Improvisation Strategies in Online Drama Lesson

Abstract

In drama lessons based on improvisation and role playing, participants express themselves spontaneously, take on various roles and act out by pretending. With improvisation, which is one of the two basic strategies used together with role playing in drama, the participants act in accordance with the designed dramatic fiction. The goal of this research is to determine opinions of the participants about the improvisations performed in online drama lessons. It was attempted in this context to show the influence of participants and instructors on improvisation by determining which strategies were employed throughout the online drama lesson. In this study, interpretative qualitative research design was used and the experiences of the participants were tried to be explored, made comprehensible and interpreted. Participants consist of 21 undergraduate students studying in different departments who attended online drama lessons at Ankara University in 2021-2022 academic year. Participants answered the questions in the "Assessment Form for Improvisations in Digital Platform" online. The data obtained in the research were analyzed with the descriptive analysis, and the findings were explained in accordance with the determined themes and categories. The results showed that the participants used some strategies before and during the improvisation, and these strategies made improvisations more qualified. Participants also stated that while improvising on the digital platform, some situations have positive or negative effects, and they try to adapt themselves according to these situations. The research also reveals that the films watched and the topics discussed during lessons facilitate the participants to take roles while improvising, and the examples given about the elements of drama contribute to the improvisation. According to the results, it is recommended to inform the participants before the improvisations in online drama lesson, to create the dramatic fiction with the participants and to make the improvisations in accordance with this dramatic fiction. The elements of drama may be discussed, short films and feature-length films can be shown, examples can be offered, and improvisations can be made more qualified throughout the drama lesson.