Introducing Mr Kau Kau' : using 'Prepared Role' to facilitate student learning in international marketing

Prepared Role is a form of dramatic convention whereby another lecturer, student or guest, is introduced into classroom drama to play an accurate and authentic role (Neelands, 1998). This paper documents the case of a PhD student performing in the Prepared Role as a visiting overseas official, addressing and interacting with university marketing students in their role as Australian marketing executives interested in exporting products and services to Papua New Guinea. Interpretive research, in the form of an open-ended response examined the contribution of Prepared Role in terms of student perceptions of learning within a drama-based marketing unit at an Australian University. Findings indicate that Prepared Role was beneficial to student learning in the context of international marketing.