Exploring student preferences with regards to the use of active

Exploring student preferences with regards
to the use of active learning strategies:
An Educational Design-based Research study
conducted at CTI Bloemfontein
Research report submitted for the
Research and Development Seminar
conducted in May 2015
Compiled by
Lee-Anne Reineke
Contents
1
Introduction ................................................................................................... 4
1.1
Background .............................................................................................. 4
1.2
Problem Statement.................................................................................... 6
1.3
Research Aim and Objectives ...................................................................... 8
1.3.1
Purpose/Aim of the Research ................................................................ 8
1.3.2
Research objectives ............................................................................. 8
1.3.3
Scope, limitations and exclusions ........................................................... 9
1.3.4
Significance of the research .................................................................. 9
1.4
Key theoretical concepts .......................................................................... 10
1.4.1
Quality Enhancement ......................................................................... 10
1.4.2
21st century learning ......................................................................... 10
1.4.3
Role-play .......................................................................................... 11
1.4.4
Module name and topic covered in this report ....................................... 12
1.5
Research design and methodology ............................................................ 12
1.5.1
Research design – Design-based Research (DBR)................................... 12
1.5.2
Research methodology........................................................................ 13
1.5.3
Population ........................................................................................ 14
1.5.4
Data collection method ....................................................................... 14
2
Literature Review .......................................................................................... 15
3
Data Collection ............................................................................................. 17
4
3.1
Primary data collection instrument ............................................................ 17
3.2
Distribution ............................................................................................ 18
Data analysis and findings .............................................................................. 19
4.1 Students’ feelings towards and preferences regarding three different
teaching strategies: ...................................................................................... 19
4.2
Students’ understanding of theoretical concept ................................... 20
4.3
Students’ reflection on their own learning style ................................... 21
4.4
Students’ feedback regarding the use of role-play as teaching strategy
22
4.5 Factors contributing towards student motivation and how it influenced
their participation and learning during the role-play activity........................ 24
5
Conclusions and Recommendations .................................................................. 27
6
References ................................................................................................... 28
List of figures:
Figure 1: Students’ feelings towards different teaching strategies ............................ 19
Figure 2: Students’ preferences towards different teaching strategies ....................... 20
Figure 3: Students’ understanding of theoretical concept ......................................... 21
Figure 4: Students’ reflection on their own learning style ........................................ 21
Figure 5: Students feeling towards role-play activities............................................. 22
Figure 6: Students’ feedback regarding peer-evaluation .......................................... 23
Figure 7: What students enjoyed most about the role-play activit............................. 23
Figure 8: Students stating whether role-play should be included more often in modules
........................................................................................................................ 24
Figure 9: Students’ level of attention during the role-play activity ............................ 25
Figure 10: Relevancy of role-play towards career preparation .................................. 25
Figure 11: Confident levels of explaining the theory after participating in a role-play
activity.............................................................................................................. 26
Figure 12: Level of satisfaction with reference to what has been learned about
interviews by means of role-play .......................................................................... 26
1 Introduction
1.1 Background
This paper reports on the findings of a research project that was undertaken to investigate
whether role play, an active learning method, is an effective strategy to enhance the
quality of student learning.
Bassendowski and Petrucka (2013) asked the following question in their article: “Are 20th
century methods of teaching applicable in the 21st century?” The authors subsequently
indicated that the tendency of students to passively absorb information from a lecturer
who is standing in front of a class, often behind a podium, is not a true reflection of the
requirements that higher education (HE) has to meet in the world today.
Higher education institutions of the 21st century should focus on preparing students not
only academically, but also professionally, by placing some emphasis on vocational
learning as well. Sufficient attention should be paid to equipping of students with the
required skills to become lifelong learners. Students should also be able to adapt
successfully to new situations and respond better to changed circumstances (McClaughlan
& Kirkpatrick, 2004,). Attributes such as these are becoming crucial for employees of
choice in the 21st century.
According to Lumpkin et al (2015), there is a paradigm shift from lecture-based courses
to more interactive classes where student-centered learning activities are included.
Traditional lecturing remains the main instructional method used in most HE lecture rooms
(Lom, 2012) and can be effective in presenting and synthesizing information, particularly
when classes are large, information is complex and lecturing conforms to the policy of
universities due to the availability of time and space. However lecturing should not be the
sole instructional approach used in teaching today.
There is a growing affluence of evidence of the positive influence that active engagement
has on student learning, critical thinking and the understanding of theoretical concepts
(Bonwell & Elson, 1991) (Komarraju & Karau, 2008) (Machemer & Crawford, 2007). As
educators we have access to different tools enabling us to construct learning experiences
that will actively and meaningfully engage our students and involve them into module
content. Active, engaged learning can be achieved through making use of an array of
teaching strategies such as the use of case studies, problem-based learning, enquiry-based
learning as well as a blend of role-play and simulations (McClaughlan & Kirkpatrick, 2004,).
The need for workplace-ready students, and therefore an education system that support
the development of the necessary skills, is also a reality in South Africa. However, after
reading a document published by the Council on Higher Education (CHE) in South-Africa:
“Framework for institutional Quality enhancement in the second period of quality
assurance” (2014), I realized that we have major problems concerning the quality of our
educational system.
According to the mentioned document “… higher education has a vital role to play in
contributing to the reconstruction and development of all aspects of South African society.”
Higher education in South Africa is however failing in its basic mission, which is to produce
the number and type of graduates required to reconstruct and develop our society. The
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reason for this is that only 18% of 20 to 24 year-olds are enrolled in higher education, and
almost 50% of these students become drop-outs resulting in no qualification obtained.
The responsibility now lies with all role-players involved in higher education to rectify the
mistakes of the past. Based on these and other statistics, the CHE in South-Africa launched
its new Quality Enhancement Project (QEP). The aim of the QEP is to eventually enhance
all aspects of teaching and learning in order to improve student success which they define
as: “Enhanced student learning with a view to increasing the number of graduates with
attributes that are personally, professionally and socially valuable.” (Council on Higher
Education, 2014). Learning facilitators (educators) need to be more flexible, adaptable and
creative in the way they approach students in order to improve the quality of teaching and
the students’ subsequent learning.
At CTI, several actions have been taken over the last few years to enhance the quality of
our students’ learning. By providing students with tablets with e books, we illustrated our
belief that the integration of technology can contribute towards enhancing the quality of
student learning. Technology enhanced learning should support 21st century learning and
requires the use of strategies such as active participation, collaboration, authentic learning
as well as creativity and innovation. These topics are addressed in our professional
development interventions for lecturers. Lecturers are also equipped in more theoretical
aspects of education such as the implementation of Bloom’s taxonomy in assessments.
