3D Virtual Learning Environments (3DVLE) for Role play
Design Pattern Tags : WIL online
3D Virtual Learning Environments (3DVLE) for Role play March 2016
Role play attempts to allow the student to reframe and contextualise their knowledge. It can afford a transformative learning experience if the role of the client/patient is unscripted and played by a learning student. 3DVLE can be an effective means of conducting such roleplay and allows the students to practice in a safe environment and lends well to off campus or distance education.
Rationale Using 3DVLE in an institution without central support is a known barrier to successful implementation. RMIT does not centrally support the use of 3DVLE for mainstream use, so the a resource was developed via a LTIF to attempt to meet this shortfall.
Learners/Context Idealy role play would be done in groups of three (3) where each student would cycle through the role of Practitioner, Patient and Peer.
It is best suited to learner directed time managed assessment, Off campus or distance education. It may also be used well to simulate difficult situations.
Alignment Role-play allows student to deepen and reframe their existing knowledge and develop empathy with the target group/cohort.
3DVLE afford a safe, flexible, accessible and low resource framework for role-play.
Instructions/Processes For information on using 3DVLE at RMIT please refer to the guide available on Google Sites .
This should be reviewed first as planning and organisation is needed to use this medium effectively.
Explain to student why they are conducting role-play and why it is in a Virtual world
Either;
instruct students to create an account on their own time, and experiment inworld
Hold computer lab Face-to-Face sessions to create accounts and have some basic operation tasks, such as; movement, interacting with objects, using voice and text chat, change the appearance of the avatar.
This should be done early in the teaching cycle/semester so the students have time to enter the virtual world as often as they find necessary to become familiar with the tool.
Set some basic small tasks inworld so student are required to develop some familiarity and spread these throughout the teaching cycle.
Have students form groups of three and provide them with a role play brief.
This should be based on previous learning
It is advised that scripts NOT be used, reasons for which feature below. The students should be given enough information to know what condition/situation/cohort/expected outcome/confounding factors or complicating factors are at play.
Have the student rehearse their role plays and encourage them to improve their learning if need be.
Roles are discussed as such;
Practitioner : This is the role we usually focus on while teaching and assessing student. The student should be able to direct the interaction, ask question and react to the responses as is expected. Patient : (or client depending on one’s discipline) Is Held to be the more interesting role of the three and the one thought to afford transformational learning the best. It is here where student, having sufficient understanding of the subject matter, should be able to “play” and authentic subject/patient/client. If they have understood their role as a practitioner then they should know what responses to expect, thus in this role, to give. Peer : It is in this role that peer assessment or peer assisted learning is expected to take place. The peer will also have a technical role in assisting in screen capture of the other and also it should afford the peer an objective view of the role play and to interject or reflect on the performance of the Patient and Practitioner.
Assessment : When student feel they have an understanding of the mechanics and have rehearsed, software such as camtasia can be used to capture video and audio. This would be submitted via google drive for assessment. Conditions/Critical Success Factors The resource site will go into more detail about the known potential issues.
Student digital literacy.
IT assets/resources
Organisation of Virtual world assets.
