2nd October 2019 10:00 to 14:00

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Seminar Room 0306, Department of Translation and Communication Studies

• Organised by the GENTT Research Group, Universitat Jaume I

• In collaboration with Institut Interuniversitari López Piñero, Universitat Jaume I

• Funded by Conselleria d'Innovació, Universitats, Ciència i Societat Digital

• Addressed to researchers and educators in the fields of translation, communication, applied languages, psychology, drama, medicine and nursing.

Abstract: Professor John Skelton and Ms Katharine Heathcock of the University of Birmingham’s Interactive Studies Unit (ISU), UK have between them c50 years of experience in using professional role play in Medical education. They, and the ISU team, have learned how to recruit for the right qualities and have developed a team of highly skilled and proficient actor/teachers, usually known as role players. In this interactive workshop, we will introduce you to the idea of the professional role play, how it works, what its uses are and what skills and qualities need to be developed in the practitioner so that the intervention of role play can be effective and developmental for the student. You will have the chance to observe and discuss a role play scenario in action and to experiment with role play yourself with scenarios currently used in teaching. The workshop will conclude with a plenary discussion, including what is current in educational research using this powerful teaching methodology. John Skelton is Professor of Clinical Communication at the University of Birmingham, UK, and a member of the Interactive Studies Unit (ISU). He originally worked as a teacher of EFL/ESL, and as an Applied Linguist, before moving into Medical Education in the early 1990s. He has published research in both The Lancet and Applied Linguistics, amongst more than 100 papers, and is one of the few non-clinicians ever to have been awarded Honorary Fellowship of the UK Royal College of General Practitioners. He is also Honorary President of the European Association of Language Teachers on Healthcare.

Having begun professional life as an actor in the early 1990s, Katharine Heathcock discovered the use of role play through working in medical education with the pioneering Interactive Studies Unit at Birmingham University Medical School. The ISU were early trailblazers in using role play in teaching undergraduate healthcare students to consult with patients. For over 20 years, Katharine used her skills as a role player in training and teaching and subsequently in delivering training in the corporate world. In 2016, she accepted the post of teaching fellow at the University of Birmingham, where one of her roles is recruitment and training of the ISU role play team.