CTI also make use of a Learning Management System (LMS) called e-active, which enables
lecturers in the first place, to effectively distribute additional information such as
interesting articles and video clips. Students can also share information by posting
recordings of their own videos and presentations on current issues surrounding the
relevant content. The LMS secondly serves as a platform for lecturers to create learning
activities that makes the much needed active engagement possible. Examples of these
include forums discussions.
One type of active learning strategy which I, as a lecturer of Commerce modules found to
be effective, especially in the human resource modules I teach, is the use of role-play
activities. The module I therefore have chosen to conduct a micro-research project on is
Human Resource management. I have lectured this module for the past 3 years.
Since Human Resource Management (HRM) is my area of expertise I felt comfortable with
all the concepts and ready to try strategies other than just traditional lectures. Although
this module has ample practical application in the world of work, the approach is mostly
theoretical, with many theories and concepts forming the foundation of the course content.
Therefore most students find it boring and repetitive. To further add to the already
theoretical laden content the amount of work to be covered in one semester is vast in
comparison to other modules. I therefore found it imperative to find alternative ways to
get students actively involved in module content. I mostly do this by asking rhetorical
questions in class or by having heated debates on current HR or labour relation issues in
South-Africa to encourage students to engage in the concepts being discussed on the day.
But most of all I try to get students involved by providing them with the opportunity to
practically apply what they have learnt or what has been lectured to them through
traditional teaching methods such as PowerPoint presentations.
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Here follows an explanation on how I tried to encourage active engagement by the
students:
1. After completing the unit on “Recruitment” students had to design their own “Job
advertisement”. Here is what the instruction entailed: “You are a HR practitioner at
any organisation of your choice (Please specify the selected organisation on your
advertisement). Choose any position/vacancy of your choice that has become
available in the specific organisation and design an effective advertisement for this
position. Once completed, upload your advertisement on to e-Active for
assessment.” A rubric was provided which highlighted the most important elements
of an “effective advertisement”. Students enjoyed the activity and when reflecting
on their test marks on a similar type of question in their semester test, I can almost
with certainty say that this exercise assisted them in preparing for a practical
question like that in a test of examination.
2. Students had to participate in a role-play activity in which they had to prepare and
act out the different types of interviews used in practice. This is also the intervention
I will be elaborating on throughout this report. What was the significance of the roleplay activity? Students had to know how to structure an interview, develop different
types of interview questions as specified in their guide. The interview questions had
to be aligned to the type of position being interviewed for as well as circumstances
of the interview. They also had to know when to ask what type of question, what
the do’s and don’ts of an interview are etc.
As I previously described, I used role-play before, but I have never before gathered
tangible evidence of how the students feel about the use of this strategy. I therefore
decided to conduct a Design-based Research (DBR) project to investigate student
preferences with regards to the use of traditional as well as more practical lecturing
methods. Since the aim of design-based research is to design and support learning
interventions while studying specific types of learning (Hoadley, 2003), I am of the
opinion that it is an appropriate choice of research design for my investigation. I will
discuss the research design and the investigation in more detail later in this paper.
1.2 Problem Statement
I found that students often only know the theory of a concept but are unable to apply it to
real life situations. This is prevalent in lower marks attained in assignment questions
testing higher order thinking skills (Blooms Taxonomy) compared to questions assessing
knowledge and understanding. For example: Students do not know how to set their own
interview questions according to the different types of interviews and type of interview
questions.
To reiterate what I have stated in the background regarding the issues surrounding the
HR module – students find it tedious to sit in the class room and listen to all the different
steps involved in the employment process which is “Recruitment and Selection”. They want
to have the opportunity to get involved in all the steps from creating a job advertisement,
placing it, getting in contact with different recruitment agencies, arranging an interview
and finally, conducting the interview. They also want to understand the practical elements
of all the other selection tools available to employers throughout the employment process.
In short: students need to know how to apply what they have learnt, practically. They
therefore need to have the opportunity to not only “remember” (a Lower Order Thinking
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Skill) the theory, but to also be able to “apply” their understanding of the theory through
active learning during which they collaborate with peers and at the same time learn from
each other.
In summary: It is crucial for students to be equipped with real life skills, since employers
require more from graduates than mere theoretical knowledge of the specific industry
(Adams, 2014) where they are employed. Industry requires well rounded individuals with
the practical know how of what the job entails. In Adams’ (2014) article “The top 10 skills
employer most want in 2015 graduates” published on the Forbes website, she listed the
most important skills that employers are looking for in young graduates.
Employers want employees who have the:
1. Ability to work in a team structure
2. Ability to make decisions and solve problems
3. Ability to communicate verbally with people inside and outside an organization
4. Ability to plan, organize and prioritize work
5. Ability to obtain and process information
6. Ability to analyze quantitative data
7. Technical knowledge related to the job
8. Proficiency with computer software programs
9. Ability to create and/or edit written reports
10. Ability to sell and influence others
These skills are closely related to what the contributors of the web site “Partnership for
21st Century Skills” (Anon., 2011)refers to as skills needed to prepare students for the
world of work in the 21st Century today. Some of these skills include: creativity and
innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, and communication and collaboration.
These are the learning innovation skills needed to prepare students in becoming
employable individuals.
Knowledge of my students, as well as what employers will require of them when they apply
for positions, helped me to formulate the following research question:
“Can the use of active learning strategies such as role play contribute towards
authentic learning and enhance the quality of student learning and experience?”
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1.3 Research Aim and Objectives
1.3.1 Purpose/Aim of the Research
The aim of this research project was to investigate student preferences regarding
strategies such as active participation, collaboration, and role-play and the possible effect
it might have on the quality of their learning.
I have previously conducted interventions to enhance the quality of learning as well as the
results of students, but have never asked students to reflect on the different type of
teaching methods used, to convey the theory. I therefore did not have any tangible
evidence to conclude whether alternative ways of teaching a certain concept was more
successful than traditional methods.
The module where I previously investigated the use of active participation is Human
Resource Development (HRDV). One of the crucial elements of the module which forms
the foundation for the rest of the course content are the different learning theories which
have to be considered when designing and developing a training program. Since I have
also lectured this module for two years, I had found that students experienced difficulty in
grasping and distinguishing between the different types of theories. I then tried the flipped
classroom approach. This is what I did:
•
•
I provided the students with YouTube videos explaining the different learning
theories. They were then divided into groups each with the task of doing further
research on their specific learning theory assigned to their group as well as creating
a power point presentation to be presented in class. Students had to present the
theories to their peers on which they also had to be prepared to answer any
question posed to them by the audience. These presentations were also evaluated
by their peers and discussed afterwards.
