Using Online Role-Play to Promote Collaborative Argument and ...

Candance Doerr-Stevens, Richard Beach, and Elizabeth Boeser

Using Online Role-Play to Promote Collaborative Argument and Collective Action

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Playing different characters in an online role-play, students explore controversial aspects of Internet filtering and adopt a plan to change their school’s policy.

I’m realizing that a few students working together to create change on a subject they feel passionate about can actually make a difference, whether it be in the school or community. —Sasha, a participant in online role-play

tudents in Elizabeth Boeser’s twelfth-grade College Writing class at Jefferson High School, in Bloomington, Minnesota, were upset that when researching various topics they were often unable to access important websites because of Internet filters. For example, one student interested in studying issues of gun control found that the NRA site was blocked. Another student, seeking clarification on MLA citation, typed in ‘’Diana Hacker’’ and found that it was blocked due to the composition scholar’s last name. These same students were also concerned about their perception that administrators in a nearby high school had suspended students after searching their Facebook pages to find photos of alcohol use. When given the chance to voice their opinions about these issues in class, the students often disagreed about how to address issues of Internet access and privacy. Like many other teachers, Elizabeth faced the challenge of how to channel these disagreements into a productive debate or “constructive controversy” (Johnson and Johnson 37) that, like Sasha voices above, would lead to collaborative problem solving—a process of exploring alternative perspectives on a problem with the goal of collaboratively developing a solution to that problem (Beach and Doerr-Stevens, “Learning”).

Using Collaborative Argument to Address Issues Traditional persuasive writing about controversial issues in the classroom typically involves formulating arguments and supporting evidence to convince a teacher, who serves as the primary audience. In contrast, collaborative argument involves students convincing a range of different audiences—in this case, one’s peers and/or outside audiences—to accept their position through weighing the merits of competing positions, refuting arguments as false or not supported, and moving toward some recommended synthesis or solution as collective action (Nussbaum and Schraw). One approach to fostering collaborative arguments is through online role-play. Similar to other educational uses of online games (Sardone and Devlin-Scherer), online role-play requires students to adopt a range of roles representing competing perspectives on an issue. Students argue their positions over an extended period of time, which requires them to draw on the understanding of others’ perspectives to build some consensus on possible solutions for addressing that issue. Hosted on a blog or some other asynchronous discussion platform such as Moodle or Ning, these online role-plays offer students additional resources for participation and persuasion. One beneficial

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resource in particular is that of time. In contrast to the often-superficial, verbal interaction of face-to-face debates, the asynchronous online role-play creates a space for Elizabeth also realized ongoing conversation, where that students would be students post their stances on more motivated to the issue and then respond to participate in a each other’s positions. Asyncollaborative manner if chronous online role-play althey knew that their rolelows students extended time to reflect on each other’s posts play efforts might result and to develop counterarguin actual change in the ments. It also allows students school’s Internet policies. to build alliances through identifying other roles with compatible positions. Use of online role-play also allows students to • Participate both in and outside of class. • Construct fictional bio profiles for adoption of personas. • Readily identify names and/or faces of participants on the screen. • Send messages to everyone or selected audiences only. • Link to other posts or online material. • Revisit posts online for further reflection and writing.

Setting Up the Online Role-Play

problems with Internet filters and lead to writing position papers to communicate their policy recommendations to the school administration as well as the school technology coordinator, Mr. Wilson. Rather than simply being one more persuasive writing assignment, the students were using the writing during their online role-play to collaboratively explore and suggest changes in their school’s policies. To teach students argumentative strategies in an online forum, Elizabeth had students analyze and discuss role-play postings from a previous online role-play with attention to the development of their roles, statement and support of position, acknowledgment of counterarguments, and identification with audience. Students applied rubrics to assess postings based on these criteria, rubrics they would later apply to their own posts. To enhance the students’ exploration of Internet access and privacy issues, the students read Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother, which portrays a young hacker coping with government intrusion in people’s private information. Elizabeth then had the students research issues of Internet privacy and policy and choose several possible roles representing alternative perspectives on the issue, such as school administrators, parents, teachers, students, technology entrepreneurs, and lawyers. In some cases, students adopted perspectives that were different from their own. For example, a student who supported the school’s Internet filtering system assumed the role of a student who, informed by a civil liberties stance, was opposed to the school

