The introduction of role-playing games (RPGs) in higher education contributes to enrich the strategies for approaching the contents, inviting students to adopt an active position and apply the concepts through practical cases in which interaction plays an important role. By having to “put themselves in someone else’s shoes” and act accordingly, students increase their capacity for critical analysis and can adopt greater skills for unbiased understanding of reality. It is especially interesting how role-playing sometimes involves acting from a position that is not one’s own, which increases empathy and flexibility when facing diverse scenarios.
One of the greatest potentialities of role play is to bring students closer to situations that could occur in real life and in which they have to take sides. In contrast to the uncritical reception of theoretical content, the student has to decide between several courses of action and do so in a context of gamification. The decision making of each actor brings them closer to the resolution of the challenge or scenario proposed at the beginning of the role playing game and only depends on the ability of each student or group to act better according to their interests as an actor in the dynamics.
Considering these potentialities, role playing games have been especially developed in the field of negotiation, communication and strategy, but they could also be exported to other fields of knowledge where it is necessary to gain proficiencies in problem solving, group interaction or learning through simulations. In this sense, it is very useful for the acquisition of professional know-how, providing a more practical approach to higher education.
As stated by Rao and Stupans (2012), role playing games are part of active learning approaches and stand out for empowering students by improving their communication and cooperation skills. At the same time, this educational device increases motivation, enthusiasm, interest in attending classes and helps students retain information longer, as they understand the details of the case better (Wheeler, 2006).
In summary, role playing facilitates the self-management of the educational process since each student will internalize the lessons from a more reflective and autonomous way to the proposed scenario. From this perspective, it acts as a form of training in which the application requirements of the contents facilitate a more dynamic, participatory and inclusive vision of higher education.
References
Joyner, B. & Young, L. (2006). Teaching medical students using role play: Twelve tips for
successful role plays. Medical Teacher, 28(3), 225–229. https://doi.org/10.1080/01421590600711252.
Meligrana, J. F. & Andrew, J. S. (2003). Role-playing simulations in urban planning education: A survey of student learning expectations and outcomes. Planning practice & research, 18(1), 95-107. https://doi.org/10.1080/0269745032000132673.
Rao, D. & Stupans, I. (2012). Exploring the potential of role play in higher education: development of a typology and teacher guidelines. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 49(4), 427-436. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2012.728879.
Wheeler, S. M. (2006). Role-playing games and simulations for international issues courses. Journal of Political Science Education, 2(3), 331-347. https://doi.org/10.1080/15512160600840814.
Author: José Miguel Rojo-Martínez #InnovaLab