Role Play

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two students smilingRole Play

By asking students to demonstrate their knowledge in complex real-life scenarios, role play can help bridge the gap between theory and practice. It can be used individually, in partners, or in groups to assess learning, help students identify gaps in their understanding, deepen classroom engagement, and support the development of the interpersonal skills critical to success beyond the classroom. 

  1. Identify a real-life scenario that will allow the practice or assessment of one or more of your course’s student learning outcomes.
    • If your course prepares students to enter a specific field, consider a historic or emerging real-world scenario related to what they may encounter. 
    • Common role play scenarios include advice, conflict negotiation, debate, defense, diagnosis, idea pitch, instruction, intervention, and interview, but role plays can take many forms from mock trials and historical recreations to disaster preparedness scenarios.
    • The prompts below can be adapted to fit many disciplines.
      • Advice: You are in the role of X. A client comes to you and explains they are in situation Y. They are seeking advice. Respond using principles you’ve learned in this course.
      • Conflict negotiation: Client/colleague A values L and M and wants X. Client/colleague B values Q and R and wants Y. Take on the role of a supervisor/negotiator and present a compromise or resolution that attends to both sets of values.
      • Debate: Some experts/professionals argue X, while others argue Y. Study both perspectives, take on the role of A, and prepare to debate your classmates.  
      • Defense: When presented with A, your team has chosen to do X. This has resulted in Y and an accusation of Z. Prepare and present a defense that explains and supports your actions.  
      • Diagnosis: Situation/individual/group Y presents with A, B, C, and D. What is the cause of these signs/symptoms/phenomena? Present your answer with evidence.
      • Idea pitch: Your client/supervisor/team is experiencing need/problem A. Develop and pitch an idea that addresses that need/problem and prepare to present it.
      • Instruction: You are in role A. Prepare and present an interactive lesson to teach concept X to population B.
      • Intervention: Individual/population/situation A is experiencing X, Y, and Z. Develop and outline the steps you would take to intervene. Be prepared to justify your choices.
      • Interview: You are in the role of A. You are scheduled for an interview with B about X. Prepared to answer/ask questions about C and D. 
  2. Determine if the student learning outcome is best met through individual, partnered, or group role-play scenarios.
    • Individual example:
      • MT114 SLO: Be able to identify common material flaws and modes of failure and describe those in common technical terms.  
      • Role play: After viewing a video about the recent collapse of a major bridge, mechanical engineering students are asked to take on the role of lead investigator and develop a list of questions they would ask and tests they would perform to try to understand the collapse.
    • Partner example:
      • HS232 SLO: Practice a variety of counseling skills, including gathering information from the client, making appropriate referrals, behavioral contracting, behavioral management, etc.
      • Role play: Human services students are assigned partners. One student is cast in the role of client and the other in the role of social worker. Students in the client role are given client profiles and are directed to enter the scenario with the needs strengths and barriers of the client in mind. Students in the social worker role are directed to respond to the client by applying principles from the course. After the role play, both students are asked to share their insights and reflect on the challenges of the experience. Classmates who observed the scenario are asked to identify principles from the course that were applied in the interaction. 
    • Group example:
      • BM251 SLO: Analyze case studies of current business problems.
      • Role play: After reading about a historic real-world business challenge, the class is divided into groups. One group of students must develop and pitch solutions to the challenge. The other group of students must identify and take on the role of various stakeholders in the business. After students pitch their solutions, stakeholders convene, discuss, and rank the solutions. After the role play and debrief, the instructor shares what the actual business did and the group discusses the cause and effects of this choice. 
  3. While role play scenarios often occur live, they can also be documented on video, in audio recordings, via text-based interactions, in virtual worlds, or with individual writing. Consider the best method for your objectives, students, and the constraints of your course.
  4. Define the scenario and roles(s) you would like students to take on.
  5. Determine what information students need to engage in the scenario and prepare that information.
  6. Consider demonstrating role play with an alternate scenario or showing a real-world example of a professional engaging in the prescribed role or roles.
  7. If your role play activity is intended for formal assessment, consider providing practice role play activities and provide a rubric so students know how they will be assessed.
  8. When assigning the role play, be sure to communicate both the purpose of the assignment or activity and your expectations for student participation.
  9. After the role play, debrief students and provide meaningful feedback to support learning.

Samples

  • Barnard College’s Reacting to the Past collection features 75 role-playing games in which students are cast in historical roles to work through complex real-world problems. From climate change and cholera to the Treaty of Versailles and the End of Life Option Act, topics and roles are based on pivotal historical events and aim to teach content while developing critical thinking and teamwork skills. Games can be searched by academic discipline (from Art to STEM), class size, and historical period. Games can serve as inspiration or be accessed through a sliding-scale subscription fee.
  • This ‘Culture and the Internet’ group roleplay from Edith Cowan University in Australia casts asks students to consider how the internet might look if it had not been invented by the military.

Research

Videos