In response to her students’ concern about Internet filters and online privacy, Elizabeth developed an online role-play using a Ning social network. The Ning included various FIGURE 1. Ning Social Network Used for Online Role-Play features that allowed the students to dePlatform velop their role-play personas with images and profile settings, while at the same time allowing her to set the platform to private and invited participants only (see fig. 1). Elizabeth also realized that students would be more motivated to participate in a collaborative manner if they knew that their role-play efforts might result in actual change in the school’s Internet policies. She therefore told the students that their online role-play would be used to identify

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filters, viewing them as an infringement on the First Amendment. To begin the actual role-play, the students posted a fictional profile for their role-play character on the Ning. To avoid superficial stances on the issue, students were encouraged to view the development of their role-play personas as a way to build ethos, or credibility, within the role-play. Considering the ‘’believability’’ in their persona development was among the criteria in their final evaluation. Students then formulated their arguments over a three-week period through a series of postings on the Ning discussion forum. Students developed their arguments through posting forum entries, comments, claims, and evidence about the issue as a means to interact with other role-play personas. These comments and claims were then affirmed or challenged by other role-play participants, who then incorporated these ideas into their own claims, starting the process of verification over again. This repeated process of claim-verificationincorporation led to a continual building of knowledge about the topic through sharing of arguments, evidence, and reasoning via online sources. While the online role-play progressed, various in-class activities were used to support the roleplay participation. Students with similar positions informally caucused in face-to-face meetings to share strategies. To highlight the power differences among the characters during the role-play, students used Bubbl.us to create digital maps charting the roles’ different stances and their perceived official status. Mapping the different roles helped students target roles whose positions they would challenge or with whom they could build alliances. After the online role-play ended, students then stepped out of their roles and wrote a persuasive essay expressing their personal views on these issues. As a culminating event for the persuasive writing unit, the students then met with the school technology coordinator to learn about rationales for the school’s current policies and to suggest changes in these policies.

Adopting Alternative Perspectives Once the role-play was completed, the postings from the forum discussion and individual profile

pages were analyzed according to the students’ use of different language styles and perspectives, or discourses, and how these discourses interacted in ways that helped students to adopt hybrid voices (Beach and Doerr-Stevens, “Using”). While many of the initial role-play postings reflected stereotypical assumptions about their roles, over time, the role-play characters adopted alternative, nuanced perspectives on the issue. Instead of framing technology access as an either/or issue, the students began to perceive technology access and Internet filters as more than basic necessities to protect students from the evil of online predators. They also began to perceive the need to protect people’s rights to information, or in other cases, their rights to privacy in a world with continually shifting boundaries of public and private. For example, Sasha, the student who played “Judith Rosario,” described her character as “Emo Girl,” a girl with strong opinions and who always dressed in black. Sasha’s initial role-play posting illustrates some of this character-based representation. Hello everyone. My name is Judith Rosario and I am a junior at Jefferson High School in Bloomington, MN. . . . I am by no means the most popular student in our school (nor would I want to be), but people know me. They see my short, pink and black spiky hair bobbing down the hall and they know trouble is coming at them if they get in my way. I don’t take anything laying down. That’s why I can’t let the Internet stalking by our administration continue any longer.

As Sasha learned more about the complexities of privacy related to use of Internet filters, her perspectives began to shift. As she noted in a post-roleplay interview: I began the role-play believing that administration’s monitoring of student access was a good idea, but my opinions changed a little as time progressed. As I continued to write as Judith and research the topic more carefully, I came to see how a person could come to feel so strongly about privacy in the academic setting.

Recognizing the plurality of stances on the issue served to prepare students to consider the range of different perceptions that Mr. Wilson, the technology coordinator, was coping with in addressing the school’s Internet policies.

