DISCIPLINE
Australian Studies; Australian History but has been used with Communications Studies students to provide experiences in new forms of publishing ie interactive novels, e-plays; and Education students to provide experience in new forms of online teaching

DURATION
It has been used a number of times in different formats:

• One day workshop in a computer lab.
• Four weeks, meeting once per week in a computer lab and some usage assumed outside class time.
• Four weeks entirely online distributed between three sites including an overseas site, assuming usage about 3-4 times per week for about 1 hour.

ICT USED
Fablusi role-play platform

DELIVERY CONTEXT
Can be either totally online or mixed mode

TARGET AUDIENCE
Both undergraduate and postgraduate as well as secondary school. No prior knowledge of history or of Australia is assumed and it has been used in countries other than Australia. It has been used with students who have minimal experience of email and browsers but it works better if they understand the difference between email, threaded discussion and chat. Students do not need drama experience in order to play a role as online role-play is anonymous and mostly asynchronous. This kind of role-play does not involve embarrassing impromptu performances in front of class.

COHORT
Originally designed for 32 students or multiples of 32 if teams of 2-7 students collaborate on one role. Classes larger than 32 require more moderators. A new smaller version has been created for 12 students or multiples of 12.

BROADER CONTEXT
The role-play is one component of a subject.

This learning design aims to:

1. Enhance learner's empathy with an historical figure and with life in another period of time.
2. Engage learners via collaboration in portrayal of a role that is as historically accurate as possible and imaginatively creative when historical detail is found wanting.
3. Develop learner's ability to contribute to negotiations with stakeholders who hold conflicting viewpoints.
4. Foster learner understanding that "history" is an artefact constructed from incomplete evidence by historians operating from their own viewpoint and context.
5. Foster learner understanding of the people, circumstances and issues that define the first British colony in Australia.

IMPLEMENTATION OF ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES
There has been no assessment in the first two implementations as they were considered trials. Assessment can vary depending on the objectives, in particular the percentage allocated to each assessment task. In general assessment consists of:

• A mark for publication of public role profile.
• A mark for participation as tracked via the discussion forum.
• A mark for contribution to the publication of a petition or resolution (the above three marks are team marks if more than one learner is playing one role).
• An individual mark for an individual reflection to be handed in after the completion of the role-play. The reflection covers learning about history as well as learning via this medium as well as generic skills such as team work and negotiation.

IMPORTANCE OF ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES USED
The assessment tasks are integral to the learning outcomes and since the first 3 tasks are published on the website for all students to see, they serve to move the role-play forward. Rather than being assessment that only the teacher sees, it is assessment that publicly positions the learner in relation to their fellow learners.

One of the most important marks is that for participation because if learners do not participate then there is no role-play. A role-play is only successful if all characters are interacting. Hopefully the topic of the role-play is motivating enough in its own right but this mark helps guarantee participation.

WHY ROLE-PLAY IS USED
The learning problem is learners’ lack of empathy for lives of people in the past and empathy for the complexity of decision-making. With the benefit of hindsight we often "know" what happened from our position in the present and this can cause students to undervalue the thinking and problem solving that would have gone on at the time. role-play as a learning design helps place students back in the shoes of those people.

HOW ICT USE HELPS
Online role-play means that roles can be anonymous, sustained over a longer period and are less dependent on learners’ confidence in their acting ability than if it was done face-to-face in class time.

MOST IMPORTANT ICT CONTRIBUTION TO LEARNING DESIGN
An ICT-based role-play means that communication with other roles is in writing which facilitates more thoughtful interaction and because the writing is anonymous the communication can be more creative.