Appendix C: OOC Guide to Teaching
Overview
This appendix is an out-of-character guide for players who are roleplaying faculty at Oakridge College.
The purpose is not to teach players how to roleplay. The purpose is to help faculty players create better classroom scenes, better student interaction, and better academic roleplay.
A good class scene is not only a lecture. A lecture gives the scene direction, but the students give it life. Faculty players should prepare lessons, invite participation, react to student posts, and create opportunities for students to interact with each other.
This guide is based on the Oakridge College Faculty Roleplay Workshop on teaching through roleplay.
The Goal of Educational Roleplay
Educational roleplay should create roleplay for everyone in the room.
A professor should not only post information while students watch. The professor should give students something to react to. Students then give something back, and the professor reacts to them.
The basic pattern should be:
Professor gives direction.
Students respond.
Professor reacts.
Students interact with each other.
The scene grows from there.
The goal is not to deliver a perfect scripted lecture. The goal is to create opportunities for roleplay.
Show the Professor as a Character
Your professor does not stop being a character when class starts.
Think about how your professor teaches.
Are they:
- Patient?
- Strict?
- Sarcastic?
- Formal?
- Excitable?
- Gentle?
- Demanding?
- Easily distracted?
- Warm but firm?
- Brilliant but disorganized?
The teaching techniques in this guide can work for many kinds of professors. The technique stays useful, but the style should fit your character.
A strict professor can still invite discussion.
A sarcastic professor can still protect student participation.
A gentle professor can still correct a wrong answer.
A chaotic professor can still move the class forward.
The method should serve the roleplay.
Prepare the Lesson, But Do Not Marry It
Prepare your class before you teach it.
Know the subject, the main idea, and a few questions you want to ask.
But do not hold the lecture so tightly that students cannot affect the scene.
Students may ask unexpected questions. They may disagree. They may misunderstand something. They may bring up a connection you did not plan for.
That is not a failure. That is often where the best roleplay happens.
Prepare your lecture.
Do not marry your lecture.
Give and Take
Educational roleplay should not look like this:
Professor posts.
Students watch.
Professor posts again.
That gives students very little to do.
Instead, try to build the scene through give and take.
Give students:
- A question
- A problem
- A choice
- A disagreement
- A case study
- A strange object
- A text to interpret
- A situation to respond to
- A small task to perform
Then let them respond.
Then build from their response.
Redirecting Questions
When a student asks a question, you do not always have to answer immediately.
You can redirect the question to the class.
Examples:
- What do the rest of you think?
- Does anyone disagree?
- Professor or Student ____, what is your take?
- Who wants to try answering that?
- Can anyone connect that to what we discussed earlier?
Redirecting changes the scene from:
Student to Professor
into:
Student to Professor to Class
This helps students interact with each other instead of only interacting with the professor.
Wait Time
After asking a question, wait.
Second Life and other text-based roleplay spaces take time.
Players need time to:
- Read
- Think
- Type
- Correct their post
- Decide whether their character would answer
Silence does not always mean nobody is participating.
If you answer your own question too quickly, you may take away the chance for quieter or slower players to join.
Ask the question.
Wait.
Let the silence breathe.
Open-Ended Questions
Open-ended questions create better roleplay than simple yes-or-no questions.
Instead of asking:
Did the policy work?
Ask:
Who benefited from the policy, and who did not?
The first question can end with yes or no.
The second question creates opinions, disagreement, and character-driven answers.
Useful starters include:
- Why?
- How?
- What would happen if?
- Who benefits?
- Who is harmed?
- What would your character do?
- Does anyone disagree?
- What would have to change?
- What is missing from this explanation?
Open questions help students answer as characters, not only as people trying to guess the correct fact.
Follow-Up Questions
A student answer should not always end with “correct.”
One answer can become several minutes of roleplay if you explore it.
Instead of ending the exchange, ask:
- Why?
- What makes you think that?
- Can you expand on that?
- Does anyone disagree?
- What would be an example?
- How would that change the situation?
- Who sees it differently?
Follow-up questions show that student answers matter.
They also help quieter students join after someone else has opened the door.
Build on Student Answers
Students should not feel like they are answering questions in isolation.
Connect their contributions to each other.
Examples:
- That connects to what ____ said earlier.
- ____ seems to disagree with you.
- Those two ideas may actually fit together.
- Let us compare those answers.
- We have two different readings of the same problem.
- I want to hold onto that point and come back to it.
This makes students listen to each other.
It also helps the class feel like a shared scene instead of separate replies to the professor.
Correcting Wrong or Incomplete Answers
Students will sometimes be wrong.
That is normal.
The goal is to correct the information without punishing participation.
Instead of only saying:
No.
Try:
- You are onto part of it.
- Walk me through how you got there.
- That would be true if the situation were different.
- Who can help build on that?
- That is close, but we need one more step.
- I see why you went there. Now look at this part.
- Not quite, but do not throw the whole answer away.
Your professor may be stern, sarcastic, demanding, or impatient in character. That is fine.
But remember there is another player behind the student.
Correct the answer.
Do not kill the roleplay.
Calling on Quiet Students
Quiet does not always mean disengaged.
A quiet student may be:
- Thinking
- Typing
- Shy
- Unsure when to speak
- Distracted
- Waiting for the right moment
- Playing a quiet character
Invite participation, but do not corner them.
Instead of:
____, answer the question.
Try:
- ____, I would be interested in your thoughts if you would like to share.
- Would you like to answer, or should I come back to you?
- ____, your character has been quiet. Are they watching this unfold, or do they have a thought?
- No pressure, but I want to leave space for ____ if they want it.
Give the player an out.
The goal is to create an opportunity, not force a performance.
Scaffolding
Sometimes a question is too large.
