Evaluating the effectiveness of role playing in the sport management curriculum

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to determine if role playing is a pedagogical strategy that can assist sport management educators in achieving educational objectives. This article provides a brief literature review to establish the rationale for implementing role playing in classroom, describes a role play activity created for a course in intercollegiate athletics policy, and assesses student learning using background knowledge probes, focused listing, concept mapping and written responses to open-ended questions. Results indicated that role playing meets the needs of sport management educators who are attempting to offer students an active learning environment that balances theory and practice while equipping students with the skills necessary to make decisions.