After the presentations I asked the students whether they enjoyed the exercise and
whether they felt that having had to do research on their own as well as prepare a
presentation and present it to their peers assisted in a better understanding of the
different theories – to which the answer was yes. But as stated above I
unfortunately never collected any tangible evidence to prove their preferences or
academic results.
1.3.2 Research objectives
In order to fulfill the aim of my research, stated above, I divided it into the following
objectives
•
•
•
To expose students to various teaching strategies during a learning intervention
(traditional lecturing with the use of presentation slides, showing YouTube videos and
lastly making use of role-play activity)
To encourage students to think about, reflect and provide feedback on the learning
that took place during this intervention
To interpret the feedback received from the students in order to determine their
preferences with regards to the strategies
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1.3.3 Scope, limitations and exclusions
Since this is the first time that I documented a learning intervention and gathered
evidence, it can either be considered to be a “micro research project” or the first of possibly
more interventions that can form part of a bigger DBR project. There is still plenty of scope
for further research regarding the use of various active participative learning strategies to
be used as well as student preferences towards the various strategies used to encourage
participation and collaboration.
During this specific intervention there were a few limitations which possibly had an
influence on the final results:
•
•
•
Connectivity issues – after the first teaching method was applied (traditional
lecturing) students had to complete a quiz on e-active (LMS). At first there was an
issue with the time setting on the server and thereafter some students experienced
difficulty moving from the one question to the next due to the WIFI being slow.
Time constraints – since it was difficult to estimate the exact time needed for the
intervention we allocated four hours for it, which at the end was still not quite
enough time to complete the intervention. I would have liked all students to
complete the feedback survey directly after the intervention took place but since
the intervention was scheduled in the second half of the day it lead to some students
having to leave earlier and not completing the feedback survey as well as being
rushed while completing both the quiz and feedback survey which formed part of
the intervention.
Student concentration – although refreshments were provided as well as short
breaks, some students were lacking concentration toward the end of the
intervention, due to the length of the period.
1.3.4 Significance of the research
The overall significance of this research would be to raise awareness of the importance of
active engagement of students by making use of different learning tools/strategies in order
to enhance student learning and experience.
The significance of this study can be described from three perspectives:
Significance for student:
To determine whether students need the opportunity to practically apply theory in class,
be it through working out case studies, problem solving exercises, discussions, debates,
role-play or presentations as well as their preference towards these type of approaches.
Through role-play students had the opportunity to imitate a real life situation. This
enhances soft skills such as social problem-solving skills, active-listening skills and even
demonstrating emotional empathy towards others (Raoa & Stupans, 2012,) This will equip
them with some essential real life skills such as improved writing, listing, problem solving,
interpersonal skills etc.
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Significance for me as the lecturer:
As lecturer I will have the opportunity to investigate whether active learning strategies
really contribute towards enhanced learning and improved academic results, as well
whether students find it valuable and enjoyable. Through these interventions I as lecturer
will also have the opportunity to broaden my knowledge on different types of teaching
methods which will contribute towards my overall teaching capability.
Significance for CTI as an educational institution:
The aim of Design-based research, as mentioned in the introduction, is to collaborate and
share. The geographical dispersion of the 12 CTI campuses across South-Africa could make
it difficult to maintain the same standard of teaching throughout. One of the obvious
reasons for this would be that on some of the smaller campuses lecturers are lecturing
four to five modules during one semester, of which they are not necessarily experts in.
Therefore this study can be of great value to other campuses and lecturers by sharing the
success story of this intervention or any other intervention conducted.
1.4 Key theoretical concepts
The following key concepts were addressed in the course of this research project:
1.4.1 Quality Enhancement
•
•
With reference to the quality enhancement project (QEP) launched by the Council
on Higher Education on South-Africa, the council refers to a quality enhancement
framework as, “focusing on deliberate, continuous, systematic and measurable
improvement.” (Council on Higher Education, 2014) The council therefore aim at
attaining measurable improvement in the quality of our graduates in South-Africa.
Furthermore the United Kingdom’s Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) defines quality
enhancement as “the process of taking deliberate steps at institutional level to
improve the quality of learning opportunities.”
In short the aim of the QEP is to:
o Improve the quality of undergraduate educational provision;
o Improve the amount of quality graduates;
o Develop a higher education system which will constantly be refining as
associates of the higher education community in their collaboration to share
good practices and that is improving continuously as members of the higher
education community and resolve problems shared by all.
1.4.2 21st century learning
As mentioned in the introduction there is a paradigm shift from lecture-based courses to
more interactive classes where student-centered learning activities are included (Lumpkin,
et al., 2015) . Along with the importance of technology as well as the speed at which
changes in technology are occurring it is crucial for learners to display critical thinking
skills, be flexible and have the necessary skills of being innovative, productive and
accountable in insuring they stay competitive in the labour market. It becomes the
10
responsibility of the lecturer to provide for these experiences (Donovan & Green, 2014).
In short, this is what most authors are referring to as “21st Century learning”. The term
21st Century learning is also often substituted with the term 21st century skills (these
terms are used interchangeably). 21st Century skills refer to skills such as: critical thinking
and problem solving, communication and collaboration and creativity and innovation which
are all contributing factor to preparing learners for the world of work today (Partnership
for 21st Century Skills contributors, Anon., 2011)
The two theoretical concepts of 21st century learning that I am focusing on in the report
are Collaboration and Authentic learning
Collaboration:
Donovan, Green and Mason (2014) describe collaboration as “students’ ability to
demonstrate working in diverse teams effectively and respectfully.” They further note that
student need to willing participate in achieving a common goal as well as being able to
adapt to the different circumstances and take on shared responsibilities by working
together and valuing each other’s contributions as team members.
Authentic learning:
Reeves and McKenny (2013) refers to authentic learning as “the notion of learning
knowledge and skills in contexts that reflect the way the knowledge will be useful in real
life”. Professor Jan Herrington stated that “Authentic learning offers a powerful alternative
approach that is not only engaging for students, but offers opportunities for students to
acquire deep understanding of underlying constructs and to practice thinking in the way
that an expert thinks” (Herrington, 2009 ). Therefore one can say that authentic learning
is a required skill for the 21st century. With reference to the intervention I performed by
using role-play as an active learning strategy to educate students on selection interviews,
the following can be said: Students will be going for interviews themselves one day; they
might have to interview other people one day, therefore it is a real life skill that they need
to explore through practice and research. By watching YouTube videos on what to do and
not to do, how to prepare for certain questions when going for an interview as well as what
type of question to ask for certain positions etc. Students also had to act out these concepts
in a real life situation by performing an interview in class which was evaluated by their
peers. All of this was explored in my intervention.
