One form of storytelling that is seeing growing recognition for sound pedagogical practice is the role-playing game, or RPG. RPGs are becoming valued as situated learning experiences that can promote engagement, interdisciplinary skills such as collaboration and critical thinking, and can be used to develop specific skills such as writing, reading, speaking, as well as help students' understanding of course specific content, such as narrative elements. According to Cook, Gremo & Morgan, “[o]ne key benefit to using a role-playing system is that it is adaptable, based on classroom context and student and teacher needs” (2017, p.62).
Engagement |
Collaboration and Interdisciplinary Skills |
Presented as an “interactive storytelling game” (Zalka, 2012, p. 33), the potential to engage students in the classroom is obvious. Students are required to continuously pay attention to the developments of the game, as related by the game master, and to engage in negotiation and decision-making with the rest of their group, in order to collaboratively craft their stories. This engagement provides a “deeper connection to the characters and imaginary world they exist in and enhances the storytelling experience and engrains acquired information deeper into the player’s memory as a personal experience” (Zalka, 2012, p. 34).
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Emerging forms of storytelling are taking advantage of innate potential for collaboration. Within the context of RPGs, Zalka explains that “participants develop communication skills, […] learn to compromise, practice teamwork and collective decision-making, and learn how to recognize and deal with emotions that the game evokes” (2012, p.33). Cook, Gremo & Morgan also noted that “pairing gameplay with literature study can foster an improved sense of community by requiring small groups and the whole class to debate strategies, […] and to actively contribute to their learning” (2017, p.68). Hergenrader observes that RPGs can be helpful to provide basic story telling structures and “foster the development of classroom spaces where students are required to think both dialogically and dialectically […] – that is, understanding how characters experience life in their fictional world and how authors represent those characters’ stories in language and media” (2017, p.49). He also acknowledges the importance of incorporating multiliteracies and multimodal composition as necessary pedagogical practice, something that RPGs help to facilitate.
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Development of Writing Skills and Content Knowledge |
As products of collaborative storytelling, RPGs model the process of developing a narrative. Components such as world building, catalogue population, and character development encourage storytellers to consider how elements like setting, character, and plot are interdependent. Cook, Gremo & Morgan (2017) cite RPGs as a chance for both teachers and students to engage with the writing process and “model nontraditional types of writing […], to openly acknowledge and value a wide variety of reasons for and ways of writing, and to create a classroom community of writers” (p. 69). Zalka (2012) and Cook, Gremo, and Morgan (2017) also detail how the use of RPGs can help solidify understanding of content specific knowledge. RPGs are used to reinforce understanding of literary elements and themes connected to specific texts, and allow students to explore interpretations of those texts through collaborative storytelling.
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Resources
Web
The starter set from Dungeons & Dragons
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