AI Literacy Meets Experiential Learning

Simulating Success: How Queen Mary Uses Phone Ventures to Shape Career-Ready Decision Makers 

In today’s classrooms, the focus is shifting from knowledge recall to decision fluency. At Queen Mary University of London, Dr. Andrew Woon redesigned a final-year Strategic Analysis and Practice module, combining Edumundo’s Phone Ventures business simulation with guided use of generative AI tools.

The result was a safe yet challenging environment where students practiced making high-stakes choices while developing critical employability skills.

Discover the full discussion with Dr. Andrew Woon and Dr. Esther Jubb, where they explain how this approach unfolded in practice.

The learning design 

Students worked in teams of five to run a phone brand across multiple countries using PhoneVentures. Each workshop followed a deliberate rhythm:

• Short concept input from the lecturer
  
  
• Team-based decision rounds on pricing, markets, and inventory
  
  
• Structured reflection connecting simulation outcomes to frameworks like PESTLE and Porter's Five Forces
  
  
• To support this process, students were encouraged to use AI tools for market scans, idea generation, and quick comparisons. Always with the expectation of critical evaluation.

Why this worked 

Three pillars made the approach effective:

• Competition with reflection
  Weekly rankings energized participation, but grades emphasized reasoning quality, not leaderboard position.

• Co-creation with AI
  Students practiced writing clear prompts, verifying outputs, and aligning AI insights with simulation data.

• Assessment alignment
  Activities were weighted within coursework, ensuring engagement was consistent and meaningful.

This design reflects the principles set out in Dr. Andrew Woon’s AACSB article “AI-Driven Simulations Build Decision-Making Skills”.The article highlights how pairing simulations with AI cultivates higher-order judgment and work-ready confidence.

Skills that travel beyond the course

Students left with more than just stronger strategic management knowledge. They built:

• Teamwork and negotiation skills through collaboration under pressure

• Critical and analytical thinking through scenario evaluation and reflective debriefs

• Ethical AI literacy, learning how to integrate tools responsibly rather than rely on them blindly

This dual focus on soft skills and AI-augmented decision-making mirrors the evolving demands of global employers.

Implementation notes for colleagues 

For institutions considering a similar model, four practices stand out:

• Provide simple entry points such as a simulation handbook and “how-to” videos

• Begin AI integration with low-stakes tasks, escalating to higher-order analysis

• Make the theory–practice link explicit each week

• Reward reflection and rationale more than simulation scores

Explore this approach further:

Explore how this approach could be adapted to your programme in conversation with our experts.