engleski

Online Role-play: Action Research in Higher Education

Action research in higher education focuses on the investigation, reflection, and improvement of practice (Gibbs, et al, 2017). This study targets on the two areas of the higher education activity, teaching practice and student engagement. The core of action research in education is the collection of feedback throughout the learning activity from all the involved teachers, students, and administrators (Stringer, 1999). This action research was taking place at a graduate level Distance education course for students majoring in pedagogy. The research was focusing on the planning, implementation, and delivery of the online role-play activity. The activity was delivered through 6 parallel role-play groups, it lasted 4 weeks and involved a total of 36 students. The online role-play activity was designed in relation to the type of the course and in order to support course participants in understanding the limitations and benefits of online activities and online teaching technologies. Another purpose of the activity was grounded discussion on the pedagogical issues related to the case scenarios which were a basis for the role-play. Online role play falls under the concept of structured activities, which consist of designs for participation aiming to create a common study and discussion experience of experiential learners (Pfeiffer and Ballew, 1988). In order to make a conclusion and improve practice by the means of action research, it is necessary for all involved stakeholders to analyse practice and participate in research in self-reflective manner. In this study, learning is occurring both through the role- play activity and actual student participation in action research. Hence, the cycle of this action research included: recognition of the problem (previous practice), documenting the experience (online discussion transcripts, group reports, student reflections on the activity, teacher’s notes), analysis and representation of gathered data, and action (implementation of the gathered knowledge in future courses). The study findings indicate ways in which activity structure could be modified in order to improve the learning experience.

online role-play, experiential learning, higher education

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