doi.org/10.52340/eab.2025.17.02.03

The selection and implementation of effective teaching methods in education have gained significant relevance due to ongoing higher education and its globalization. These development have heightened the demands on organizing professional training of students, and the development of their cognitive activity through innovative teaching technologies, which now occupy a prominent position. This opens avenues for blending creative methods with computer technology, distinguishing them from traditional teaching approaches that focus primarily on expanding student's informational knowledge rather than developing professional skills. It is important to emphasize that traditional forms of teaching, such as lectures, seminars, should not be discarded; instead, they must remain integral to the educational process. However, when it comes to professional training and practical skill development, incorporating comprehensive teaching methodologies specifically designed to address these aspects is essential.
One of the most effective tools in business education is the use of games. Training centers for global business leaders at prestigious institutions like Harvard, Princeton, and Yale exemplify this approach by employing simulation games. According to experts, such games “make it possible to refute any populist economic idea.”
Although definitions of business games vary, their core purpose lies in simulating management processes or designing solutions for specific situation. Key characteristics of business games include feedback mechanisms and consideration of time factors, which enhance their value in education .
simulated environment of a game offers participants the opportunity to make mistakes, experiment with new concepts, learn, and build practical skills.
The intricacy, diversity, and complexity of many modern disciplines make the incorporation of business simulation games an indispensable tool in the educational process. These simulations replicate the functioning of complex systems over a defined period, enabling control through adjustable management parameters within the computer model. This approach allows for the testing of various hypothetical scenarios relevant to modelled events .
Business games have broad application across different fields. Developing professional competence, particularly for economists, requires students to first acquire a strong scientific foundation in their future profession. Equally vital is the development of real, practical skills, which help students identify with their professional community while still at university.
Engaging in tasks that mirror future professional functions – such as decision-making within real organization, enterprise, business or corporation – provides students with valuable opportunities to learn, grow, and develop.
These experiences contribute significantly to enhancing the future professional's competitiveness, fostering their business activity, and nurturing their ability to independently make rational decisions and implement them in practice .
Business games developed at the Educational and Scientific Center for Imitation Modeling and Interactive Methods of Teaching at Tbilisi State University, designed with computer-based mathematical support, have received recognition at various international conferences and symposiums across countries such as Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, France, Poland, Russia and Lithuania. These games, featured in in international catalogs, have earned prestigious accolades, including 2 silver awards in Europe, as well as numerous diplomas and certificates. The author of the games, who is also the author of this article, is a member of the International Simulation and Gaming Association ISAGA, an organization that boasts three Nobel Prize laureates among it ranks.

Keywords: Problem-based learning, simulation (business) games, computer business games and computing programs, machine learning systems, case studies, cognitive models of teaching, guided and controlled self-learning, and network technologies
JEL Codes: A22, A23, C63, C88, I21, M53, O33

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