To assign or not to assign? : role taking in higher education

The study here presented focus on Role Taking, a collaborative learning strategy considered as effective to support learning and participation. It’s aims at exploring students’ perceptions about the efficacy of having a role assigned compared to having chosen a role. As such, it was adopted in a university course about “Knowledge Technologies”, held during the third year of the undergraduate course for Social and Cultural Educators. 42 voluntary students (M=4; F=38; average age 22) took part into the activities. Divided in groups, students worked around topics concerning educational potentials or issues relating to ICTs. During the activities, students covered a specific role: some of them choose the role, some others had the role assigned from the teacher. Data analysis shows that, in students’ opinion, an assigned role is more effective in terms of quality of learning, social dynamics and satisfaction with the experience.