1.4.3
Role-play
Role-play is defined by the Oxford dictionary as: “The acting out of the part of a particular
person or character, for example as a technique in training or psychotherapy. Specific
guidelines need to be followed for role playing to be effective”. Kiger (2004) defines roleplay as, “an experiential learning technique with learners acting out roles in case scenarios
to provide targeted practice and feedback to train skills”
With reference to role-paly as an active learning strategy to explain module content, it has
been accepted that motivation is important for learning to take place and that the “roleplay activity” by itself may not necessarily enhance student learning. Students therefore
need to be motivated as well. The ARCS model has generally been used to develop, design
and evaluate motivation strategies (Keller, 1987). The ARCS Model of Motivational Design
was developed by John Keller during a process of seeking ways in which the learning
process could be supplemented by motivation. The acronym stands for: Attention,
Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction. This model may therefore be used to ensure
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student motivation by gaining their attention and ensuring relevance of the tasks and
content, when making use of role-play activities.
1.4.4 Module name and topic covered in this report
Human Resource Management:
Geyer (2013) defines Human resource management as “a comprehensive set of
managerial practices and activities concerned with developing and maintaining a qualified
workforce (i.e. qualified human resources), in ways that support organisational objectives
and contribute to organisational effectiveness.”
Selection interview:
Is an effective and widely used selection tool used by organisations and employers to
determine the future success of applicants applying for a position (Geyer, 2013).
Every person who will be applying for a vacancy at an organisaiton will have to undergo
an interview, therefore understanding the importance of all the aspects concerned with
selection interviews as well as the necessary skills required to undergo and conduct an
interview effectively are imperative for students who will soon form part of the labour
market when starting to apply for jobs.
1.5 Research design and methodology
1.5.1 Research design – Design-based Research (DBR)
According to The Design-Based Research Collective authors (Hoadley, 2003) “DBR, blends
practical educational research with the theory about the design of learning environments”.
This type of research is therefore valuable to improve understanding of how, when and
why educational innovations work in practice. DBR can therefore contribute towards
creating and extending the knowledge innovation in education.
The purpose of DBR is to design and support learning opportunities while studying,
particular types of learning in a specific context. During this process problems can be
explored or new, inventive ways to enhance learning can be discovered. DBR takes place
in a normal educational situations such as lectures and can therefore never be randomly
put into practice, but should always be carefully planned. All actions that take place during
the intervention should benefit the participants at all times.
A research project utilising this design usually consists of successive interventions. The
researcher actively steps into the learning situation, observe the learning that takes place
and adapts the approach for subsequent interventions if necessary. The approach is
therefore flexible. Based on all of the above I chose to conduct a Design-based research
project.
In this Design-based research project, I used different types of instructional methods;
lecturing, YouTube videos and role-play, to determine the student preferences regarding
the use of active learning strategies. The learning intervention described in this research
report, can be seen as one such intervention, and can be followed by more.
The research was conducted in a normal educational environment (a scheduled COHR111
class on their timetable, although it was an extended class for that day to accommodate
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the intervention). It was comprehensive since I conducted it with the entire COHR111 class
which included all students present that day.
1.5.2 Research methodology
As described above, the purpose of this research project was to determine whether the
use of active participation strategies contributed towards improving the quality of student
learning. I defined the following objectives to fulfill my aim and will therefore describe my
methodology according to the objectives:
Objective 1: To expose students to various teaching strategies during a learning
intervention (traditional lecturing with the use of presentation slides, showing YouTube
videos and lastly making use of role-play activity)
•
•
•
•
•
I first made use of traditional lecturing methods such as a PowerPoint presentation, in
which I covered all the content concerning selection interviews. The theory and
different concept were explained and practical examples were given as well as
questions asked to students to ensure their understanding of the concepts and theory.
Thereafter the students had to complete a quiz consisting of ten questions covering
the work we had just completed. The quiz consisted of various types of questions
including true and false, multiple choice, matching a description to concept as well as
two short paragraph questions.
After the first quiz attempt, I showed some YouTube videos related to types of
interview questions, types of interviews, good first impressions at interviews,
interviews do’s and don’ts, interview tips and 10 top job interview questions
respectively. We then had some discussions on why some of the points are important
and how it could benefit the students in real life. The students then had to complete
the same quiz again for the second time.
After that I instructed the students to divide up into four groups and allocated each of
the groups a specific type of interview which they had to explain to the class by making
use of role-play. The role-play activity had to include the following: Students had to
choose any South-African company which have a specific vacancy available that an
interview had to be conducted for. Students therefore had to know how to structure
an interview (beginning, middle and end), include the various types of interview
questions discussed in the course-book, touch on the do’s and don’ts of an interview
as well as illustrate the type of interview allocated to them by means of the set-up and
structure of the interview. The students had 45 minutes in which to prepare for the
role-play activity. They could make use of the internet to do research on how to
develop good interview questions, what type of question to ask for a specific type of
vacancy etc. They could also refer back to the videos that were shown in class on the
day (videos were available on their e-Active course page) as well as the course book.
Students could also ask me for advice since I was present throughout the whole
process.
Once completed students had to perform their role-play in class and were also
evaluated by their peers by use of a rubric (Appendix 3) I developed. Each of the
“interviews” were recorded for reflection afterwards. After all the groups completed
their role-play we reflected on each groups interview by going through the peer
evaluation rubric completed for each group. Constructive feedback was provided by
both myself and the students. We pointed out what went well as well as areas of
improvement for each group. After the feedback session the students were instructed
to complete the quiz for the third and final time.
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Objective 2: To encourage students to think about, reflect and provide feedback on the
learning that took place during this intervention
•
Throughout the entire intervention I reminded the students that the aim of the
research was to determine which teaching method they found most valuable. I
reminded them about the aim before and after each intervention took place. I wanted
the students to actively think about which teaching method they felt was most valuable
concerning understanding and grasping the different elements of selection interviews
as well as which method they enjoyed most.
Objective 3: To interpret the feedback received from the students in order to determine
their preferences with regards to the strategies
•
•
I made use of both a quiz and a feedback survey in collecting data to determine the
students’ preferences. The same quiz, as mentioned above, was completed three times
by each student (this took place after each type of teaching method was completed).
At the end of the lecture I asked students to voluntarily complete an anonymous
feedback questionnaire on how they experienced the whole exercise. The responses to
the questionnaire will form the basis of the research report and will therefore be
discussed in more detail later on in the report.
Initially I planned to use the results of the three quiz attempts of each student as part
of my findings but later decided against it since I found it irrelevant to the main aim
of the research project which is to explore their preferences.
