Can you really teach someone how to make-believe?
There is no set guidelines for Roleplaying. Roleplaying is playing make-believe.
Now a tutorial can show you how the rules for a particular game work. Most rule systems are for physical and sometimes social conflict resolution. There isn't much you can do to teach someone how to use their imagination and make-believe.
The gamebooks for any good roleplaying game are going to also set the stage and explain the setting of the game such that it sparks the imaginations of the players. However the way in which a player plays their character, how involved they become in acting out a role, and the methods in which they achieve this is largely a matter of creativity and imagination. Some game mechanics can be designed to promote roleplaying, but great mechanics never stifles or limits roleplaying potential.
There are plenty of methods, tricks and organizational styles that a GM can adopt to run their game. However most GMs figure out what's best for themselves and their game. Creating props such as maps or puzzle pieces, designing dungeons with specific traps and themes in mind that tell a story instead of just creating them on the fly during play. Or even just working on the fly or fictitiously take notes and organize well.
There are also plenty of books on gamemastery, which allows you to get an idea of how other people do it. As well there are lots of videos and podcasts of 'actual play' so you can also get an idea of how RPGs are played and run.
The brilliant thing about RPGs is that you don't need an instructor to govern over students. One of the students with sufficient knowledge of the game-rules and a nifty idea for a setting, plot and some villains can run the game. I would highly advise any instructor not familiar with the game play it a few times to get a good idea of what it is all about. Perhaps even run a game or two.
General Knowledge
There is no general knowledge, except for a handful of concepts, terminology and lingo that RPGs have. Every game has a different setting, mechanics, feel, and styles of game-play that they all individually invoke to make each their own unique gaming experience.
Gaming Basics
At one time you could point to the funny-shaped polyhedral dice that gamers use and know that you were dealing with a gamer. But nowadays there are lots of games that only use 6-sided dice, 10-sided dice exclusively, or no dice at all. But lots of us still love our polyhedral dice.
Narrative Design & Focus
To really run a good long-term game the use of narrative models, story archs, and dramatic devices all should be utilized to create interesting, adventurous and fun stories in an interactive storytelling method that includes the input and feedback of all the players involved. This is something that roleplaying games rarely teaches gamemasters to any lengthy degree. This is what higher educational institutions and self-education is for, and there is only so much room for material in a gaming book.
Some games focus on the gamemaster being the narrative focus of the game, some games don't have a gamemaster at all and narrative focus is equally shared amongst all the players. Which lends itself to a different feel of game that is more structured and randomness comes from the interactions of players with one another.
