Edu-larps
Our most advanced method for our most progressive clients.
10 second explanation
Roleplaying game without board games in a simulated business environment with learning goals.
1 minute explanation
All of the participants are assigned roles and introduced to a hypothetical scenario. Upon getting acquainted with the scenario, they're introduced to the premise and possible outcomes. Throughout living as their character in the scenario, participants come to a conclusion coinciding with learning goals (and sometimes unexcpected ones as well!).
10 minute explanation
By assuming a perspective, unlike their real-world own, in a controlled environment, players are taken through a scenario with expected learning goals in order to share an experience. In doing so, the players will, with the assistance of facilitators, come to expected (and sometimes unexpected!) learning goals.
How it works:
First - let's build up to the whole concept:
Role-Play is by far the most familiar - it is heavily used in games (board games, computer games, ...), simulations, theatre and so on.
Live-Action (role play) means that the role-playing is done live, with the whole body in a space or a place.
Educational adds the learning goal. Check out game-based learning for more.
Role-playing traditions involve the players taking on a role of a character. In the educational setting these roles are often much simpler and the acting component is minimised. The players get familiar with the game world - they are given their roles, the story and various information - a lot like how you would read board game instructions. This is followed by immersion into the world - players often get artefacts, cues and reminders that the world, which they are immersed in, is real. By keeping this group illusion, the players are free to explore the micro world in a safe and controlled environment and are taken through predetermined events that are fixated upon creating the learning points. By creating an outcome, unique to their collective experience, the players are drawn into the world where they interact as the characters' whose roles they were given.
Okay, let's get practical - potential spoiler alert - in the second Jumanji movies (The ones featuring The Rock, Jack Black and others), the players took on roles of characters from the game. Each character had their own unique position (in case of Jumanji it was the skillset, in our case it's personal or collective motivations) and a way of finishing the game (in Jumanji, they progress through levels, in edu-larps they progress through phases). By utilising their own sets of skills, talents and attitudes, combined with their character's unique position, the players start the journey of learning by doing. The players, by taking on the roles of their characters, are transported to a simulated world (in Jumanji they get in the actual Jumanji, in our scenarios, it's the scene, the facilitators' immersion and other various factors) that stimulates the players to act from not their own but rather their character's motivations. And just like in Jumanji, where you start as a explorer in the middle of nowhere, so too do the players in edu-larps - noone starts with an advantage, they are introduced to a problem (or more) and are challenged in solving them; keeping in mind that edu-larps keep things straight forward for the players, but usually offer complexity in their design.
10 second explanation
Roleplaying game without board games in a simulated business environment with learning goals.
1 minute explanation
All of the participants are assigned roles and introduced to a hypothetical scenario. Upon getting acquainted with the scenario, they're introduced to the premise and possible outcomes. Throughout living as their character in the scenario, participants come to a conclusion coinciding with learning goals (and sometimes unexcpected ones as well!).
10 minute explanation
By assuming a perspective, unlike their real-world own, in a controlled environment, players are taken through a scenario with expected learning goals in order to share an experience. In doing so, the players will, with the assistance of facilitators, come to expected (and sometimes unexpected!) learning goals.
How it works:
First - let's build up to the whole concept:
Role-Play is by far the most familiar - it is heavily used in games (board games, computer games, ...), simulations, theatre and so on.
Live-Action (role play) means that the role-playing is done live, with the whole body in a space or a place.
Educational adds the learning goal. Check out game-based learning for more.
Role-playing traditions involve the players taking on a role of a character. In the educational setting these roles are often much simpler and the acting component is minimised. The players get familiar with the game world - they are given their roles, the story and various information - a lot like how you would read board game instructions. This is followed by immersion into the world - players often get artefacts, cues and reminders that the world, which they are immersed in, is real. By keeping this group illusion, the players are free to explore the micro world in a safe and controlled environment and are taken through predetermined events that are fixated upon creating the learning points. By creating an outcome, unique to their collective experience, the players are drawn into the world where they interact as the characters' whose roles they were given.
Okay, let's get practical - potential spoiler alert - in the second Jumanji movies (The ones featuring The Rock, Jack Black and others), the players took on roles of characters from the game. Each character had their own unique position (in case of Jumanji it was the skillset, in our case it's personal or collective motivations) and a way of finishing the game (in Jumanji, they progress through levels, in edu-larps they progress through phases). By utilising their own sets of skills, talents and attitudes, combined with their character's unique position, the players start the journey of learning by doing. The players, by taking on the roles of their characters, are transported to a simulated world (in Jumanji they get in the actual Jumanji, in our scenarios, it's the scene, the facilitators' immersion and other various factors) that stimulates the players to act from not their own but rather their character's motivations. And just like in Jumanji, where you start as a explorer in the middle of nowhere, so too do the players in edu-larps - noone starts with an advantage, they are introduced to a problem (or more) and are challenged in solving them; keeping in mind that edu-larps keep things straight forward for the players, but usually offer complexity in their design.
These are actual photos from edu-larps, from left to right: 7 Samurai, The Ark, 7 Samurai, Dust Over Assling City. Click to enlarge.
An important part of every edu-larp experience is the debriefing, where the players, upon leaving the roles and taking a short break reflect on the shared experience. It always comes in the end, where the facilitators evaluate if the learning goal was achieved and what else was learned. The debrief is usually followed by a workshop with either an a) action phase, where participants are encouraged to put their new knowledge into action, b) a discussing phase, where participants focus on finding solutions to the problem they've recognised through the play or c) both.
For more on learning by playing and debriefing, check out experiential learning.
For more on learning by playing and debriefing, check out experiential learning.
For more on edu-larps, you're strongly advised to read the Imagine This book.
Free executive summary, portraying the use of edu-larps is available on the product page of the book.
Extensive knowledge on making the edu-larp method your own is available in Chapter 6. A real must-read for having fun while making big learning steps.
Free executive summary, portraying the use of edu-larps is available on the product page of the book.
Extensive knowledge on making the edu-larp method your own is available in Chapter 6. A real must-read for having fun while making big learning steps.
