Gerard CHUNG Siew Keong1,*, Jonathan Y. H. SIM2,*, Bryan ONG1, and NEO Jie Xiang3
1Department of Social Work, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), NUS
2AI Centre for Educational Technologies (AICET) and Department of Philosophy, FASS, NUS
3School of Computing, NUS
*gerard@nus.edu.sg; 2jyhsim@nus.edu.sg
Chung, G. S. K., & Sim, J. Y. H. (2024). "Is this how you feel?”: Role playing for social work students using GenAI: Bridging technology and pedagogy [Paper presentation]. In Higher Education Conference in Singapore (HECS) 2024, 3 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecs/hecs2024-gcskeong-jyhsim-et-al/
SUB-THEME
Opportunities from Generative AI
KEYWORDS
LLM, role-playing, social work, counselling, experiential learning
CATEGORY
Paper Presentation
EXTENDED ABSTRACT
Role-playing is a vital active learning method in social work education, crucial for developing students’ communication and engagement skills (Fulton et al., 2019). It involves participants simulating real-life scenarios to practice managing situations they might encounter in their professional lives. While evidence supports its effectiveness in skill development (Skoura-Kirk et al., 2021), role-playing in educational settings faces several challenges: Time constraints in classrooms often limit opportunities for extensive practice. First-time participants may feel anxious about peer assessment, impacting their engagement (Gómez-Poyato et al., 2020). Moreover, the pedagogical effectiveness can be compromised if the role-playing lacks authenticity or proper debriefing (Lazar, 2014).
To address these issues, our project is developing a Role-Playing Tool (RPT) using Generative AI (GenAI) to simulate service user interactions with social workers (role played by students). This tool— the first of its kind in social work training in Singapore—offers students the opportunity to engage in various realistic scenarios relevant to the local social work context. The RPT allows for practice at the student’s convenience, focuses on specific skills for improvement, and provides instant feedback. The RPT’s level of control and accessibility enhances learning by enabling deliberate practice, a key factor in skill acquisition and confidence building. Students can use the feedback from the RPT to enrich classroom discussions with instructors and peers, fostering a collaborative learning environment. By leveraging GenAI technology, the tool aims to overcome the limitations of traditional role-playing methods while maintaining the benefits of experiential learning in social work education.
However, we also face the challenge of developing the pedagogical content and approach of the tool. For instance, how can we make the GenAI-powered role-playing realistic to typical scenarios faced by social workers? What characteristics of the service users’ profile should the GenAI display when it “role-plays” as a service user? How can the tool be appropriately used in existing courses that teach practice skills to social work undergraduate students?
To address these crucial questions, our study employed two primary methods of investigation. First, we conducted surveys with social work students and instructors to understand how they envision using the tool in their training and courses. This approach provided us valuable user-centric and user-generated insights into making the GenAI role-play profiles more realistic and relevant to actual social work practice scenarios. Second, we conducted a comprehensive review of existing studies from social work literature on the use of role-playing in university education. This review was crucial in informing the design of our pedagogy, allowing us to build upon proven conventional methods and adapt them for the AI-powered context.
Our key findings from these investigations were twofold. The interviews with students and instructors gave us practical insights for enhancing the realism of the GenAI tool’s profiles and scenarios. For instance, students requested that service users role-played by GenAI could show more variations in emotional moods and linguistic styles. Our user interviews also highlighted the importance of integrating existing clinical frameworks familiar to current social work practice. Additionally, our literature review uncovered time-proven guidelines from current social work education practices that can be effectively adapted for our GenAI-based Role-Playing Tool.
The significance of this study lies in its comprehensive approach to technological integration in social work education. While developing the GenAI-powered Role-Playing Tool is an important first step, we recognise that crafting an appropriate pedagogy is equally crucial and challenging. Our research emphasises the need for a thoughtful, evidence-based approach to integrating this technology into existing curricula, ensuring it complements and enhances traditional teaching methods rather than replacing them.
REFERENCES
Fulton, A. E., Dimitropoulos, G., Ayala, J., McLaughlin, A. M., Baynton, M., Blaug, C., Collins, T., Elliott, G., Judge-Stasiak, A., Letkemann, L., & Ragan, E. (2019). Role-Playing: A Strategy for Practicum Preparation for Foundation Year MSW Students. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 39(2), 163–180. https://doi.org/10.1080/08841233.2019.1576573
Gómez-Poyato, M. J., Aguilar-Latorre, A., Martínez-Pecharromán, M. M., Magallón-Botaya, R., & Oliván-Blázquez, B. (2020). Flipped classroom and role-playing as active learning methods in the social work degree: Randomized experimental study. Social Work Education, 39(7), 879–892. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2019.1693532
Lazar, A. (2014). Setting the Stage: Role-Playing in the Group Work Classroom. Social Work with Groups, 37(3), 230–242. https://doi.org/10.1080/01609513.2013.862894
Skoura-Kirk, E., Brown, S., & Mikelyte, R. (2021). Playing its part: An evaluation of professional skill development through service user-led role-plays for social work students. Social Work Education, 40(8), 977–993. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2020.1764521