A role-play assessment asks students to assume a specific professional role and act out a scenario that mirrors real-world situations. Students demonstrate knowledge, problem-solving, communication, and interpersonal skills in context. Role-plays are particularly useful for assessing applied skills, decision-making, collaboration, and the ability to respond to dynamic situations.
- Purpose of assessment
- Application | Collaboration | Reflection | Skills
- Mode of assessment
- Demonstration | Oral
- Assessment environment
- On campus | Secure setting
- Group size
- Small | Medium
- Assessment duration
- Medium| Short
Step-by-step plan
Step 1: From learning objectives to assessment
Determine whether the chosen form of assessment matches the knowledge and/or skills you aim to measure, as described in your learning objectives.
Step 2: Assessment matrix
Define the assessment criteria and determine how they are distributed across the learning objectives. Ensure this distribution aligns with the weighting in your assessment plan. Indicate how many points each criterion is worth. Make sure the cognitive level of each criterion matches the level of the corresponding learning objective, never exceeding it. Lower-level criteria are allowed, as long as they still measure the intended learning outcomes.
Step 3: Create the rubric
Develop a grading rubric that translates assessment criteria into observable performance. Choose a type that fits the assignment and purpose (e.g., holistic, analytic, single-point). A clear rubric ensures transparency for students and consistent grading, and can be refined iteratively to align with learning objectives.
Step 4: Design the scenario(s)
Develop realistic, authentic situations that students may encounter in professional practice. Include enough details about the context, the roles, and any relevant constraints or challenges. Keep in mind the learning objectives and the assessment criteria. Optionally, you can let students (co-)design the scenario's.
Maybe, you want your students to come up with their own scenario. This could be an option too, but give students clear guidelines about the type and maybe limitations of the scenario that they can bring.
Step 5: Specify roles and instructions
Clearly define each student’s role and responsibilities. Provide students with clear instructions on what the role-play will look like, what the expected outcomes are, and how the performance will be assessed.
Step 6: Prepare students
Share guidance on how to approach the role-play and what skills to focus on. Offer practice sessions or peer rehearsal opportunities, as students may not be familiair with this type of assessment yet.
Step 7: Conduct the role-play
Monitor interactions and observe student performance. If needed, provide materials, prompts or interventions.
Step 8: Evaluate performance
Use the rubric, aligned with learning objectives, to grade consistently and fairly, including space for meaningful student feedback. You may add self- or peer-reflection. Afterward, debrief with students to discuss insights and connect the exercise to the learning objectives and provide feedback and feedforward.
Step 9: Reflect and improve
Collect student feedback on scenario clarity, fairness, and relevance. Adjust scenarios and instructions for future cohorts based on this feedback.
Validity
- Use authentic, profession-specific scenarios and roles that are sufficiently complex to address the learning goals.
Reliability
- Keep core elements of the role-play consistent across students while allowing for natural variation in responses.Trial the scenario with a small group to identify ambiguous elements or grading inconsistencies
Transparency
- Offer rehearsal opportunities or sample role-plays and be clear about roles, objectives, and expectations. After the role-play, provide de-briefing / feedback sessions that make grading rationale explicit.
Engagement with (Gen)AI
- Clarify if AI can be used during preparation, as it is not available during the enactment. Warn students that relying on AI may hinder skill development needed to perform independently during the role-play.
Inclusivity
- Ensure scenarios don’t rely on specific cultural references, traditions, or local practices that some students might not know.
- Make sure students feel safe enough to demonstrate their true skills.
- Make sure the grading criteria are clear to minimize bias in grading.
- Individual Role-Play: One student enacts a scenario with an instructor, actor, or peer, focusing on individual skills.
- Paired or group Role-Play: Two or more students interact in complementary or opposing roles, practicing negotiation, communication, or conflict resolution.
- Debrief-Focused Role-Play: Emphasis is on reflection and discussion after the enactment rather than grading the performance alone. For example, the enactment is followed up by a written or oral reflection on decisions and strategies used. Be aware that this means your learning objectives are probably about reflection.
- Role-Play with Feedback Loops: Students perform multiple rounds, receiving feedback between rounds to improve performance.
- Reflection: You can add a reflection (assessment) if you want to assess how well students can evaluate their own work and reflect on it.
