The Roles Actors Perform: Role-Play and Reality in a Higher Education Context

The roles actors perform: role-play and reality in a higher education context Matthew Riddle, BA Department of History and Philosophy of Science Faculty of Arts University of Melbourne July, 2006 Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts (by Advanced Seminar and Shorter Thesis) Abstract This thesis undertakes a description and analysis of the way in which Australian higher education students perform roles through the use of online role-play systems at the University of Melbourne. It includes a description of two case studies: DRALE Online, developed in 1997, and The Campaign, developed in 2003. The research undertakes a detailed study of The Campaign, using empirical data derived from classroom observations, online communications, and semi-structured interviews. It undertakes a qualitative analysis of these data using an interpretive approach informed by models drawn from social theory and sociotechnical theory. Educational authors argue that online educational role-plays engage students in authentic learning, and represent an improvement over didactic teaching strategies. According to this literature, online role-play systems afford students the opportunity of acting and doing instead of only reading and listening. Literature in social theory and social studies of technology takes a different view of certain concepts such as performance, identity and reality. Models such as actor-network theory ask us to consider all actors in the sociotechnical network in order to understand how society and technology are related. This thesis examines these concepts by addressing a series of research questions, such as how students become engaged with identities, how identities are mediated, and the extent to which roles in these role-plays are shaped by the system, the scenario, and the agency of the actors themselves. An analysis drawing on models from social theory and sociotechnical theory allows an investigation of the interpellation of roles, networks of human and non-human actors, the effect of surveillance on individuals and their self-constitution through performance. The analysis finds that individuals readily take on multiple roles through online role-plays, and that this leads to the development of vocational identities. Some of the constraints on actors are self-imposed or hidden, and indicate inscribed social relationships inside and outside of the online systems. As a result of this analysis, the concept of authentic learning and its relationship to ontology is considered, and future work in this area is suggested. This is to certify that the thesis comprises only my original work except where indicated in the preface; due acknowledgment has been made in the text to all other material used; the thesis is 20,000-22,000 words in length, inclusive of footnotes, but exclusive of tables, maps, appendices and bibliography. The Roles Actors Perform 2 Acknowledgements Research for this thesis was supported by The Research Training Scheme from the Department of Education, Science and Training. The project grew out of discussions with Dr Michael Arnold and Dr Martin Gibbs. I am greatly indebted to them both for their encouragement, support and supervision throughout a project that has been unusually drawn out due to my poor health, but was nevertheless very enjoyable due to their considerable understanding and good humour. I would like to particularly thank Dr David Hirst at The University of Melbourne for his friendship and support in allowing me the time to conduct the empirical research. Special thanks must go to a number of my long-term mentors in educational technology, including Dr Michael Nott, Dr Jon Pearce, Prof Shirley Alexander, Prof Carmel McNaught, Prof John Hedberg and Dr Michael Keppell. Without your friendship and encouraging words, I would never have completed this work. I would like to thank all the people I have met over the years at The University of Melbourne through whose work I have learnt so much about online role-plays, including Prof Martin Davies, Dr Sally Young, Peter Jones, Myrawin Nelson, Albert Ip, Gordon Yau, Patrick Fong, David Vasjuta, Josella Rye, and all the staff at Educational Technology Services. I am grateful to Dr Mark Poster at UC Irvine for his suggestion to consider the work of Erving Goffman, which had an important impact on the nature of my analysis. I would also like to thank Dr Rosemary Robins and Assoc Prof Helen Verran from the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, who guided me through my coursework. The final few months of this project were undertaken while working at The University of Cambridge. I would particularly like to thank John Norman for allowing me the time and flexibility required to complete this project and Dr Lee Wilson and Dr Catherine Howell for their comments and encouragement. I dedicate this thesis to my dear partner Lotte, my parents, Margaret and Malcolm, and my family and friends for their limitless love and support. The Roles Actors Perform 3 Table of Contents ABSTRACT..................................................................................................................... 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................................. 3 LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES ..................................................................................... 5 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 6 LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................... 8 Part 1: Authentic learning and online role-plays...................................................................................8 Part 2: Performance, identity, and reality ........................................................................................... 14 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ...............................................................................................21 METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................... 22 Primary sources .................................................................................................................................. 22 Analysis............................................................................................................................................... 23 Theoretical approach .......................................................................................................................... 23 CASE STUDIES ............................................................................................................ 25 Case Study 1: DRALE Online............................................................................................................. 25 Case Study 2: The Campaign.............................................................................................................. 30 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ......................................................................................... 34 Getting into the role............................................................................................................................ 34 When the system breaks down ........................................................................................................... 39 Going off the radar.............................................................................................................................. 41 The complexity of relationships ......................................................................................................... 46 Suspending disbelief........................................................................................................................... 48 Freedoms and constraints................................................................................................................... 51 Roles and identities ............................................................................................................................ 54 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 59 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 62 The Roles Actors Perform 4 Figures Figure 1: The connections to be simulated by DRALE Online. ........................................................... 26 Figure 2: The DRALE Online design process: a schematic design of the To Do list. ............................ 28 Figure 3: DRALE Online: A Case File screen with authenticated document....................................... 29 Figure 4: The Campaign Log In Screen............................................................................................... 31 Figure 5: The Campaign To Do List .................................................................................................. 32 Figure 6: Journalist Graham makes intitial contact with Political Adviser Josie.................................... 37 Figure 7: Journalist Graham makes follow up contact with Political Adviser Josie. ............................... 38 Figure 8: Email extract from Adviser student Stacey to Journalist Guido............................................. 43 Figure 9: Email extract from Journalist student Guido to Adviser Stacey............................................. 44 Figure 10: Email extract from Journalist student Guido

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