EPISODE 11: CLASS PREPARATIONS

What this episode covers

Episode 11: Class Preparations | 3 February 2026 Stephen playfully ponders Trent’s project planning pop-quiz as the pair probes Chapter 9 of The Worldbuilding Workshop, “Class Preparations,” including: Pre-class preparations and their relevance to community-building, lesson design, and assessment; Avoiding a "Peggy Hill"-style overly scripted plan; Budgeting time to properly introduce and implement world modeling and/or role-play; Mapping activities to your learning objectives; Modeling attitudes and behaviors such that learners will replicate those attitudes and behaviors throughout the course or project; Structured, "on-time" instruction versus unstructured, fluid facilitation; Aligning learning theory, pedagogical approach, evaluation methods, and technologies based on the needs and incentives of a particular audience; Adopting the "flipped classroom" model to introduce concepts, values, and activities *outside of* class so they can be collaboratively interrogated *during* class; Using discussion boards, digital announcements, and other communication tools to provide essential information before the course or workshop begins; The importance of saying "I don't know" when confronted with a question whose answer you don't know; Establishing the sociocultural norms of an instructional space; Inviting learners to co-develop a socially-agreed-upon syllabus; Balancing instructor discretion with learner goals for class and project structure; The Wright brothers as an analogy for getting course design "just right"; Deciding whether to assign random characters or ask learners to create their own; The potential benefits of assigning randomized foundational characteristics but allowing learners to engage in inquiry-driven, problem-based critical thinking to explore an individual's growth and change over time; Case-based learning as a means of helping learners recognize variance and invariance between stories or environments; The "sandbox-on-rails" metaphor for one-to-one alignment of course and activity objectives; Reasons to incorporate historically-accurate representations of different people or communities rather than genuine historical figures; "FOMO" (fear of missing out) as a motivator for learners to complete readings before joining a role-play exercise; Contingency planning for absences, fire alarms, and other externalities; The story of Henrietta Lacks and why we constrain historical role-play; Reacting to "Reacting to the Past"; and Preferring the messiness of collaborative worldbuilding to contrived, "gamified" role-play. Episode References: Boss, K. (Writer) & Kuhlman, A. (Director). (1999, October 31). Little Horrors of Shop (Season 4, Episode 4) [Television series episode]. In M. Judge & G. Daniels (Executive Producers), King of the Hill. 20th Century Fox. Lambert, R., Rilstone, A., & Wallis, J. (1994). Once upon a time: The storytelling card game [Card game]. Atlas Games. Bök, C. (2001). Eunoia. Coach House Books.

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