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Role-play in the post-secondary classroom can take many forms and serve many different purposes. Faculty can use role play as a teaching tool to: 

– increase student engagement  

– bring their lesson content to life  

– help students develop vital interpersonal communication skills and build confidence  

– provide a high impact, memorable learning experience 

This hub-post will open with a definition of role-play and describe various forms it can take whether you teach in person or online synchronous. This post will also provide a brief overview of the history of role-play in post-secondary education before exploring the recent surge of interest in role-play simulation as an in-class assessment tool that is (if well designed and facilitated) resistant to unsanctioned generative AI use.  
(In some cases, of course, faculty might intentionally use Generative AI to help design role-plays for students, and prepare them for the experience with real humans).  

The full significance of what role-play can offer faculty and students in post-secondary settings is too vast for a single hub post. But if you read on, and find yourself intrigued, please do consider registering for courses in the role-play in the classroom micro-credential series. 

What is role-play in the post-secondary classroom?  

Role-play (or human simulation as it is sometimes described),–is a powerful experiential learning tool.  Though role-play takes different forms within different disciplines to meet diverse learning objectives, Schnurr & Mcleod (2020) define it as an approach to education: 

“in which students adopt a character and represent this role within an approximation of the real world as part of the learning process… [Role-plays] recreate fictionalized or hypothetical scenarios and are embedded within existing courses or curriculum… (they) are uniquely positioned to enable the attainment of both knowledge and skill-based learning outcomes, without many of the costs associated with other forms of experiential learning… (Role play) represents a cost effective and scalable pedagogical strategy that can offer learners direct, hands-on experience in order to develop capacities they will need to thrive in an evolving labour market” (p. 1-2).  

Note that while the definition stipulates that “students” adopt a role, sometimes students will be interacting with other students in role and other times they might be interacting with faculty in role or professionally trained actors/ simulated participants.  

Types of role-plays 

Educators use several varieties of role-play.  

Simple character-based role-plays/ role switch activities ask students to pair up and each adopt a persona and to interact with one another to help achieve a specific learning goal.  

For example, if students are in a finance class, they may be asked to imagine they are having a conversation with a risk-averse investor. Partner A in the group will be the financial advisor tasked with assessing the client’s risk-tolerance and then advising about investments accordingly. Partner B will play the risk-averse client—offering reasons why they may want to avoid mutual funds and stick only to low-interest GICs etc.   In these cases, students can work together in pairs for 10-15 mins (switching roles at the half-way point) and the faculty member can circulate while students are discussing and listen in and then offer advice during the follow-up full class debrief.  

Structured debates are a form of role-play in which students take opposing positions with formal rules and stakeholder perspectives/ interests (e.g., pro/con debate on an issue like self-driving cars. One side representing a company that wants to develop these cars, the another representing concerned citizens), blending advocacy and performance.  

Role-Modelling In this case a faculty member might take on a role (say, an experienced Early Childhood Educator who needs to chair a meeting with parents who are concerned about a charged topic at the daycare).  The faculty member might perform an opening speech at this “meeting” and then have students in the class debrief what they felt the faculty member/ Daycare Manager did well or badly. They might enhance this experience by assigning certain students in class specific roles (e.g., they could play different parents bringing various concerns to the meeting). Experiences like this can help students empathize with perspectives of stakeholders they will be interacting with in the workforce.  

 Simulated “real-life” role-play. Simulated “real-life” role-play scenarios are sophisticated and often evaluated as evidence of student learning. To ensure student buy-in and to make the experience worthwhile, they need to appear realistic and detailed, with layered scenarios prepared in advance. Typically, a trained actor interacts with students, providing a high-stakes, genuine rehearsal for reality.  

For example, in a social service worker course, a live actor might play a domestic violence victim living in a shelter. Students know some facts about the character but learn more as they earn her trust. These role-plays occur in front of the class and teacher, with students taking turns interacting with the actor. Regular group debriefs are vital, and students can “time out” if overwhelmed or needing advice. 

A brief history of “simulated participant” role-plays 

Live actor role-play simulation has a long and rich history in certain domains of post-secondary education. For example, in health sciences, particularly in medical education, it has been used for decades to enhance clinical skills and communication abilities. “Standardized patients” – actors trained to portray medical cases – were introduced into health sciences education in the early 1960s.  

Since then, live‐actor simulations have become routine in nursing and medical training (Barrows, 1964). In these programs, students interview or examine an actor “patient” (and/or fictional family member or friend of the patient) in a controlled setting, gaining experience while their mistakes carry no real-world risk (Poorman, 2002). Additionally, live actor role-play has been utilized regularly in post-secondary classrooms where students are embarking on other high-stakes professions such as policing education, where live actor role-plays simulate high-stress scenarios, helping future officers develop critical decision-making and de-escalation skills (Ponsi, 2019).  

Over time, this technique spread to other disciplines. For example, law schools adopted the idea of “standardized clients” for legal counseling exercises, and business programs began role-play negotiation or leadership scenarios. Errington (2011) outlines that though role-play was traditionally “reserved” for fields like foreign language, business, and law, technical disciplines have also recently started experimenting with it. Today even engineering and other applied programs use simulation exercises (e.g., crisis scenarios, design debates) to help students practice soft skills in context (Parker & Black, 2018). In business education, role-play simulations are used to teach negotiation, leadership, and decision-making skills (Bowman, 2015). Social work programs employ live actor scenarios to help students practice client interactions and crisis management (Yorke et al., 2016).  

