This technique allows learners to “play a role” in order to assume a particular point of view during discussion with colleagues. In online courses, the students are usually asked to analyze materials or documents from a particular perspective and to have a discussion with other members of the group and reach an agreement, maintaining all the while the standpoint of their assigned role. Role play allows responsibility to be distributed between the participants and to take advantage of their individual attitudes, while promoting reciprocal interdependence. Authors from the radical constructivist approach claim that the role play technique can be used to “insert a slice of life into the classroom, connect theory with everyday practice, practice unfamiliar skills in a safe setting, and learn to appreciate contradictory viewpoints” (Renner, 1997).
Published in Chapter:
Fostering Collaboration in CSCL
Donatella Persico (Institute for Educational Technology, National Research Council, Italy), Francesca Pozzi (Institute for Educational Technology, National Research Council, Italy), and Luigi Sarti (Institute for Educational Technology, National Research Council, Italy)
Copyright: © 2009
|Pages: 6
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-845-1.ch044
Abstract
Some collaborative learning strategies widely used in face-to-face settings can also be adapted to online contexts. They allow us to master the complex relations between members of large, heterogeneous online learning communities. The authors build on their experience in the application of some of the most well-known strategies and techniques used in online courses, such as jigsaw, peer review, role-play, case study, and brainstorming. The use of these strategies in computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environments and the related models describing the social structure of the learning community is discussed in the attempt to highlight their strengths and weaknesses and investigate the conditions for their applicability. The aim is to inform the design and the management of online learning communities.