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Collaborative Argumentation Exploring these alternative perspectives helped students engage in collaborative argumentation by moving away from competitive, either-or thinking, designed to simply refute opponents’ arguments. Recognizing alternative perspectives leads to identifying points of agreement to achieve some consensus on how to address issues (Andriessen, Baker, and Suthers; Flower). For example, two characters of the online role-play, a student hacker (BL33K3R) and an ACLU Lawyer (Jeffery Schwartz), are discussing the current policies that affect Internet use in schools. Jeffery Schwartz: I applaud you, Bl33k3r on your knowledge of Miller v. California. Obscenity I is always considered controversial because of it is hard to define and subjective. . . . Two current laws that affect internet use in schools are: 1. Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA), which requires schools and public libraries receiving federal funding to employ blockExploring these ing technology to block obscene materials. alternative perspectives 2. (This one has not been passed, helped students engage but is still of interest) Deleting in collaborative Online Predators Act of 2006 argumentation by moving (DOPA), which will create further restrictions on sites like away from competitive, MySpace and Facebook, as well as either-or thinking, online chatting programs. designed to simply refute The ACLU and ALA brought opponents’ arguments. the issue of CIPA censorship to the Supreme Court, but, unfortunately, the Court declared it constitutional because the restrictions were in exchange for federal funds. DOPA is a concern because it could limit educational applications on the internet of resources such as Wikis and blogs, which are being used by some teachers in classes today. This is another example of how this censorship is hurting educational use of the internet. BL33K3R: Jeffery, I found your post to be very interesting. I read the article you cited under CIPA. Though the information may be somewhat correct I would not

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recommend in the future citing wikipedia as a source. I did some digging into CIPA. The FCC was actually the driving force behind that piece of legislation. . . . The Child Internet Protection Act has strings attached to it. I know that is why the Supreme Court must have deemed that this act of censorship was constitutional. I find that absurd! That is just another way the government is twisting school officials arms when it comes to internet access. . . . I must thank you for your research though Jeffery. It was very helpful to me. Though I am unsure on your stance on the issue. You provided good information but what is your position?

As these postings show, the students were more concerned about the issue of Internet access and privacy than they were about scoring rhetorical points to win a debate. The policy information shared in these two postings was quickly adopted and incorporated into the role-play postings of other students, taking the discussion of Internet policy and schools to a deeper level.

Collective Action After three weeks of online role-play, experimenting with various perspectives, and collaboratively building knowledge on the issue, the students stepped out of their fictional roles to write a summary essay drawing on material from the online role-play. This essay argued students’ positions on the issue and proposed changes to the school’s current policies with the school administration as a potential audience. Through engaging in collaborative argumentation during their role-play, students identified relevant concerns, problems, and questions that were emailed to several employees of the school and district. They immediately received a response from the district tech staff, stating that the “safe search” designed for elementary Internet use had been accidentally placed on the high school network. This “safe search” filter was removed as a result of the student-initiated email. The students were both surprised and pleased that they simply had to raise a question and they received results. In addition, the technology coordinator, Mr. Wilson, agreed to visit the class in person, listen to the students’ per-

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ceptions and concerns, and explain the reasoning behind the school’s security and filtering systems. During Mr. Wilson’s class visit, the students posed challenging questions. The student who played the role of BL33K3R compared the current Internet filtering to book banning: Isn’t blocking sites that have educational use like the NRA or the KKK website similar to banning books? Books used to be the primary source of information but how can we key that up on the computer? Blocking website sounds a lot like censorship. I don’t think that’s fair. There’s a Supreme Court case, Miller vs. State of California, 1973, that dealt with what was obscene and what was not. The findings of that court case could be applied to schools; can you use something like that or is it someone who decides on what’s blocked?

In her question to the technology coordinator, the student uses information that she gathered from the online role-play to suggest changes in her realworld situation. In response to her probing questions, Mr. Wilson agreed with her that the blocking represents a form of censorship and went on to describe the book banning and Internet site blocking processes in the district. At this point another student asked about the inconsistency in these processes, pointing out that while Nazi websites are blocked by school filters, a copy of Mein Kampf is on display in the school library. To this comment, Mr. Wilson responded with a larger reflection on the process of making change in the district and the need for students to voice their opinions to those officials who are removed from the classroom. He also noted that change is most likely to occur through collective action in which groups of people such as Elizabeth’s students organize to propose change. This discussion with the technology coordinator led to a closer examination of the current Internet filters and policies. It also added support to lifting the school’s block on the use of YouTube in classes. Prior to these events, the students believed that they had no voice in influencing school policy. Even those who had been involved in the Student Council, debate, and other organizations assumed that they were simply expected to follow school rules without questioning them. The administrators’ and Mr. Wilson’s reactions led students to

