Overview of New Role Play Controls

This month's role play update gives admin and learners more control over how they practice — with a private rehearsal mode and a set of recording controls that bring sessions closer to real call conditions.

Practice Sessions — Rehearse Before You Submit

Role play sessions no longer have to be all-or-nothing. When your admin enables Practice Sessions on an assignment, every new session starts in practice mode by default. Practice sessions are completely private — only you can see them, and they don't count toward your completion goal.

When you finish a practice session, you'll see a prompt: "Happy with the results?" You can choose to Submit for Review to make it official, or click Done to keep it as practice and try again. Changed your mind later? You can convert any session between practice and official from the score view at any time.

Your assignment sidebar now has two sections: Ready for Review (star icon) for your official sessions, and Practice (dumbbell icon) for your private rehearsals. Score circles track your progress toward your completion goal — only official sessions fill them in.

Your admin can set a practice budget — either unlimited or a specific number of practice sessions per assignment. When you're on a limited budget, the remaining count shows in the sidebar, the launch modal, and the post-recording prompt so you always know where you stand. Once the budget runs out, your next session automatically starts as official.

Key details:

Admins and managers cannot see your practice sessions anywhere on the platform — the practice section is completely hidden from their view.
Converting an official session back to practice can reopen a completed assignment. You'll see a confirmation dialog with the exact progress change before it happens.
If your admin has enabled Lock after Completion, you won't be able to convert sessions after meeting your completion goal.

Background Blur

You can now blur your background before or during a role play, just like you would on a video call. Toggle it on in the camera controls — the blur takes effect immediately. Your preference is saved automatically and persists across future sessions.

Camera On/Off

Turn your camera off for phone-style simulations or when you simply prefer audio-only practice. When the camera is off, an avatar with your initials replaces the camera feed.

One thing to know: Once begin a practice session, your chosen state (On / Off) must remain throughout the entire session. This protects the recording file from stream-switching issues. You can always toggle freely before you start recording.

Note: Camera On/Off must be enabled by your admin on the assignment. If you don't see the toggle, it may not be turned on for your assignment.

Pause and Resume

Need a moment? The new Pause button lets you temporarily stop a role play session without ending it. When you pause:

A "Finishing up..." message appears while the AI completes its current thought. Your mic and speaker mute automatically.
The overlay changes to "Paused." Take as long as you need.
Click Resume — the AI picks up exactly where you left off.

Pause has two guardrails to keep sessions moving: a maximum of 3 pauses per session and a 15-minute total pause time cap. After the third pause, the button disables. If cumulative pause time expires, the session auto-saves and closes.

Note: Pause must be enabled by your admin on the assignment. If you don't see a pause button, it may not be turned on for your assignment. For more on how pause works, see [Pausing a Role Play Session].

Speaker Mute

Mute the AI persona's audio mid-session by clicking the speaker icon — useful when you need to deliver a longer presentation or monologue and want the AI to wait to respond until you are finished. Click the icon again to unmute. Speaker mute is locked while paused and restores to its previous state when you resume.

Note: Mute the AI must be enabled by your admin on the assignment and you must choose Unassisted / No Help as your support option in order to access this feature during role play.

Enabling the New Features (Admins)

Practice Sessions, Pause, Camera On/Off, and Mute the AI are all opt-in per assignment. For an updated walkthrough of assignment settings, see the video walkthrough above or read our support article: How to Create an Assignment.

Open any assignment in edit mode.
In the final details step, check "Allow practice sessions" to enable rehearsal mode. Choose Unlimited or set a specific practice budget. Optionally enable Lock after Completion.
In the assignment settings, check Allow Pause Recording and/or Allow Camera Off to enable those controls.
Save. Learners will see the new options on their next session.

Background blur and muting their own microphone are available to all learners by default — no admin setup needed.