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barriers to the learning activity. To assist teachers
we now provide a case study to illustrate some of
the design choices available through a discussion
of the use of an online role-play in the discipline
area of mediation.
in the online environment. Some discussion of
theory had occurred in the face-to-face role-
plays, but the focus in class had been on skills
development. The learning online was referred
to and discussed in weekly classes and the online
role-play was played out over six weeks. There
were twenty seven students in the class and
only one fishbowl was run with one concurrent
discussion thread.
Discursive: Students were provided with read-
ings that discussed gender, power and mediation
practice. They then had the opportunity to interact
with the teacher and each other through an online
discussion forum using the Blackboard Learning
Management System. The teacher posed ques-
tions to students, such as “Can women come to
the mediation table and negotiate equally?” Stu-
dents then posted responses to this question to the
discussion board. The teacher reflected back to
students the descriptions they gave in the discus-
sion group. Where necessary, the teacher adjusted
descriptions of the theory relating to gender and
power to be more meaningful to students and to
develop their understandings of the relevant con-
cepts. The discussion allowed students to debate
and summarise concepts in the readings relating
to gender, power and mediation. The discussion
developed from the differing perspectives that
students articulated regarding the relevant issues
and the different interventions possible to engage
with power issues.
Adaptive: The scenario of the online role-
play was set up with the aim of raising concerns
regarding gender, power and mediation. The aim
was to canvass a number of methods of dealing
with power in a reflexive manner by the media-
tor. Students had learnt of different models and
interventions to deal with power through reading
the set readings and the ensuing online discussion
conducted on the discussion board. The particu-
lars of the scenario of the online mediation was
crafted by the teacher and the role-play storyline
was adapted to highlight issues that were identi-
fied as requiring further reflection by students,
caSe StuDy: interactive
fiSHboWl role-play online
The following example demonstrates how some
of the ideas outlined in this chapter were applied
to teaching the use of gender theory and power
imbalances in the discipline area of mediation.
This subject area has been taught over a number
of years to a range of students including the dis-
ciplines of legal studies, social work, psychology
and youth work. In this course students learn
about the nature of conflict and of the process of
mediation and also develop a number of practice
skills, including facilitation skills. This area of
understanding is of particular interest to social
workers as they are one of the main professional
groups acting as mediators (Martin, 2000). It is
important that social workers understand gender
concerns and power imbalances in mediation to
ensure reflexive practice as mediators (Martin &
Douglas, 2007). We now outline the design of an
interactive fishbowl role-play online, dealing with
gender, power and mediation.
In the interactive fishbowl role-play online
model students jump in and out of the roles of
mediator and the parties involved in the dispute.
Other roles can also be included in the online
role-play such as lawyers, experts and support
people. This learning design was engaged with
by students concurrently with weekly face-to-
face classes. This blended model meant that
students had already learnt a number of skills,
including facilitation and understood the steps
in the process of mediation through the experi-
ence of face-to-face role-plays undertaken in
class. The aim of the online role-play was to
allow students to integrate theory and practice
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