realize that their collaborative efforts in formulating convincing arguments afforded them a voice and power in the school. The students were therefore doing more than simply writing persuasive essays for their teacher. They were engaged in writing for authentic audiences about how to improve their school, a practice that motivated them to reflect on which positions and proposals would most likely In addition to writing convince Mr. Wilson of the need for change. That they for collective action, the had already adopted and adstudents who participated dressed the roles of adminisin the role-play often trators and technology noted how engaged coordinators in the role-play they were in the activity, prepared them for addressnot only because of ing the actual administrators and Mr. Wilson. the novelty of online Participating in this discussion but also online role-play led stubecause of the way it dents to recognize how colpushed their thinking lective action that builds on issues. on different, even competing, perspectives can lead to actual change and bolstered their belief in the value of collaboratively formulating convincing arguments for making changes in their peer group, families, workplace, and communities. In addition to writing for collective action, the students who participated in the role-play often noted how engaged they were in the activity, not only because of the novelty of online discussion but also because of the way it pushed their thinking on issues. For example, one student noted that once other students started disagreeing with her claims, she had to think carefully about the variety of perspectives surrounding an issue. Another student noted that she normally writes from her own perspective, but in the role-play she had to recognize others’ perspectives to move toward collaboration. In these cases, deeper engagement can lead to a more complex understanding of issues.

More Suggestions for Using Online Role-Plays Based on our experiences using online role-plays to foster collaborative argument in our teaching, we propose the following.

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Select relevant, familiar issues.

In setting up online role-plays, it is important to select issues relevant to students’ reading or the lives in their schools/communities. Students are more likely to be engaged when they are arguing about issues that directly concern them, particularly when they can address policy suggestions and solutions for these issues to not only peer audiences but also to authentic audiences, who have the power to act on these issues, as was the case with Mr. Wilson. When incorporating relevant issues, students do more than construct sound arguments; they build awareness of issues and empathy for the individuals involved (Freedman). Much like Shira Eve Epstein does when involving her students in social action literacy projects (61), this practice of perspective taking can inspire new social imaginations and be integral for engaging students in social action. To build empathy, students must experience different perspectives on an issue. One advantage of basing an online role-play on a novel where students assume the roles of characters is that students are familiar with these characters’ perspectives and stances on issues portrayed in a novel. In reading the novel Montana, 1948 (Watson), Elizabeth’s students addressed the issue of institutional racism toward Native Americans relative to the University of North Dakota’s Fighting Sioux mascot (http:// roleplaymascots.blogspot.com; http://mascotroleplay.blogspot.com). Another literature-based roleplay involved the reading of The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Chbosky), where students used online role-play to address issues of teen drug and alcohol abuse that were present both in the book and recent news stories about school administrator actions regarding Facebook and MySpace photos (http:// wallfloweronline.blogspot.com). Exploit online features.

While Elizabeth used a Ning social networking platform for the role-play, teachers can also use a classroom blog to conduct these role-plays, particularly if Ning, Moodle, Grou.ps, Grouply, or other online classroom management systems are not available or blocked. As we noted, one advantage of using a social networking platform is that students, drawing on their experience creating Facebook and MySpace profiles, can create fictional biographical

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profiles along with avatar images of their roles, an online practice that helps them define their persona or ethos constituting their rhetorical stance on issues. In contrast to the use of posts on a class blog, the threaded forum discussion format on a social networking platform helps students readily perceive relationships between claims and rebuttals. And, students can easily create links to relevant material supporting their positions and make comments on each other’s profile walls. Students can also create an accompanying wiki for collaboratively storing, organizing, and sharing relevant information and material related to a certain issue or text. And they can consult related online sites such as Debatepedia (http://wiki.idebate/ org), Opposing Views (http://www.opposingviews. com), CreateDebate (http://www.createdebate.com/ teachers), or Debategraph (http://debatemapper. com) that provide material on various issues. Explore alternative modes of role-play.

Students can engage in collaborative arguments through alternative online formats, for example, radio, podcast, or video townhall meetings such as the student-run townhall meetings on Northeast Public Radio, WAMC (http://www.wamcstudenttownmeetings.org). Students can participate in the Our Courts project (http://www.ourcourts.org) designed for middle school students, where students assume the role of a law clerk assisting a judge in writing opinions on cases. Or, students can participate in online games, for example, games on The Persuasive Games site (http://www.persuasivegames. com), Democracy (http://positech.co.uk/democrary/ faq.html), Peacemaker (http://www.peacemakergame.com), LittleBigPlanet (http://www.littlebigplanet.com), or Global Warming Interactive (http:// www.globalwarminginteractive.com/game.html).

