Year: 2006
Type: dissertation
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
Author: Matthew Riddle
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1826536086