RPS Approach

RPS Approach to Intercultural Communication

Course “Intercultural Communication“ Class “RPS (Role Play Simulation)” (March 06, 2008 6:30pm)

Reinhard Ursprung

This course will involve the negotiation of business transactions/issues using real case and/or near real case scenarios of the company in Taiwan. Students/participants will act out situations that are very close to their business reality and thus the learning experience has much more effect.
The simulation could/should be recorded (audio or better video) and be used to discuss and lay out a detailed analysis and a catalogue of improvement suggestions, which then can be used to re-enact using these findings to directly experience and compare their effect.
This system come from sports coaching and training and provides real life, less theoretical near hands-on learning experience.

For that to work, we need students to provide suggestions of simulation scenarios, which then will be used to prepare the course. This method has proven not only to be very effective with very immediate results, but also – if done right- a lot of fun, and thus, usually very popular with the learners.

Required material:

every participant should prepare 10 standard A4 sheets white, pencil, eraser, ruler, felt pen blue.

Lesson Plan

18:30 - 18:35 introduction

18:35 - 18:50 each participant introduces her/himself name, position, description of responsibilities (= speaking practice, identification of language proficiency and possible inhibitions, etc.)

18:50 - 19:00 explanation and discussion of the RPS-System (Role Play Simulation) advantages

e.g. "The pedagogical approach of this collaborative learning technology is based on the principles of goal-based learning, and learning by doing in authentic environments where students are allowed the opportunity to acquire the intended learning outcomes by making mistakes in safe environments." (s.b. Page 2 – just some general information for reference)

19:00 - 19:10 explanation and discussion: "How to generate individual RPS"

19:10 - 19:15 every participant describes (in writing) a real experience situation, in which she/he personally encountered a clear lack of language- or communication skills. The sheets are collected to be used in the next step.

19:15 - 19:30 every description is read and discussed and used as basis for a first simulation exercise. Every simulation is listed and numbered.

19:30 - 20:00 each individual simulation is acted out w/o discussion (everybody takes notes incl. the RPS-number)

20:00 - 20:25 discussion and analysis of the RPS.

20:25 - 20:30 summary and definition of the learning results (every participant records them for future use)

The given timeframes will be observed as closely as possible, i.e. the fewer participants the more time is available for each individual with a more intensive learning effect. However, many people normally have difficulties to hold longer spontaneous speeches. It is therefore an intended additional free speech exercise and can usually be achieved not in one but several sessions.

Roleplay is widely acknowledged as a powerful teaching technique in face to face teaching. It is especially suitable for adults and for subjects like politics, law, commerce, management and so on. In RPS, learners interact using persona, chase "game goals," try out various strategies and build the experience collectively.

Why Role Play

The advantages of role play include:

In Line with Adult Learning Principles

Adults bring to a learning environment their experience in life.

In a traditional classroom setting, it depends on the teacher, who should be more of a moderator in this scenario and take advantage of this breadth of experience.

RPS it is like looking at the problem from within – a participant-observer approach - rather than viewing the object from without. The initial scenario of RPS (where the problem/s is/are embedded) is only the starting point for reflection. Once the game begins the "problem" may change given the negotiations between the roles and collaborative reflection of participants. RPS has therefore special value in tackling problems or issues that involve value judgments, have no "black and white" answers, and are negotiated through strategic interaction.

Inhibition management

Role play involves the problem of playing a face-to-face role play, where participants may feel shy about acting in a role. But shyness is exactly one of the obstacles we want to overcome in order to be more successful in our real life role as business communicators.

Experiential and collaborative learning

Role play simulation provides both synchronous and asynchronous modes of communication. The asynchronous nature of RPS provides time for players to consider alternatives, and research or use "in" or "out-of-simulation" discussions before making a "move". The asynchronous nature and the support of "in" and "out-of-simulation" collaboration, research and reflection in RPS provide ample time for learners to rehearse.
In order to produce a good performance on a front stage (e.g., make a business decision) we need a corresponding backstage in which to practice (work it through mentally) and resolve problems related to our front stage performance. Role playing brings this backstage to a new height by allowing us to "bounce off" ideas in a safe environment.

The uniqueness of this pedagogical structure is that it separates the learning space, where participants learn from their experience, from the institutional and organizational environment, which provide the resources for learning including moderators or educational facilitators. It does so without reproducing these institutional and organizational aspects of the learning environment e.g. institutional hierarchies. The structure of RPS thus creates a flexible space for participants to fill with their own objectives, actions, and results that ultimately relate back to the pedagogical objectives of the course.

To provide most realistic and therefore effective scenarios we do not give a definite set of pre-determined choices. Rather, the moderator will provide an open ended frame of reference based on the learning objectives and the players themselves generate the choices.

Teaching case vs. RPS

A teaching case is a story describing, or based on, actual events that justifies careful study and analysis by students. In other words, a teaching case is a story about the “real world” told with a definite teaching purpose in mind. A teaching case is a way of bringing the real world into a classroom so that students can “practice” on actual or realistic problems under the guidance of their teacher. Case teaching, unlike conventional lecturing, is discussion-based and experiential. The teaching case replaces the lecture as the vehicle for learning, and the case becomes the basis for discussion, exchange of ideas, knowledge, and experience among participants (Lynn, 1996; Rangan, 1995) – it allows for collaborative reflection.

The initial scenario in RPS is similar to a teaching case in that there is a story that justifies study and analysis. However, in case based methods, the story is of a particular past experience to be studied whereas in RPS, the scenario is an evolving story-line created by the learners as they play out the various possibilities and contexts – it is the learners that create the story given the initial scenario. Though the initial scenario in RPS may indeed be based on a real case it need not be real. In fact, the initial scenario in RPS is likely to have one or more “what-if” factors inserted by the author in the kick-start episode.

Role play may not be a silver bullet for all types of learning; however, the engaging nature of role play opens up new opportunities and dimensions for adult learning.