MODELLING A ROLE-PLAYING GAME AS A UNIT OF LEARNING TO ENCOURAGE COOPERATIVE LEARNING

1. MODELLING A ROLE-PLAYING GAME AS A UNIT OF LEARNING TO ENCOURAGE COOPERATIVE LEARNING Laura Mancera, Silvia Baldiris, Ramon Fabregat, David Huerva {lmancera, baldiris, ramon, dhuerva}@eia.udg.edu A3H, 29/09/09 Nice

2. Outline • Approach • Motivation • Collaborative context • Phases of a cooperative lesson • Games applied in the classroom • RPG • Cooperative RPG lesson • IMS-LD • Scenario • Conclusions and future work

3. Aproach • Use Role-Playing Games as a strategy that encourages cooperative learning supported by the IMS Learning Design specification.

4. Motivation • College teaching is undergoing a paradigm shift. • Teaching must be in accordance to nowadays challenges: • Adapt to changes successfully • Perform teamwork effectively • Take decisions appropriately • Communicate efficiently • ... • The new teaching paradigm needs to add specific activities to the process of teaching in order to develop these collaborative competencies Highly valuated student competencies

5. Collaborative context • A cooperative context of interaction amongst students can help to develop the required competencies.

6. Collaborative context features • Positive interdependence: Group members realise that they can’t succeed unless everyone succeeds. • Individual and group accountability: The group must be accountable for achieving its goals but each member must be accountable for contributing her share of the work. • Promotive interaction: the members share resources and help, encourage and praise each others efforts to learn. • Interpersonal and small group skills: groups cannot work effectively if members don’t have the needed social skills.

7. Collaborative context features • Group processing: Group members discuss about how they are achieving their goals and maintaining effective working relationships.

8. Phases of a cooperative lesson 1. Make Preinstructional Decisions 2. Explain the Task and Cooperative Structure 3. Monitor and Intervene 4. Evaluate and Process Explain the academic assignments to students Monitoring each learning group Feedback about the activities. Formulate Objectives Intervene when needed in order to improve taskwork and teamwork Decide the size of groups Explain the criteria for success Assign Students to groups Structure positive interdependence, individual accountability Assign roles, room, materialls Explain the expected behaviour Emphasize intergroup cooperation

9. Games applied in the classroom • Games applied in the classroom have become a well accepted proposal amongst teachers and students to promote cooperation. • Technological innovation has enabled the development of virtual environments which involve: • Virtual learning communities • Interaction through collaborative activities

10. RPG • A Role-playing Game (RPG) is a special type of cooperative game which: • encourages reading, • builds vocabulary, • encourages teamwork, • builds problem solving habilites and • promotes creativity and imagination

11. RPG phases • 1. A Game Master (GM) prepares a fictional setting and a set of rules in which players can act out their roles. • 2. Players create characters whose roles they will play in the game and write in a “Role Record Card”. • 3. GM begins the game defining the setting and characters. Players describe their characters actions and the GM describes the outcome of the actions. • 4. The game continues until the characters meet the last challenge.

12. RPG goals • Solve the situation proposed in a cooperative way which favours interaction and teamwork. • Even in the players’ roles motivations are different they should have a common aim. • If players don’t work together they won’t be able to succeed

13. Cooperative RPG lesson Definition and assignament of roles Topic definition Objectives definition Process definition Master Instructions Resources Collaborative Competences Learning Style Activities Teacher Roles Role 1 Role 2 Feedback Execution Students Role 3

14. IMS-LD • IMS Learning Design (IMS-LD) is a widely accepted specification which enables the modelling of learning scenarios. • Core concept of LD: • Regardless of pedagogical approach • a person gets a role in the teaching-learning process. • In this role, she works towards certain outcomes • performing activities within an environment

15. IMS-LD • Characteristics of the roles • Activities to be carried out • Characteristics of the environment • Specific learning scenario • Unit of Learning (UoL) Define IMS-LD models

16. Conceptual Structure of an IMS-LD

17. Particular scenario: Project development • Scenario: Project development • Cooperative task: Carry out a SW development project • Roles: • GM (Teacher) • Client • Project manager • Analyst • Designer • Programmer • Client

18. Particular scenario: Project development

19. Conclusions and future work • We presented a process to describe RPG as UoL in order to support Learning Coopeartion. • The project management scenario UoL will be proposed in courses of the UdG. • Working on measuring the students collaboration level. • Working on being able to generate RT adaptable IMS-LD automatically given RPG specifications

20. Thank you. Questions?