1.5.3 Population
The population involved in the research project was the first year Bachelor of Commerce
students at the Bloemfontein Campus enrolled for the Human Resource Management
Course.
The sample was 14 of the 18 students who attended the lecture and provided feedback via
a feedback survey uploaded to e-active. This was completed in class after the intervention
took place.
1.5.4 Data collection method
To capture data for this research project I used a quiz (a class test to assess the students’
knowledge at various stages during the lecture) and a feedback questionnaire (to
determine the students’ feelings/preferences about the learning experience). The quiz
consisted of 10 questions based on the theory covered in the class that day, which was
“The Selection Interview”. The types of questions included in the quiz were: multiple
choice, True and False, matching concept to description and two short paragraph
questions. The same quiz was completed by the students on three occasions.
At the end of the intervention/class I asked students to voluntarily complete an anonymous
feedback questionnaire on how they experienced the whole exercise. The questionnaire
will form the basis of the research report and will therefore be discussed in more detail
later on in the report. I also asked three students to make a recording of how they
experienced the entire intervention. A transcript of their recording will be included in
Appendix 2.
14
2 Literature Review
The current state of higher education no longer reflect the passive intake of information
by students where lecturers present information and students just sit back and listen but
rather portrays and image of the need for active involvement and engagement of students
(Bassendowski & Petrucka, 2013)
According to Basendowski and Petrucka (Bassendowski & Petrucka, 2013) in order for
teaching and learning to move into the 21st century it is imperative for pedagogies to be
reinvented. For this to happen educators need to transform their lecturing strategies from
the more traditional methods of merely passing on information to students to more
student-centered activities that encourage and enhance collaboration and student
engagement. In support of this theory, one of the most important things that educational
institutions can do today is to provide leaner-centered environments (Doyle, 2008).
Although many academics claim that lecturing is still the most important tool to effectively
deliver module content, especially when content is complex and classes are large, there is
however more evidence confirming the momentous influence that active learning has on
the students learning, understanding and critical thinking skills (Bonwell & Elson, 1991)
(Komarraju & Karau, 2008) (Machemer & Crawford, 2007).
Students in the 21st century are motivated by coming up with solutions for real-world
problems. They want to be involved in their learning. This is prevalent in their preference
towards doing rather than listening. This idea is described by Lombardi (2007) as authentic
learning. So what is authentic learning you may ask? Lombardi defines it as “learning that
typically focuses on real-world, complex problems and their solutions, using role-playing
exercises, problem-based activities, case studies, and participation in virtual communities
of practice.” Lombardi further stated that in order for students to stay competitive in the
job market they firstly need to be flexible in dealing with uncertainty in the workplace as
well as to adhere to the high standards set to them by the professional world. Students
need to be well prepared in becoming employees of choice and an increased exposure to
authentic activities can do just that.
McLaughlan and Kirkpatrick (2004,) support Lombardi’s findings by stating that higher
education in the 21st century is characterized by placing more emphasis on professional
preparation and vocational training. This can only be attained by implementing authentic
learning tasks.
In order for educators to carefully design authentic tasks that would encourage active
learning Reeves and McKenny (2013) have established ten characteristics to be used.
Three of these characteristics stood out for me namely: activities to have real-world
relevancy, opportunity to collaborate as well as to reflect afterwards.
Two concepts regarding 21st Century learning and authentic learning that stand out for me
is opportunities to collaborate and engaged active learning. According to Donovan, Green
and Mason (2014) collaboration takes place when students are willingly working together
towards a common goal while sharing responsibilities and making necessary compromises
to ensure the outcome of a specific task is reached. Throughout this process of
collaboration it is also important that students value each other’s inputs and suggestions.
The importance of collaboration is reinforced by the fact that the professional world is
15
becoming more collaborative, therefore it is vital for students to be exposed to
collaborative activities providing them with the much needed experience of working in
groups or teams to develop effective teamwork skills (Fredrick, 2008). Further it is stated
that student achievement, student attitudes and student retention is also improved by
collaboration (Prince, 2004).
When referring to engaged active learning, Prince (Prince, 2004), defines Active learning
as “any instructional method that engages students in the learning process.” It requires
that students think what they are doing while completing learning activities. Active learning
also enhances critical thinking due to the fact that student are applying theory to realworld problems (Prince, 2004). Through reading, writing, talking and even acting out
certain scenarios learners have the opportunity to solve real-life problems. Active learning
also involves students in higher order thinking activities such as synthesis, analysis and
evaluation (Bonwell & Elson, 1991). To summarise, active learning thus includes any
activity that encourages students to participate in teaching approaches that are involving
students with the module content which in turn enhances their critical thinking by giving
them the opportunity to apply theory practically.
With reference to active learning McLaughlan and Kirkpatrick (2004,) have identified the
following teaching strategies that can be used to implement active engaged learning:
problem-based learning, case studies, enquiry-based learning, collaborative learning as
well as a blend of role-plays and simulations. Joyner and Young (2006) further stated that
“Engaging students in role-play promotes active learning.”
Role-play is defined as “an experiential learning technique with learners acting out roles in
case scenarios to provide targeted practice and feedback to train skills” (Kiger, 2004).
Role-play creates a platform in which student can mimic professional and interpersonal
behaviours (Joyner & Young, 2006). As far as instructional methods go, role-play is most
often used for the development of interpersonal skills (Holsbrink-Engels, 2001). Role play
allows students to act out roles in different scenarios and appears to be used in an array
of discipline areas to address learning across the psychomotor, effective and cognitive
domains (Raoa & Stupans, 2012,). Through role-play participants have the opportunity to
adopt a role for a specific purpose and to simulate what would happen in reality which
allows them to learn more about the adopted role, the setting of the simulated situation
and concerns that cause interdependence among the roles as the significance of their
interactions within the role-play situation (McClaughlan & Kirkpatrick, 2004,).
Peters (2010) stated that active learning strategies such as role-play definitely requires
more time in the efficient transfer of knowledge to students to improving skills. Although
there are time constraints when comparing active learning strategies to traditional
teaching strategies, one has to weigh it off against the immense benefits that active
learning strategies bare for students such as improved in-depth, long-term learning as well
as developing new writing, coordination, collaboration, research and leadership skills
(Paquette , 2012).
It is based on the above that I chose role-play as an active learning strategy to
investigate the possibility of enhanced student learning. Why did I specifically choose
“selection interviews” as the subject matter to do my research on? Let me start by
defining the concept selection interview. Dessler (2009) defines the employment
interview (selection interview) as “a selection procedure designed to predict future job
performance on the basis of applicants’ oral responses to oral inquiries”. According to
Geyer (2013) the selection interview is the most popular and widely used selection tool
16
by employers across the world when appointing new employees. Since all our students
will have to either attend or conduct an interview one day, I felt it an appropriate reallife skill students need to develop. This being the reason for my DBR project.
