Role-play Seminar
🚧 Work in progress. This site is online so you can get a feel for the course, but I'm still finalizing the details — the schedule, papers, and policies may still change. Check back for updates!
After the opening instructor lectures, the class shifts to student-led presentations and panel discussions, following Alec Jacobson and Colin Raffel’s role-play seminar approach. Each session, students take on distinct roles for the assigned papers, and the instructor moderates a debate and ties the work to its broader context.
Roles
- Author — presents the paper and makes its strongest case.
- Skeptic — prepares the sharpest rebuttal and the open questions.
- Archaeologist — situates the paper in its intellectual lineage (predecessors → successors).
- Hacker — brings a small live demo or reproduction.
Run-of-show (120 minutes)
| Time | Segment |
|---|---|
| 0:00–0:10 | Settle + rapid ice-breaker |
| 0:10–0:50 | Paper 1 — Author pitch → Skeptic rebuttal → instructor-driven debate → Hacker 1 demo |
| 0:50–1:30 | Paper 2 — leaner: Author / Skeptic → Hacker 2 demo |
| 1:30–1:40 | Archaeologist ties the lineage together |
| 1:40–1:55 | Open floor + instructor synthesis |
| 1:55–2:00 | Wrap |
Sign-up
TBD — the paper sign-up process (how you choose your session, paper, and role) will be announced and run at the start of the semester.
Expectations
- Every student presents at least once during the semester. The exact number of presentations per student depends on enrollment and is set after sign-up.
- Presenters prepare slides and, where the role calls for it, a short demo.
- The reading-group component is presentation + live panel participation — there are no separate written paper reviews. All students are expected to come having read the assigned papers and ready to contribute to the discussion.
Grading (30%)
Reading-group participation is worth 30% of the course grade, covering both your role-play presentations and your contributions to the panel discussions.
Rubric: TBD — a more detailed rubric for presentations and participation will be shared before the first student-led session.