SWAT:RolePlay: ‘Is this how you feel?’
An LLM-powered Role Playing tool
Role playing
Role-playing is an experiential learning method where participants act out scenarios to practice real-life situations. In social work, it helps students develop communication and engagement skills crucial for their future practice.
Challenges:
- Limited classroom time for practice
- Student anxiety due to peer assessment
- Effectiveness depends on quality of role-play
Goal
Our project aims to develop SWAT:RolePlay, a Role-Playing Tool (RPT) using large language models to address these challenges.
Research questions:
- How do students and instructors perceive role-playing in social work education?
- What are their experiences and opinions on the RPT’s usefulness?
- Is the tool useful? Expected outcomes include increased knowledge, self-efficacy, and reduced anxiety in professional engagement skills.
Additional testing:
The RPT will also be tested with practicing social workers and other social service practitioners, potentially benefiting the training of professionals in the social service sector. The broader application is to inform the development of AI simulations for working with service users, .