Promoting Deeper Understanding of Collaboration Through participating in these online collaborative argumentative activities, students consider multiple perspectives in ways that enhance their use of argumentative strategies. This collaboration promotes a deeper understanding of how issues can be addressed through sharing knowledge and lead to solutions to problems. This ability to problem solve

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both collaboratively and at times virtually is essential for 21st-century communications. Works Cited

Andriessen, Jerry, Michael Baker, and Dan D. Suthers, eds. Arguing to Learn: Confronting Cognitions in ComputerSupported Collaborative Learning Environments. New York: Springer, 2003. Print. Beach, Richard, and Candance Doerr-Stevens. ‘’Learning Argument Practices through Online Role-Play: Toward a Rhetoric of Significance and Transformation.’’ Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 52.6 (2009): 460–68. Print. ———. ‘’Using Social Networking for Online Role-Plays to Develop Students’ Argumentative Strategies.’’ Journal of Education Computing Research. (in press). Chbosky, Stephen. The Perks of Being a Wallflower. New York: Pocket, 1999. Print. Doctorow, Corey. Little Brother. New York: Tor, 2008. Print.

Epstein, Shira Eve. “‘[T]o carve out new orders in experience’: Imgination in a Social Action Literacy Project.” English Journal 99.2 (2009): 61–66. Print. Flower, Linda. Community Literacy and the Rhetoric of Public Engagement. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2008. Print. Freedman, Joel. “Echoes of Silence: Empathy and Making Connections through Writing Process.” English Journal 98.4 (2009): 92–95. Print. Johnson, David W., and Roger T. Johnson. ‘’Energizing Learning: The Instructional Power of Conflict.’’ Educational Researcher 38.1 (2009): 37–51. Print. Nussbaum, E. M., and G. Schraw. “Promoting Argument– counterargument Integration in Students’ Writing.” The Journal of Experimental Education 76.1 (2007): 59–92. Print. Sardone, Nancy B., and Roberta Devlin-Scherer. “Keeping It Current: Using Technology to Teach about Social Issues.” English Journal 99.4 (2010): 61–64. Print. Watson, Larry. Montana, 1948. Minneapolis: Milkwood, 1993. Print.

Candance Doerr-Stevens is a doctoral student of critical literacy at the University of Minnesota. She has taught writing at the elementary, junior high, and college levels and currently teaches education courses for preservice and practicing teachers through her work with the Minnesota Writing Project. Her research interests explore student engagement and identity construction through arts-based digital media. She may be reached at [email protected]. Richard Beach is professor of English education at the University of Minnesota and vice-president elect of the Literacy Research Association. He is co-author of Literacy Tools in the Classroom: Teaching Through Critical Inquiry, Grades 5–12 (http://literacytooluses.pbworks.com), Teaching Literature to Adolescents, 2nd ed. (http://www.teachingliterature.org), and Teaching Writing Using Blogs, Wikis, and Other Digital Tools (http://digitalwriting.pbworks.com). He can be reached at [email protected]. Elizabeth Boeser’s teaching career began in 2003 at Bloomington Jefferson High School where she has taught several elective courses including College Writing, Creative Writing and TV Production, as well as required English courses. She is a teaching consultant for the Minnesota Writing Project. She was a semifinalist for the 2009 Minnesota Teacher of the Year and received a 2009 NCTE Teacher of Excellence Award and the 2010 NCTE Media Literacy Award from the NCTE Commission on Media. Email her at [email protected].

R E A D W R IT E T H IN K C O N N E CT ION

Lisa Storm Fink, RWT

After brainstorming a list of local issues in “Communicating on Local Issues: Exploring Audience in Persuasive Letter Writing,”students select and research an issue that concerns them, using Internet and print sources, and review the concepts of purpose and audience. They then argue a position on their selected issue in letters to two different audiences. Students work with peer groups as they use an online tool to draft and revise their letters. Finally, letters are published and sent. http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/communicating-localissues-exploring-945.html

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