3 Data Collection
3.1 Primary data collection instrument
I made use of a questionnaire to collect qualitative data regarding students’ preferences
and perceptions on the use of strategies such as active participation, collaboration, and
role-play and the possible effect it might have on the quality enhancement of their learning.
The complete questionnaire showing the questions and possible responses, is included in
Appendix A at the end of this report.
Below I have grouped the questions into clusters to illustrate what the purpose of the
questions was regarding the aim of the research.
The aim of the first 4 questions was to establish the students’ feelings towards
different teaching strategies without comparing them. The questions were
formulated as follows:
1.
I enjoy traditional lectures where the lecturer explains concepts and the students
just listen
2.
I enjoy watching YouTube videos where academic concepts are explained
3.
I enjoy watching other students participate in activities such as role play to
demonstrate academic concepts
4
I enjoy participating in activities such as role play to demonstrate my understanding
of academic concepts
With the next group of questions I wanted to establish which teaching strategies
the students preferred above the others:
5
I would rather sit and listen to a lecture than watch YouTube videos where academic
concepts are explained
6
I would rather just sit and listen to a lecture than participate in activities such as
role play
7
I would rather watch YouTube videos explaining academic concepts than participate
in activities such as role play
The purpose of the following 4 questions was to test whether the students
understood the concepts as presented by means of the different strategies at
various stages during the lecture
8
I understood the concepts regarding interviews as they were explained by my
lecturer
9
I understood the concepts regarding interviews as they were explained in the
YouTube videos
17
10
I found it easy to understand the concepts regarding interviews as the other groups
demonstrated it by means of role-pay
11
I found it easy to demonstrate my understanding of the concepts of selection
interviews by means of role-pay
The next question reflected on the students’ type of learning:
12.
I think I learn best when ……
•
I listen to a lecture / I watch a YouTube video / I watch a role-play activity / I
participate in a role play activity
The next 5 questions investigated students’ attitudes towards role-play per se:
13.
Select the statement regarding role-play activities that best describe your feelings
14.
I enjoyed having the opportunity to evaluate the role- play of my peers
15.
I found it very educational to evaluate my peer's role play
16.
What I enjoyed most about today's role play activity was
17.
I think that role play activities should be included more often in the modules that I
am enrolled for
The last 4 questions reflect on the ARCS model as mentioned earlier in the report
(Raoa & Stupans, 2012,). The aim of these questions was to measure the motivation
of students since motivation has an impact on the quality of learning:
18
How easy was it for you to pay attention during the role play activity today?
19.
How relevant do you think role play activities are to prepare you for your future
career?
20.
How confident would you feel to demonstrate or explain different types of interviews
and interview questions after today's role play activity?
21
How satisfied do you feel with what you have learned about interviews today by
means of the role play activity?
3.2 Distribution
Both the quiz and the feedback questionnaire was available on e-active, CTI’s LMS Page.
All the students who were part of the sample were present in class and participated in the
quiz. However only 14 of the 18 students present in the class completed the feedback
survey.
18
4 Data analysis and findings
In this section I will report on the data that I gathered in the form of the students’
responses to the questions of the feedback questionnaire. As I have mentioned in Section
3: Methodology, the questionnaire was completed in electronic format on e-active, CTI’s
LMS. 14 of the 18 students, who attended the lecture, completed the feedback
questionnaire. I downloaded the results from the LMS as an MS Excel spreadsheet and
created the graphs to present the data visually. Below are the graphs as well as a short
description and discussion of my interpretation of the results.
4.1 Students’ feelings towards and preferences regarding three
different teaching strategies:
The first two clusters of questions aimed to explore students’ feelings and preferences
towards traditional lectures, the use of video clips as well as the use of role play, in general.
Figure 1: Students’ feelings towards different teaching strategies
Figure 1 illustrates that most students agreed to enjoying traditional lectures, watching
other students participate in activities such as role play as well as participating in activities
such as role-play to demonstrate academic concepts while less than half (43%) of the
students did not like traditional lectures and active learning strategies like role-play to
explain academic concepts.
I am therefore of the opinion that although students enjoy traditional methods of teaching,
they also enjoy collaborative learning strategies such as watching and participating in roleplay to enhance their learning.
19
Figure 2: Students’ preferences towards different teaching strategies
Figure 2 illustrates that 57% of the students agreed to rather participate in active learning
strategies like role-play than watch YouTube videos to understand academic concepts.
71% of the student would prefer to rather listen to a lecture than to participate in activities
such as role-play and 50% of the students prefer not watching YouTube videos explaining
academic concepts.
I am therefore of the opinion that the majority of the students prefer traditional lecture to
active learning strategies like role-play. However students have a greater preference
towards active learning strategies like role-play than to watching You-Tube videos as
methods to explain academic concepts. One can also conclude that students may have
similar preference to both role-play and You-Tube videos since the percentages were so
close (57% and 50% respectively). This may be due to different student learning styles;
some students prefer to listen, other prefer to watch and other prefer to be actively
involved by doing/practicing what they have learnt.
4.2 Students’ understanding of theoretical concept
Questions 8 - 11 of the feedback questionnaire investigated if students understood the
theoretical concepts during the specific intervention as it was delivered by means of the
three different strategies used.
20
Figure 3: Students’ understanding of theoretical concept
According to figure 3 the majority of students understood the concept regarding interviews
best when it was explained by watching YouTube videos, the lecturer, watching other
groups demonstrating it by means of role-play as well as when participating in a role-paly
activity themselves (100%, 93%, 93% and 86% respectively)
I therefore find that there is no sound proof of a preference in this regard and that it can
once again be due to different learning styles of students.
4.3 Students’ reflection on their own learning style
Question 12 required of students to think about their own learning and not just about the
method that is used to transfer knowledge.
Figure 4: Students’ reflection on their own learning style
According to figure 4 the majority students learn best when either listening to a lecture
(35%) or participating in an active learning strategy such as role-play (29%). Only a few
21
students felt they learnt best by watching YouTube videos and other students participating
in a role-play activity (21% and 14% respectively)
My finding are therefore that students enjoy traditional lecturing as well as collaborative
learning activities such as role-play.
4.4 Students’ feedback regarding the use of role-play as teaching
strategy
The aim of questions 13-17 was to investigate the students’ feeling towards the role-play
activity on the day of the intervention. Figures 5-8 below summarises the responses.
