The use of role play and VLEs in teaching
Environmental Management Juliette Pavey
Danny Donoghue University of Durham
18th November 2003
LTSN GEES: VLEs 18/11/03
The ExerciseRole play exercise designed to show how aPlanning Process might address a conflict between Nature conservation and an industrialdevelopment
The students work within designatedguidelines to research the issues anddevelop a good knowledge of theirassumed organisation’s remit
LTSN GEES: VLEs 18/11/03
Objectives To promote group discussion
Students to reflect on issues and the views of others
To gain an understanding of the Legislation
Application of knowledge to a given problem
To expose the students to an alternative learning situation
LTSN GEES: VLEs 18/11/03
Adoption of Learning Environment
Group function
Discussion boards
Access to onlineinfo sources
Enhance tutor to student and student to student interaction
LTSN GEES: VLEs 18/11/03
Implementation 100 students into groups of 10 Each group assigned a particular role Encouraged to informally assign roles
themselves within their groups Discussion forums and web pages within
the VLE formed basis of role-play activity
LTSN GEES: VLEs 18/11/03
Implementation
Web pages provided information to enable students to formulate ideas/opinions
Encouraged to contribute to discussion board to share info with other group members
After 2 weeks of collaborative online work the groups assembled face to face in 3rd week.
Groups members nominated to present their case to an independent assessor
LTSN GEES: VLEs 18/11/03
eLearning activity 1
Delivery through BlackboardRationale:
Student’s had previous experience Emphasis on first stage of Gilly Salmon’s five
stage model ‘access and motivation’ From a monitoring perspective more
apparent who had/hadn’t taken part Archive of discussion
LTSN GEES: VLEs 18/11/03
Group instructions
LTSN GEES: VLEs 18/11/03
eLearning activity 2
Access to online materials Student’s actively encouraged to access web
based in addition to paper based materials
Rationale: Focus on student-centred learning, encouraged to
broaden knowledge through online materials Students to share their information and knowledge
through asynchronous chat or email in Blackboard
LTSN GEES: VLEs 18/11/03
eLearning activity 3
Access to online interactive map Students directed to an interactive map
showing a fictitious geographical site of the study area
Rationale: Enabling students to form mental picture of study
area To develop arguments in the context of this physical
site
LTSN GEES: VLEs 18/11/03
Discussion boards
LTSN GEES: VLEs 18/11/03
eLearning activity 4
Asynchronous discussion Within their groups students encourage
to carry out 2 tasks over 2 weeks via the discussion board:
1. Share extra info they have collected via the web
2. Share ideas and begin to formulate arguments
LTSN GEES: VLEs 18/11/03
eLearning activity 4Rationale:
Group size
Enabled greater flexibility
Alternative learning method
Aim to promote deep learning – ability to access information at a later time
LTSN GEES: VLEs 18/11/03
Student Feedback Generally positive feedback
‘when it all came together in the final session, it did work and was very interesting’‘excellent resource, especially the group pages, very useful’
Some negative feedback Emerged mainly from the fact that they felt
that it was a lot of work considering it was not an assessed piece of work
Some felt that not all members contributed equally to the discussion:
‘it’s quite hard to work as a group in discussion pages if some members don’t participate’
LTSN GEES: VLEs 18/11/03
Statistics 2002 78% had explored the interactive
map 80% accessed the discussion board
(although not all contributed) 80% recommended that supporting
materials should be developed as web pages similar to this in other modules.
LTSN GEES: VLEs 18/11/03
Changes following 2002 evaluation
Self selection of groups More involvement from tutor as
‘emoderator’ More information about etivities Encourage greater ‘socialisation’
prior to exercise Encourage informal ‘roles’ within
groups
LTSN GEES: VLEs 18/11/03
5
20 19 15
76
61
0
10
2030
40
50
6070
80
90
100
%
web-based paper-based combination ofboth
Preference for Learning
2002
2003
LTSN GEES: VLEs 18/11/03
9 9
83 76
7 9
0
102030405060
708090
100
%
greatly assistedin learning
assisted tosome extent
not assisted atall
The effectiveness of the web pages as a learning resource
2002
2003
LTSN GEES: VLEs 18/11/03
Recommendations Provide rationale Facilitate interactivity: eg self selection of
groups, assigning roles within groups Encourage participation/be responsive Provide direction Provide area for informal discussion Private
group space can foster enthusiasm and ownership of materials
Socialisation and familiarity important for discussion
LTSN GEES: VLEs 18/11/03
Contact details
Juliette Pavey, Learning Technolgies Team, University of Durham.
[email protected]://www.dur.ac.uk/its/lt/