even when it is explained, it will probably seem abstract and of little use. Equally, if you can’t put the idea or theory into practice immediately, the experience and memory will be lost.

The problem is that the University of Life is not the best place to learn, it’s hard, confusing, and as a consequence neither efficient nor effective. It relies on the individual to analyse, reflect and convert the experience into something they can learn from. But what it does is expose the learner to the real world, one where information is incomplete, the environment is complex, uncertain and everything has a deadline.

TL;DR – the short audio version

Simulation – The bridge to reality
There is a need for a half-way house, something that can act as a bridge between theory and practice, scaffolding the learning experience into the “real-world”. One method designed to do just this is simulation.

While definitions vary, I like this one – A simulation is a technique (not a technology) to replace and amplify real experiences with guided ones, often “immersive” in nature, that evoke or replicate substantial aspects of the real world in a fully interactive fashion.

A genuine learning simulation places the student inside a realistic, evolving scenario where they have to make a decision, see a consequence that follows from it, and then choose what to do next in light of that consequence. In terms of contrast, it is more like a flight simulator than a case study.

I hate reality, but it is still the only place where I can get a decent steak. – Woody Allen.

The missing middle – Much of professional education has settled into a familiar pattern. Students are taught the knowledge they need and then assessed on whether they can recall, apply or analyse it. This model is effective at measuring learning, but provides little opportunity to practise using knowledge in the messy, uncertain conditions of the real world before being assessed on it.

Knowledge → Assessment

What is largely missing is the stage in between. This is where simulation becomes particularly powerful. It can give students the opportunity to move beyond answering questions about how something might work in practice and experience a version of it. This matters because competence is not simply knowing the right answer. It involves judgement, knowing what to do, when to do it, and why.

Knowledge → Application → Decision → Consequence → Reflection → Try again→ Assessment

Why do simulations work?
Simulations draw on several strands of learning theory that all share a core idea, knowledge is more likely to be retained when learned through active engagement in a realistic context rather than received passively and applied later. Simulation sits within the broader concept of experiential learning, alongside approaches such as project-based and problem-based learning. Kolb (David A. Kolb) provides us with a clearer understanding of what is happening, describing experiential learning as a continuous process in which individuals move through experience, reflection, conceptual understanding, and experimentation to refine their knowledge and skills.

Vygotsky’s (Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky) concept of the Zone of Proximal Development provides another piece of the jigsaw. He explains that learning is most powerful when the student is working in the Zone of Proximal Development, the middle space between something they can already do and what they can’t do without support. When they are in this zone, stretched but not overwhelmed, these are the ideal conditions for growth. This leads us nicely into a more recent piece of research specifically relating to simulation. Simulation-Based Learning in Higher Education: A Meta-Analysis (2020)

This meta-analysis of 145 simulation based studies found a large positive effect on the development of complex skills (g = 0.85). The benefits extended beyond knowledge acquisition to skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, diagnosing, decision-making, communication and management. Interestingly, these are the skills most in demand by employers. The authors conclude that simulations are among the most effective ways of developing complex skills across higher education.  Simulations work best as structured learning environments where scaffolding provides support throughout the experience, with the level of guidance adapting to the needs and experience of the learner.

The role of AI – AI could provide some of the scaffolding traditionally supplied by a facilitator, for example, by questioning decisions, providing prompts, giving feedback, adjusting the level of support, role playing stakeholders and, crucially, prompting reflection. Importantly however, the research doesn’t demonstrate that AI can replace a human facilitator. This means its role is one of support rather than autonomy.  

Too much of what is called ‘education’ is little more than an expensive isolation from reality. Thomas Sowell, economist, and social theorist.

Conclusion
Perhaps the answer isn’t to choose between the classroom and the University of Life, but to bring the best of both together. Traditional education gives students the knowledge and conceptual frameworks, real life provides the complexity, uncertainty and consequences that turn that knowledge into professional capability. Simulation can provide the missing bridge between the two.

For students – this creates a safe place to practise. They can make decisions, get things wrong, receive feedback, reflect on what happened and try again. That opportunity to learn from mistakes, rather than simply being tested on whether they can avoid them, may be one of simulation’s greatest advantages.

For teachers – simulation offers something equally valuable. It moves the teacher from being primarily the source of knowledge towards becoming a designer, facilitator and coach of learning. Rather than having to create every possible example or anticipate every question, teachers can observe how students actually think, and intervene where their reasoning needs support. AI may be able to provide some of the routine scaffolding by role playing a difficult client, asking the awkward follow-up question, adjusting the difficulty level and prompting the student to reflect. What it can’t do, at least not yet, is replace the judgement of a human facilitator who knows when to push and when to let the student sit with the discomfort of getting it wrong.

The University of Life is still the ultimate simulation – it’s just a terrible classroom!

Want to learn more?

Here are a few examples of what is happening in the real world.

• University of Gloucestershire (FutureSim) – A new £2.5 million investment exploring new ways learning, training and preparing people for future careers.
• Aston University – A £4.8 million to expand simulation and laboratory facilities for students studying medicine, pharmacy, nursing, optometry and audiology.
• Coventry University Business Simulation Suite – Aims to provide and support skill-based training through the use of simulation games, role-play activities, and scenario-based learning.
• Hubro Simulations – Learning by doing with business simulation, where students learn through experience by running their own virtual companies.
• SimVenture – Online business simulation designed for professional education.
• InvestUp challenge – Real-time market simulation to build investment intelligence and commercial awareness, giving students an early professional edge.