Figure 5: Students’
feeling towards role-play activities
According to figure 5, the majority of students thought the role-lay activity was fun and
educational (71%). This relates to the literature on active learning strategies creating a
platform for students to be engaged in higher order thinking task such as evaluating,
analysing and synthesis while solving problems (Bonwell & Elson, 1991)
22
Figure 6: Students’ feedback regarding peer-evaluation
According to figure 6 all the students (100%) enjoyed being able to evaluate the role-play
activity of their peers and 86% of the students found it to be educational as well. These
findings are supported by literature stating that the use of active learning strategies such
as role-play in an educational environment, potentially enhances student understanding of
academic content (Rao & Stupans, 2012: 427)
Figure 7: What students enjoyed most about the role-play activity
Figure 7 clearly indicates that the majority of students (57%) enjoyed working together
with their peers. This is a good indication to lecturers that students are open to
collaboration and to the benefits it might have for their future employment.
23
Figure 8: Students stating whether role-play should be included more often in modules
According to figure 8 the majority of the students (71%) agree that role-play should be
included more often in courses they are enrolled for. This is proof that students enjoy
active learning strategies and find it valuable as well educational.
4.5 Factors contributing towards student motivation and how it
influenced their participation and learning during the role-play
activity
The last four questions in the questionnaire were included to test students’ motivation
according to the ARCS model (Raoa & Stupans, 2012,). Students were requested to report
on their attention, confidence and satisfaction during the activity, as well as how relevant
they perceive this strategy to be for their learning. Figures 9-12 below summarises the
answers received.
24
Figure 9: Students’ level of attention during the role-play activity
According to figure 9 the majority of the students (78%) did not have any problems paying
attention during the role-play activity. A conclusion that can be made is that due to being
actively involved in the role-play activity, students had no problems with paying attention.
I have personally experience, especially in theory laden modules, student experience
difficulty with paying attention to lectures if not actively involved. This is therefore a great
indication that active engagement and collaboration enhances the learning experience.
Figure 10: Relevancy of role-play towards career preparation
Figure 10 shows that 93% of the students felt that role-play activities are relevant to
preparing them for their future careers. This can be due to the fact that role-play activities
enhance different skills such as active listening, critical thinking, problem-solving and
many more (McClaughlan & Kirkpatrick, 2004,).
25
Figure 11: Confidence levels of explaining the theory after participating in a role-play activity
Figure 11 indicates that the majority of students (86%) felt confident that they would be
able to explain the different types of interviews and interview questions after the role-paly
activity.
My finding for this is that by practically applying the theory through acting out the different
roles involved in conducting or attending an interview, enhances students understanding
of academic concepts.
Figure 12: Level of satisfaction with reference to what has been learned about interviews by means of roleplay.
Figure 12 shows that the majority of students (64%) felt completely satisfied with what
they have learned by means of the role-play activity.
26
5 Conclusions and Recommendations
After studying the data collected by the feedback questionnaire, I can conclude
that making use of role-play activities as method of active learning strategies
proves to be very successful in explaining academic concepts to students as well
as enhancing the quality of their learning and leads to the creation of an authentic
learning environment in which students are developing various 21st Century skills.
These skills are necessary for quality enhancement of learning as well as for
producing well rounded and employable graduates to enter the working
environment.
I am therefore in agreement with the authors cited in this report that active
learning strategies such as role-play positively contribute to the enhancement of
student learning through the development of 21st Century skills which are vital for
graduates expecting to succeed in their future career paths.
27
6 References
Adams, S., 2014. The 10 Skills Employers Most Want In Graduates. [Online]
Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/11/12/the-10-skillsemployers-most-want-in-2015-graduates/
[Accessed 15 May 2014].
Anon., 2011. Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2011). Retrieved May 18, 2015.
[Online]
Available at: http://www.p21.org/index.php
[Accessed 18 May 2015].
Bassendowski, S. L. & Petrucka, P., 2013. Are 20th-century methods of teaching
applicable in the 21st century?. British Journal of Educational Technology, 44(4), pp.
665-667.
Bonwell, C. C. & Elson, J. A., 1991. Active learning: Creating excitement in the
classroom, Washington, DC: ASHE-ERIC Higher Education.
Council on Higher Education, 2014. Framework for Institutional Quality Enhancement in
the Second Period of Quality Assurance, s.l.: Institutional Audits Directorate.
Dessler, G., 2009. Fundamentals of Human Resource Management: content,
competencies and applications. :. London: Pearson Education International.
Donovan, L. & Green, T. D., 2014. EXAMINING THE 21ST CENTURY CLASSROOM:
DEVELOPING AN INNOVATION CONFIGURATION MAP. Journal of Educational Computing
Research, 50(2), pp. 167-178.
Doyle, T., 2008. Helping students learn in a learner-centered environment: A guide to
facilitating learning in higher education. s.l.:Sterling, VA: Stylus Pub..
Fredrick, T. A., 2008. FACILITATING BETTER TEAMWORK: ANALYZING THE CHALLENGES
AND STRATEGIES OF CLASSROOM-BASED COLLABORATION. Business Communication
Quarterly, December.71(4).
Geyer, L., 2013. Human Resource Mangement 1A.. Johannesburg: CTI Education Group.
Ghysels, M., 2008. Will Students Make the grade in an Education for the World Ahead? The Erroneous Dilemma between testing and Creativity. THE JOURNAL FOR QUALITY &
PARTICIPATION, April.pp. 20-24.
Green & Mason , 2014. Examining The 21st Century Classroom: Developing an
Innovation Configuration Map.. Jornal of Educational Computing Research, 50(2), pp.
161-178.
Herrington, J., 2009 . Authentic e-learning in higher education. s.l., eLi Riyadh
Conference.
Hoadley, C., 2003. Design-Based Research: An Emerging Paradigm for Educational
Inquiry. Educational Researcher, January/February, 32(1), pp. 5-8.
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Holsbrink-Engels, G. A., 2001. Using a computer learning environment for initial training
in dealing with social-communicative problems. British Journal of Educational
Technology, Volume 32, pp. 53-67.
Joyner, B. & Young, L., 2006. Teaching medical students using role play: Twelve tips.
Medical Teacher, 28(3), p. 225–229.
Kearney, S., 2013. Improving engagement: the use of ‘Authentic self- and
peerassessment for learning' to enhance the student learning experience. Assessment &
Evaluation in Higher Education, 38(7), pp. Vol. 38, No. 7.
Keller, J. M., 1987. Development and use of the ARCS Model of instructional design.
Journal of Instructional Development. Volume 10, pp. 2-19.
KIGER, A. M., 2004. Teaching medical students using role play: Twelve tips for
successful role plays.
Komarraju, M. & Karau, S. J., 2008. Relationships between the perceived value of
instructional techniques and academic motivation. Journal o f Instructional Psychology,
3(5), pp. 70-82.
