Volume 6, Number 1, Nov 2005
Online Roleplay
Development Tools
by the Australian Universities
Teaching Committee
In 2001 the Australian Universities Teaching Committee commissioned sets of online resource materials that explain and support the use of different learning designs that take advantage of advances in technology. One of these core methods is the Online Roleplay. The resource site for this learning design area is entitled "enRole, Research, React, Resolve, Reflect: Developing and using online role play learning designs" and it is chock full of useful tools for creating roleplays.
 Given our interest in campus conflict resolution, readers of the Report will be pleased to see that the QuickStart Roleplay #2 from the package uses a university controversy as the subject of its sample scenario. The sample learning scenario is currently used in a course on university teaching skills, and it is played out over the span of 4-weeks within a WebCT course site. Basically, a situation is described at a mythical university (IDONTGOTO UNIVERSITY) in which a lecturer has used criterion-referenced assessment in a subject and all of the students have received 100%. This has scandalised some of the academics in the faculty and the story has hit the local paper, THE DAILY VIEW. A debate on criterion-referenced vs normative assessment unfolds in the letters to the editor pages.
In addition to templates and checklists, the roleplay Designers Guide provides video clips from people who have developed online roleplays or participated in them. While the navigation can be confusing at times, there is lots of good content here.
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