Think you can run a multi-billion dollar company? Handle irate customers needing technical support? Sell pharmaceuticals to doctors loyal to competing brands? Thanks to the latest advances in social simulation training, anyone can now give it a try.

For decades, experts inside and outside the e-Learning industry have touted the benefits of using simulations to teach students and train employees. Rather than just talk about the process for handling irate customers, simulation technology places learners in virtual offices where they interact with life-like characters—and react to changing environmental issues—to perform each step of the process. The most effective way to learn, after all, is to learn from our own consequences.

While it might be relatively simple to teach someone the facts and figures and theories behind strategies, it can be difficult to see how that person applies the knowledge in a real-world situation. Simulation-based training effectively fills the gap between instruction and application. It also allows people with a wide range of learning styles to meet learning objectives at their own pace and even improve their critical thinking skills.

The popularity of simulations in the academic and business worlds is an outgrowth of the gaming that both students and young—and not so young—professionals do in their leisure time. Students today are growing up with technology in their lives from birth. They know how to multi-task by participating in online chat rooms, listening to music, reading text books, and playing video games. It’s only natural that as the children of the “video game generation” age and become integral members of the working population, organizations are turning to simulation-based learning to enhance their training experiences.

For a long time, computer-based training and distance learning were all about delivery. But now, with the advancements in technology, the focus is on the learning. Since we are curious creatures by nature, we learn best by doing, which is what social simulations are all about. Rather than stress the process of repeating information during basic knowledge transfer, social simulations change actual behavior by teaching learners how to respond to different situations accordingly.

Do you think simulations are designed exclusively for socially oriented positions like sales and customer service? Think again. Well-designed simulations can recreate scenarios surrounding any process or procedure in any department or industry. Keep in mind that recalling information or process steps is only half the battle toward true understanding. Employees must also know when to apply certain procedures or how to respond to changing environmental issues to achieve desired outcomes.

Bottom Line: Training programs with a simulation aspect allow learners to experience practical solutions. This approach directly affects productivity levels, which provides teachers, trainers, and company leaders with true measurable ROI on their training dollars.