Teacher guide — Coffee Shop: Solo Shift

1. Create a cohort

From this sim's page, create a cohort: give it a name, an optional open/close date window, and pick full or short mode. You get a join link and a code to post in your LMS. Students join with a nickname (and, if you credit activity, their group-list number) — no account needed.

2. Announce it (LMS text)

First task of the course — a game (25 minutes, by [date]). Before you read a word of theory, play. You'll manage an ordinary coffee shop through one hard month. Three things to know: decisions come fast and without the full picture, like real life; the characters in the game know more than you — talking to them costs game-time but is usually the best investment; and it's a game, not a test — mistakes here aren't punished, they're collected, and we'll unpack the most common ones together after the deadline. At the end the game gives you a completion code — paste it into the LMS form. Link: [link].

3. After the deadline: the dashboard

Open the cohort dashboard for your group's numbers: how many finished, what they decided each wave, which traps they fell into, and — debrief gold — which stakeholders nobody thought to ask. Export the CSV to credit activity (nickname, group number, completion code) and to prepare the group discussion.

4. Run the group debrief (required)

The in-app self-debrief covers only part of the method. The group debrief on your cohort's real numbers is a required part of this method, not an option: a short video or forum post — 'BaristaAI Pro: 40% of you bought it, and here's why that's predictable' — turns the shared experience into the course's first lesson. Never name individual students; speak only in aggregates.

Common failure modes

A solo player can stall with no teammates to keep them moving — the game nudges after a few idle minutes, but a mid-week reminder helps. Students may rush the vendor cards; the debrief question 'did you actually read them?' is deliberate. Some will forget the completion code — the dashboard verifier lets you confirm a code on the spot.

If the platform is down

A simplified text version (event → options → choice, via a form) can run the scenario without scoring. Keep it as an appendix to your own materials.