Role play deepens understanding by turning passive facts into active experiences. When you act out a scenario or take on a specific point of view, you test ideas in real time. This active step moves knowledge from simple memorization to real insight.
Let's explore AI in SLS - SALIS in getting AI to role play. You can use the learning assistant in SLS to create role play so that students can interview the character and deepen their understanding from different perspective.
Create a new activity - click on Interactive and select Learning Assistant
Select role play. Key in the instructions to Learning Assistant. The existing template is for a historical figure. You can scroll to the bottom of this page for one which I adapted for Geography in the role of stakeholders promoting sustainable tourism.
The five activities with the 5 stakeholders.
Example from student's preview - Interacting with AI character representing a representative from the Government in promoting sustainable tourism.
The following is what I entered for instruction to the Learning assistant in SLS, making slight changes to the template given.
Ms. Aisha Rahman, 45
Can create and enforce environmental laws, provide funding for sustainable tourism projects, improve public transport, and protect natural and cultural heritage sites.
Balancing economic growth with environmental protection; pressure from tourism businesses; limited government funding; ensuring regulations are actually followed.
Absolutely. Pejarakan Village in Buleleng, North Bali is a useful real-life case because tourism development in the area is closely connected with marine conservation, community participation and the protection of natural resources. The nearby Pemuteran area provides a particularly relevant example of community-based coral reef conservation and ecotourism. (Pejarakan)
Real-life case study scenario: Sustainable Tourism in Pejarakan Village
Scenario: “Can Pejarakan Grow as a Tourist Destination Without Damaging Its Environment?”
Pejarakan Village is a coastal village in North Bali where tourism can provide employment and income for local residents, but increased tourism also creates concerns about marine pollution, waste, damage to coral reefs and pressure on local resources. A key example from the wider area is the Biorock coral restoration initiative in nearby Pemuteran, where local communities, tourism businesses and conservation groups have worked together to restore damaged coral reefs. The restored marine environment has also helped support diving and other forms of ecotourism. (Best Tourism Villages)
Imagine that Pejarakan Village is planning to expand its sustainable tourism industry. The village wants to attract more tourists for snorkelling, diving, mangrove visits, cultural experiences and nature-based activities. However, the village wants to avoid repeating the environmental problems caused by uncontrolled tourism.
The government representative could introduce regulations limiting activities that damage coral reefs, improve waste management and provide funding for conservation. The international organisation representative could provide expertise, training and funding for marine conservation and sustainable tourism programmes. The business representative could develop eco-friendly accommodation and tours, employ local residents and contribute part of tourism profits to conservation. The tourist could choose responsible tourism activities, reduce plastic waste, respect local culture and contribute to conservation programmes. Finally, the local community representative could share traditional knowledge, participate in environmental protection and ensure that tourism income benefits local residents.
This approach is based on lessons from neighbouring Pemuteran, where community participation was found to be an important factor in the success of coral reef restoration. Local residents, traditional leaders, tourism businesses, fishermen, conservation groups and tourists all played different roles. Research found that community participation was strongly associated with positive perceptions of the conservation project and that tourism created alternative employment opportunities for some former fishers. (Springer)
The role-play could therefore end with the five stakeholders having to agree on a Sustainable Tourism Action Plan for Pejarakan Village. They could discuss questions such as: How many tourists should the village allow? Who should pay for conservation? How can tourism profits be shared fairly? How can coral reefs and local culture be protected? This allows students to understand that sustainable tourism requires cooperation and compromise between different stakeholders, rather than relying on one group alone.
Five fictional roles for the role-play
1. Government Representative — Ms. Aisha Rahman, 45
Ms. Aisha Rahman is a 45-year-old representative from the local government. Her responsibility is to ensure that tourism contributes to economic development while protecting Pejarakan's environment and local communities. She believes she can contribute by introducing tourism regulations, improving waste-management systems, supporting conservation programmes and providing funding for sustainable infrastructure. However, she faces the challenge of balancing the government's desire for economic growth with the need to prevent environmental damage. She must also consider the different demands of businesses, tourists and local residents.
2. International Organisation Representative — Mr. Daniel Martinez, 39
Mr. Daniel Martinez is a 39-year-old representative from an international organisation that promotes sustainable tourism and environmental conservation. He can contribute international knowledge, technical expertise, training and funding for projects such as coral restoration, marine conservation and sustainable tourism education. He wants Pejarakan to become an example of responsible tourism that can be shared with other communities. However, he faces challenges because international organisations may not fully understand local traditions, needs and economic conditions. He must work closely with local stakeholders rather than simply imposing international ideas.
3. Business Representative — Ms. Priya Nair, 34
Ms. Priya Nair is a 34-year-old owner of a small eco-tourism business in Pejarakan. She operates accommodation and nature-based tours and believes tourism businesses can make sustainability part of their everyday operations. She wants to reduce plastic waste, conserve water and energy, employ local people and support local suppliers. She is also willing to contribute some of her business profits to environmental conservation. However, she is concerned that sustainable practices may increase operating costs and make her business less competitive. She therefore wants sustainability measures that are both environmentally responsible and financially realistic.
4. Tourist — Mr. Ethan Tan, 27
Mr. Ethan Tan is a 27-year-old tourist visiting Pejarakan because he wants to experience Bali's natural environment and local culture. He believes tourists can contribute to sustainable tourism by choosing environmentally responsible businesses, avoiding single-use plastics, respecting local customs, using local services and participating in conservation activities. However, he may be unwilling to pay significantly higher prices for sustainable tourism experiences. He also finds it difficult to know whether businesses are genuinely sustainable or simply using “green” marketing to attract tourists.
5. Local Community Representative — Ms. Mei Ling, 52
Ms. Mei Ling is a 52-year-old resident of Pejarakan who has lived in the community for most of her life. She wants tourism to create jobs and improve the quality of life for local residents while protecting the village's environment and culture. She can contribute local knowledge, traditional practices and ideas about how tourism should be developed. She also wants local people to have opportunities to operate homestays, restaurants, guiding services and handicraft businesses. However, she is worried that uncontrolled tourism could cause overcrowding, pollution, rising prices and loss of local culture. Her biggest concern is ensuring that the benefits of tourism remain with the local community rather than going mainly to outside investors.
Suggested role-play conflict
A useful central question for all five characters would be:
“Pejarakan Village wants to double the number of tourists over the next five years. Should the village accept this growth, or should it limit tourism to protect its environment and local community?”
Each character should argue from their own perspective, negotiate with the others and finally agree on 3–5 sustainable tourism policies for Pejarakan. This makes the activity more realistic because there is no single stakeholder who can solve the problem alone.
