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We present playful pedagogy as a scalable design practice suitable for multiple disciplines with the potential to revolutionise HE. Debates on the future of work have highlighted the importance of ‘soft skills’ for future graduates, alongside the detailed subject knowledge necessary, to be capable of questioning imperfect data or automated systems. These requirements are in conflict with the individualised model of knowledge accumulation still embedded in many constructivist models of learning across the HE sector affecting multiple disciplines. Experiential models of learning, alongside problem-based teaching (popular and effective in professional learning contexts), offer a means to develop deeper learning with potential for collaboration, but may also be associated with exclusionary practices or difficult to apply to disciplines unaffiliated with distinct professional communities. Playful pedagogy offers creative means for supporting belonging and inclusion to support student success, through developing fluency and participation in knowledge-creation.

Adopting playful pedagogy is to embed playful learning in a playful approach to the design of learning curricula (Moseley 2018). It facilitates learning activities by including some play or gamification for the purposes of supporting positive affective experiences of social learning. It is integrated with the curriculum, such that the activities are aligned with learning aims, disciplinary terminology and assessment types, and feedback on development of subject knowledge or capability development. However, the broader goal of playful pedagogy is also an emancipatory one; to carefully reconsider and review whether the teaching and learning experience being delivered empowers production of the desired culture and knowledge outcomes in the discipline for all members of the community.   

In this sense playful pedagogy is agnostic with respect to disciplinary knowledge content, supporting transdisciplinarity, but remains closely tied to identifying and interrogating signature pedagogies associated with habits of mind and moral values in disciplines (Gurung et al. 2009). The approach responds to calls to counteract performativity and the ‘fear of failure’ by creating Playful Universities (Koeners & Francis 2020) and builds on calls for joyful teaching & learning (Sherman 2020) that offer support for developing educational resilience.

We present playful pedagogy as a mechanism for embedding belonging and equity as design principles, supporting meaningful transitions into and out of HE, and enabling student success. Debates on ‘fair play’ are as intrinsic to game design as the concerns about social inequity and performance are in HE. Models of game rules, ‘dynamics’ and ‘aesthetics’ offer a route to productively reviewing the student experience for a diversity of ‘players’, and classical studies of play and culture highlight the fluidity of meaning within and through playful spaces. 

This presentation will be of interest to those familiar with playful learning, gamification, and experiential learning (Moseley 2018; Tomczyk & Teckchandani 2023; Nørgård & Whitton 2024) and those who would like an introduction to this view of practice. Alongside a more detailed outline of contemporary research on playful learning, we will present examples of playful pedagogy in practice in HE science and social science teaching. These examples particularly highlight integrated practice in large-group undergraduate teaching, to emphasise frugal and scalable innovation pathways.

References

Ahn, M. Y., & Davis, H. H. (2020). Students’ sense of belonging and their socio-economic status in higher education: a quantitative approach. Teaching in Higher Education, 28(1), 136–149. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2020.1778664

Gurung, R.A.R., Chick, N.L. and Haynie, A. (2009). Exploring signature pedagogies: approaches to teaching disciplinary habits of mind. Taylor & Francis

Koeners, M. P., & Francis, J. (2020). The physiology of play: potential relevance for higher education. International Journal of Play, 9(1), 143–159. https://doi.org/10.1080/21594937.2020.1720128

Masika, R., & Jones, J. (2015). Building student belonging and engagement: insights into higher education students’ experiences of participating and learning together. Teaching in Higher Education, 21(2), 138–150. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2015.1122585

Sherman, S. (2020). Nurturing Joyful Teaching in an Era of Standardization and Commodification. The Educational Forum, 85(1), 20–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131725.2020.1772425 

Tomczyk, D., & Teckchandani, A. (2023). Using Gamification Strategies to Create Effective Experiential Exercises. Management Teaching Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/23792981231190590