Things Are More Similar than you might think

I posted this in a discussion for one of the groups I’m part of, but I’m going post it again here with maybe a bit more of an expansion.

With all the news about education in other countries that was in circulation the past month or so, especially regarding the education practices of other countries, I started noticed something interesting. Feel free to debate me on this or offer your comments on this observation, I want to get a discussion or dialogue on this thought going. Education practices and Role Playing Game sessions follow similar notes. I’ll explain.

The more structured and exacting a lesson plan the more those learning try to break away from the lesson plan. The same is true with players in classic Tabletop RPGs, the more controlling and precise the one running the game makes things the more players will try to mess with them and break away to do their own thing. Role Players have a term for this, Railroading. When you railroad something that means you have projected course for everything and force everything to go along that course at the expense of giving those involved freedom to move about as they would like.

Amusingly enough players will actually railroad themselves if the the one running the game, usually known as the Game Master (GM) in most tabletop RPGs or Dungeon Master (DM) in Dungeons and Dragons, just lets them do their own thing and just hints at where plot points to progress the adventure are. The middle ground to this is called Guiderailing, a system where the players are free to move about a bit more than if they were being railroaded but still more structured than the typical “do as you like and I’ll drop hints as needed” and the guide rail system usually tends to be what what happens when we play through what are known as “newbie campaigns”

In an RPG, tabletop or MMO, the best thing to do is find your play style and create characters that work well with that.

Amusingly enough, looking at the more successful education system across the globe, most notably Finland, these same observations and tactics when dealing with Role Players and campaigns can be applied to lesson plans. Letting everyone go at their own pace and learn what they want when they wish to is eerily similar to the style over super freeflow campaigning I mentioned earlier. Just like you want to have players build a character based on concept and progress the campaign at the pace that everyone is comfortable with, a free flowing classroom setting allows the ones being educated to experience lessons at a pace they are most comfortable with. Some people like the structured and disciplined approach, while others like the more open ended approach. With players and students, neither is better than the other, you just have see which works best with those you are working with.