In fond memory of Marie Jasinski

I remember Marie as a lady with a big smile, infectious laughter and infinitely energetic.

We first met in the early 2000 when she participated in one of my role play simulation workshop. After the workshop, she came to me and said she would help me in spreading the idea. Few months pasted, I got an email and she had organised a workshop for a group of TAFE lecturers to design an online role play using Fablusi - X'mas Party from Hell' [Note: the demo linked in Marie's post has expired. The updated link will be posted later] was born.

She asked me to be a mentor to the TAFE group and I visited Adelaide three times for the workshop. Instead of mentoring the group, I received one of the most rewarding mentor from her!

Marie has made important contributions to my understanding of how online role play simulation (RPS) differs from other learning strategies. Here are some of her contributions:

1. One of the first learning opportunities presented by RPS is asking the players to develop a role profile. This requires the player to have an understanding of the circumstances in which the role play will take place. Marie suggested to use the term 'role embellishment' to describe the concept. From then onwards, we faithfully provide only a sketchy description of the role and ask players to embellish their character in any way they like.

2. During the trial of X'mas Party, my server connections was bad - constantly disconnected due to ISP malfunctions. As a mod, Marie "evacuated" the building within X'mas Party and ended the role playing. Here came the idea of a mod is also a story teller - constantly adjusting the story line to meet circumstantial needs. [see this]

Marie also introduced me to Thiagi [and Eastern Indian dining].



Marie, you are an inspiration. I miss you.

Here are the links to video clips of Marie on "Role play" recorded for National Summit on Online Role Play in October 2002.
# Why use role-play?
# "There’s three key things teacher need to be aware of…"
# "Moderators need quite a complex lot of skills…"
# " A lot of time with role-play you debrief afterwards – we found it is necessary to debrief any time it is appropriate…"
# "It’s the immersion…"
# "Students don’t have to play a role alone…"
# "I’ve just been involved in a role-play that was spread across Australia…"
# "No matter how good your design is, it’s the players who bring that design to life…"

Here are some online tributes to Marie;
Stephen's Web
Full Circle Associates
Janine’s blog