Twenty-fifth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

Our theoretical framework posits that empathy-building can be a helpful tool for the classroom, since a disjuncture between student experience and instructor understanding can lead to an empathy gap that inhibits good teaching. Our presentation is about two professional development workshops for instructors, facilitated at the 2016 and 2017 University of Northern British Columbia/College of New Caledonia joint Teaching and Learning Conferences. In these workshops, instructors took on the role of students by participating in simulation and role-play activities. In one activity, participants wrote a timed test in a discipline outside their subject area. In another, they alternated taking on a student role and an instructor role in various hypothetical scenarios. After all activities, participants were given the opportunity for individual reflection and group debriefing. After each workshop, participants expressed that the activities had helped them to reflect on their past experiences with students, and to think about ways of increasing their empathy in future dealings with a diverse range of students. Based on the positive responses of the participants in the workshop sessions, we believe that the use of role play/simulation can be a valuable component of professional development for instructors in higher education.