Roundtable @ Solmukohta 2016: Seeking an exchange of ideas on evaluating larp learning-effects and a critical discussion concerning their presentation to \u201coutsider\u201d stakeholders, this panel combines short talks with a panel discussion on larp as a method for learning, practical forms of debriefings and evaluation, the role of emotions, the function of such debriefings and mentalisation in learning as well as specific strategies for visualising larp learning-effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Especially in formal learning and study environments, such as schools or universities, but also in light of artistic larps with an explicit message, the demand surfaces to verify the learning gained by those participating in a given larp, be it \u201cmere\u201d knowledge about a portrayed time period and\/or understanding of other people\u2019s situations and viewpoints (e.g., Karalevich and Springenberg 2010; Kangas 2014). Particularly the aim to foster understanding can hardly be translated into the \u201chard numbers\u201d or statistical visualisations teaching committees and funding organisations request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00d8sterskov Efterskole has shown that its education meets national standards and its students even score in some subjects above the national average in final exams (Gjedde 2013, 195). In environments where neither such comparisons exist nor exams are part of the setting, satisfying the \u201chard numbers\u201d paradigm becomes more difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This roundtable features three talks concerning the practice, theory, and evaluation of learning-effects in larps. Dirk Springenberg talks about educational larps and Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) and different methods of debriefing after such games („Learning through Emotions“). Lauri Lukka follows with theories on learning with a focus on mentalisation skills (cf. Bateman and Fonagy 2010), for which role-playing appears as a most suitable method of training („You Do Not Learn by Larping“). Finally, Bj\u00f6rn-Ole Kamm introduces a mixed-method strategy named Personal Attitude Construct (PAC) analysis (Nait\u014d 2003), which combines in-depth interviews with statistical clustering and visualisations in order to communicate individual experiences („PAC Analysis as a Tool for Evaluating Larp Learning“).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Keywords<\/em>: academic larp, evaluation, learning effects, mentalisation, PAC analysis<\/p>\n\n\n\n Material<\/em>: Script of B-O. Kamm’s presentation<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n