Lom, B., 2012. Classroom activities: Simple strategies to incorporate student-centered
activities within undergraduate science lectures.
Lombardi, M. M., 2007. Authentic Learning for the 21st Century: An Overview. s.l.,
Educause Learning Initiative.
Lumpkin, A. L., Achen, R. M. & Dodd, R. K., 2015. College Student. Database: Academic
Search Complete, 49(1), pp. p121-133.
Machemer, P. L. & Crawford, P., 2007. Student perceptions of active learning in a large
cross-disciplinary classroom. Active Learning in Higher Education, Volume 8, pp. 9-30.
McClaughlan, R. D. & Kirkpatrick, D., 2004,. Online roleplay: design for active learning.
European Journal of Engineering Education, December, 29(4), p. 477–490.
Paquette , L., 2012. Using Role Play Simulations to Promote Active Learning.
Peters, R. A., 2010. ENHANCING ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT BY IDENTIFYING AND
MINIMIZING THE IMPEDIMENTS TO ACTIVE LEARNING. Michigan, American Society for
Public Administration.
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Poulsen, A., Lam, K., Cisneros, S. & Trust, T., 2008. ARCS Model of Motivational Design.
November.pp. 1-7.
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Volume 93, pp. 223-231.
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29
Appendix 1: Questions included in “Feedback” activity on e-active
1
2
3
4
Strongly
agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly
disagree
Strongly
agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly
disagree
Strongly
agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly
disagree
I enjoy traditional lectures where the lecturer
explains concepts and the students just listen
I enjoy watching YouTube videos where academic
concepts are explained
I enjoy watching other students participate in
activities such as role play to demonstrate academic
concepts
I enjoy participating in activities such as role play to
demonstrate my understanding of academic
concepts
5
I would rather sit and listen to a lecture than watch
YouTube videos where academic concepts are
explained
6
7
I would rather just sit and listen to a lecture than
participate in activities such as role play
I would rather watch YouTube videos explaining
academic concepts than participate in activities
such as role play
8
I understood the concepts regarding interviews as
they were explained by my lecturer
9
10
11
12
I understood the concepts regarding interviews as
they were explained in the YouTube videos
I found it easy to understand the concepts
regarding interviews as the other groups
demonstrated it by means of role-pay
I found it easy to demonstrate my understanding of
the concepts of selection interviews by means of
role-pay
I think I learn best when
I watch a
YouTube
video
3
I listen to a
lecture
4
30
I watch a roleplay activity
2
I participate in
a role play
activity
4
13
14
15
Select the
statement
regarding
role-play
activities
that best
describe
your
feelings
I think today's
role play activity
was fun
I think today's
role-play activity
was educational
I think today's
role-play activity
was fun AND
educational
Today's role
play activity
made me feel
uncomfortable
Strongly agree
Agree
Disagree
I found today's
role play activity
intimidating
Strongly
disagree
I enjoyed having the
opportunity to evaluate the
role- play of my peers
I found it very educational to
evaluate my peer's role play
16
What I enjoyed most
about today's role play
activity was
Working
together with
other
students
17
I think that role play activities
should be included more
often in the modules that I am
enrolled for
18
The
performing/acting
part
Demonstrating
my knowledge
Agree
Disagree
Strongly
agree
I was paying
attention all
the time
I was paying
attention most
of the time
How easy was it for you to
pay attention during the role
play activity today?
19
Assessing
the role-play
of my fellow
students
I struggled to
pay attention
some of the
time
I did not
enjoy it at
all
Strongly disagree
I found it difficult to pay
attention at all
Very relevant
Relevant
Not very
relevant
Completely
irrelevant
I feel
completely
confident that I
will be able to
do it
I feel fairly
confident that I
will be able to
do it
I would prefer
not to do it
I will definitely
not be able to
do it
How relevant do you think role
play activities are to prepare you
for your future career?
20
How confident would you feel to
demonstrate or explain different
types of interviews and interview
questions after today's role play
activity?
31
21
Completely
satisfied
Fairly satisfied
How satisfied do you feel with
what you have learned about
interviews today by means of the
role play activity?
32
Slightly
unsatisfied
Completely
unsatisfied
Appendix 2: Transcript of group interview
Santos
Arends
Masiga
Santos
…Arends
Santos
Masiga
Arends
Santos
I’m Jessica Santos from CTI Bft
And I’m Dawood Arends from CTI Bft
And I’m Tshepiso Masiga from CTI Bft
So as a HR class we participated in a group activity that our
lecturer Ms Reineke decided to do with us and in this activity we
… she lectured with 3 different styles. The first one was just a
normal basic lecture with slides, The second one was where she
presented YouTube videos and the third one was where we had
to participate as a group together to actually implement
different types of interview styles.
The experience of, the experiences was about to see what,
what, what type of lecturing types do we learn the most from so
we can choose, we could actually see…. The experiment was
about what type of lecture the students understand the best.
So in my experience I thought that as a group we participated
well when we actually had to work together and I feel that we
all understood the work much better when we practically had to
do the different interviews such as the stress interview, the
technical interview and so on.
I personally, it was first was the lecturing which I didnt much
concentrate on, the second one, the YouTube one I clearly
wasn’t up on that, the third one which was the practical part
which I enjoyed 00the most because I feel through learning you
have to do it practically so you can learn and correct your
mistakes while you learn, so I enjoyed that most.
I personally feel that we can watch YouTube videos, while the
lecturer is busy lecturing, students are …. I understand that the
best
So in conclusion I think that the …(breaks down and laugh) . So
in conclusion I believe that this was a successful way of trying
to see what the students enjoy best and how they study and
understand the work best, and as a class we really enjoyed it.
Thank you …
33
Approx.
time
00.00
00.03
00.07
00.10
00.40
01.04
Appendix 3: Interview Role-play Evaluation form (Rubric)
Name of group:
_______________________________________________
Final score:
_______________________________________________
Interview Evaluation
1
2
3
4
Introduction
Poor
Acceptable
Good
Excellent
Structure
Poor
Acceptable
Good
Excellent
Interview
questions
Poor
Acceptable
Good
Excellent
Interview types
Not
applicable
to vacancy
Somewhat
applicable
to vacancy
Applicable
to vacancy
Excellent
application
Selection tools
used
Not
identified
Briefly
mentioned
Identified
but not
explained
Identified
and
explained
Clarity of
speech
Poor
Acceptable
Good
Excellent
Professionalism
Poor
Acceptable
Good
Excellent
Mark
Awarded
Technical Aspects of Presentation
Total Score:
/ 28
Additional comments:
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
34