If students do not know where to begin, break the question into smaller steps.
Instead of asking:
Why did Briarmont’s economy collapse?
Ask:
- Who controlled the economy?
- What changed?
- Who was affected?
- What happened next?
Each smaller answer builds toward the larger answer.
Scaffolding is especially useful when teaching history, science, law, medicine, literature, politics, or any subject where the full answer has many parts.
It gives students something concrete to respond to.
“Yes, And” in Classroom Roleplay
“Yes, and” does not mean agreeing with everything.
It means accepting what another player gives you and giving something back.
Instead of shutting down the student with:
No. That is wrong.
You might say:
That would not work under these circumstances. What would have to change?
You are still teaching.
You are still allowed to correct the student.
But you have not ended the conversation.
In educational roleplay, “yes, and” means keeping the scene alive while guiding it toward the lesson.
Using Disagreement
Disagreement can be excellent classroom roleplay.
Students may challenge the professor. Students may disagree with each other. A student may be rude, stubborn, overconfident, or disruptive in character.
That does not automatically mean something is wrong.
Ask yourself:
- Are the characters in conflict?
- Are the players still cooperating?
- Are boundaries being respected?
- Is this creating roleplay or preventing it?
- Is the scene still playable for the group?
If the answer is yes, the conflict may be useful.
If you are unsure, check out of character.
IC Conflict and OOC Problems
Faculty players should learn the difference between in-character conflict and out-of-character problems.
In-character conflict can include:
- A student disagreeing with the professor
- A student challenging the lesson
- A student being disrespectful in character
- A student arguing with another student
- A student disrupting class as part of a scene
Out-of-character problems may include:
- A player ignoring boundaries
- A player using roleplay to harass someone
- A player trying to control the scene unfairly
- A player refusing to cooperate
- A player making others uncomfortable beyond the scene
- A conflict that stops being fun or playable
If you are unsure, check OOC.
A simple check can prevent a bad situation.
Examples:
- OOC: Are you good with this argument continuing?
- OOC: Is this still IC conflict?
- OOC: Do you want me to have the professor shut this down?
- OOC: Is everyone okay with this direction?
You are playing a professor.
You do not have to become an OOC moderator.
If players cannot resolve the problem, ask a moderator to mediate.
Office Hours and After-Class Roleplay
Your professor does not stop existing when class ends.
Faculty characters can create roleplay outside the classroom.
Examples:
- Office hours
- Student advising
- Department meetings
- Faculty lounges
- Campus events
- Restaurants
- Shops
- Community events
- Public lectures
- Research work
- Student club advising
- Athletic team advising
Office hours can create:
- Academic help
- Mentorship
- Conflict
- Character development
- Story hooks
- Private conversations
- Student concerns
- Faculty-student trust
A professor who only appears to lecture may feel flat.
A professor who works, advises, argues, worries, researches, and participates in campus life feels part of Oakridge.
Faculty-to-Faculty Roleplay
Faculty should also roleplay with other faculty.
Limited faculty space creates roleplay.
Professors can:
- Collaborate
- Disagree
- Gossip
- Compete
- Become friends
- Become rivals
- Ask each other for advice
- Debate department priorities
- Argue over students, courses, or policy
- Support each other after difficult classes
- Build academic politics and campus culture
Faculty roleplay should not only serve students. Faculty characters should have professional relationships with each other.
Practical Teaching Tools
Faculty players can use these tools in almost any classroom scene:
Ask One Question at a Time
Do not overload students with five questions in one post.
Ask one clear question and let them answer.
Give Students Something Specific to Do
Instead of only lecturing, give students a task.
Examples:
- Read this passage.
- Identify the problem.
- Choose a side.
- Examine the object.
- Debate the policy.
- Diagnose the case.
- Interpret the painting.
- Compare the two accounts.
- Decide what the town should do.
Let Students Affect the Lesson
When a student gives a strong answer, use it.
When a student misunderstands something, build from it.
When a student creates a good conflict, let it breathe.
Keep the Scene Moving
Do not let one answer end everything.
Ask follow-up questions.
Bring in another student.
Connect answers.
Shift to the next step when the scene is ready.
Protect Participation
Students should feel safe enough to try.
Correct mistakes without humiliating the player.
Invite quiet students without trapping them.
Handle conflict without letting it destroy the room.
Simple Class Structure
A class scene does not need to be complicated.
A simple structure can be:
1. Opening
Welcome the class and establish the topic.
Example:
Today we are looking at how a town remembers a disaster.
2. Hook
Give students something to react to.
Example:
A town builds a statue to a man who saved lives, but that same man caused the disaster years earlier. Should the statue stay?
3. Discussion
Ask open-ended questions.
Redirect answers.
Let students disagree.
4. Activity
Give students a task.
Example:
Divide the class into two sides. One side argues to keep the statue. The other argues to remove it.
5. Reflection
Ask students what changed.
Example:
Did anyone change their mind? Why?
6. Closing
End with a clear final thought or question for later.
Example:
History is not only what happened. It is also what a community chooses to carry forward.
What Faculty Players Should Avoid
Faculty players should avoid:
- Long lectures with no student openings
- Answering every question immediately
- Ignoring student contributions
- Correcting students in a way that stops roleplay
- Calling on quiet players without giving them a choice
- Treating IC conflict as automatically OOC
- Turning every class into a test of real-world knowledge
- Forcing students to perform when they are not ready
- Making the professor the only important character in the scene
- Refusing to adjust when the scene becomes more interesting than the plan
General Rule
A good educational roleplay scene is not about delivering the perfect lecture.
It is about creating memorable roleplay together.
Faculty players should listen to students, react to them, build from their answers, and let the professor be affected by the class.
A lecture gives the scene direction.
Students give it life.