Additionally, fields such as customer service, education, and hospitality have integrated role-play simulations to enhance practical skills and professional readiness (Bowman, 2015). These simulations provide students with opportunities to engage in realistic, immersive experiences that foster deeper learning and skill development 

Potential Benefits of role-play in the Classroom 
 

Research shows role-play has many educational advantages. In practice, students work together on realistic tasks and report higher engagement and deeper learning and improved critical thinking skills (Bonwell & Eison, 1991; Wills et al., 2011). Similarly, systematic reviews find that simulation-based activities significantly increase empathy: students who practice patient or client interactions in a role-play score higher on empathy measures afterward (Errington, 2011). And of course, role-play provides a safe, low-risk environment for practicing difficult tasks: learners can make mistakes (e.g., offending a “client” or missing a step in a procedure) without any real harm, then receive feedback (Curtis, 2019). In short, role-play in the classroom supports: 

• Increased Engagement & Motivation: Students find role-play exercises immersive and relevant. One study explicitly links role-play to greater classroom interaction and focus (Felder, 2020). When people act out realistic scenarios, they pay closer attention and care more about the outcome. 

• Communication & Interpersonal Skills: Role-play forces students to articulate ideas aloud and react to others in real time. Training that uses role-play has been shown to improve communication skills more effectively than lectures alone (Curtis, 2019). Participants learn to listen, negotiate, and adapt their language on the spot. 

• Critical Thinking & Problem Solving: As learners encounter novel situations in the role-play, they must analyze problems, make decisions, and adjust their approach. This active decision-making mirrors real-world practice and strengthens critical thinking (Morrow et al., 2020). (Importantly, students do this without “playing it safe”—the controlled environment lets them push boundaries.) 

• Empathy and Perspective-Taking: By stepping into another’s shoes, students experience issues from a different viewpoint. Meta-analyses show that simulation-based interventions (including role-plays) significantly boost empathy among students (Harrison & Garver, 2021). For example, a nutritionist role-playing a distressed patient better understands that patient’s fears afterward. 

• Safe Skill Practice: Role-play creates a low-stakes setting for practicing sensitive or high-stress skills. Students can rehearse techniques (such as clinical exams, negotiations, or technical procedures) repeatedly until they reach confidence, without endangering real patients, clients, or resources. 

Role-play as authentic, AI-resistant assessment 

Role-play also serves as an authentic assessment tool: it tests students’ ability to apply knowledge, skills, and attitudes from various learning domains in realistic scenarios, not just to recall facts. For example, in contrast to essays or multiple-choice tests, a role-play performance is dynamic and rooted in context.  This real-time, interpersonal nature makes role-play resistant to generative AI. Generative AI tools excel at producing written text, but they cannot be the student acting in a scene or responding live to a partner. If an assessment is designed to take place during class, and a reflection assignment is assigned where students are asked to write about the interaction that occurred and compare it to interactions their peers made in the moment, it is near impossible to outsource to Copilot or other tools. In practical terms, that means role-play tasks are largely “AI tenable”.   This gives confidence that the work is genuine. In an era where academic integrity is challenged by powerful text generators, role-play stands out as a robust authentic strategy. By requiring students to demonstrate synthesizing knowledge, skills, and attitudes in role and/or reflecting on what their peers did in role during class, role-play ensures the assessment truly reflects each student’s own thoughts and abilities (not an AI’s output). 

References 

Barrows, H. S. (1964). An overview of the use of standardized patients for teaching and evaluating clinical skills. Academic Medicine, 39(2), 111-122. https://doi.org/10.1097/00001888-196402000-00004 

Bonwell, C. C., & Eison, J. A. (1991). Active learning: Creating excitement in the classroom. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 1. ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education 

Curtis, S. (2019). The use of role-play in educational settings: Enhancing communication skills and empathy. Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 31(3), 15-25. https://doi.org/10.1002/edhe.2029 

Errington, E. P. (2011). Mission possible: Using near-world scenarios to prepare graduates for the professions. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 23(1), 84-91. 

Felder, R. M. (2020). Active learning strategies in the STEM disciplines. Educational Research Review, 45, 124-139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2019.100249 

Harrison, J. R., & Garver, M. (2021). Simulation-based education: Increasing empathy and improving performance through role-play. Journal of Medical Education and Practice, 10(2), 102-114. https://doi.org/10.4321/jmeded.2021.0105 

MacLeod, & Schnurr, M. A. (2021). Simulations and student learning. University of Toronto Press. 

Morrow, L. E., Smith, D. J., & Brown, K. A. (2020). Role-playing as an active learning technique in post-secondary education. Journal of Educational Research, 98(4), 255-270. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.2020.1717853 

Parker, J., & Black, S. (2018). Expanding the role of simulations and role-play in undergraduate education. Journal of Applied Learning and Teaching, 9(1), 73-90. https://doi.org/10.1123/jalt.2018.016 

Ponsi, A. (2019). Role-play simulations in policing education: Developing critical decision-making and de-escalation skills. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 30(3), 345-362. 

Poorman, P. B. (2002). Biography and role-playing: Fostering empathy in abnormal psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 29(1), 32-36. 

Schnurr, M. & MacLeod, A. (2020). Simulations and Student Learning. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. https://doi.org/10.3138/9781487536831 

Wills, S., Leigh, E., & Ip, A. (2011). The power of role-based e-learning: Designing and moderating online role play. Routledge. 

Yorke, M., et al. (2016). Live actor scenarios in social work programs: Practicing client interactions and crisis management. Journal of Social Work Education, 52(4), 421-435