Experiential Learning through Role-Playing in the Digital Technology for Business Course

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of role-playing in an introductory course. A study of how new pedagogical approaches affect students’ learning is crucial due to the change of learning environments, the more disengaged students, and enrollment declines. A survey of 103 undergraduate students from two classes of the Digital Technology for Business course, who joined the role-playing activities in 2018 and 2019, were collected. The role-playing activities were conducted six rounds for each class, yielding 458 records for data analysis. Results from the nonparametric test equivalent to the dependent t-test indicate that experiential learning through role-playing activities improves students’ perceived usefulness (understanding, problem-solving skills, creativity, and topic interests) and their engagement intention (role-playing engagement intention, class attendance intention, and class participation intention) in all aspects. The content analysis of the open-ended question also reveals key comments from students in terms of the received emotions/ feelings, benefits for audiences, general expectations, and expectations about role-playing. Lecturers could apply role-playing to enhance their classrooms and engage more students. The role-playing activities are fewer applied to technology-related courses. This work shows the effectiveness of role-playing and offers the guideline to implement role-playing in courses