Enhancing Higher Education with stimulating gameplay
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 10:40:00 BST
Andrew Walsh, Subject Librarian for the School of Education and Professional Development and a National Teaching Fellow has written an article
on how incorporating game play in university lectures could enhance student’s basic understanding. Read the full article in the Guardian here.
Andrew along with the Education and Professional Development team have been actively working with education students through a set of ‘Transform-it!’ workshops that allows players to immerse themselves in an alternative world, form social groups, improvise, and test out new ideas.
Students who attended the previous workshop that took place in August were tasked with cutting up and rearrange parts of journal articles and book chapters, placing them in a framework that represents the different questions that should be asked of information sources. As they do this, they start to grasp the information literacy concept that information is constructed and contextual.
Mr Walsh explained that “It can be hard to start playing as an adult, because of the connotations of childishness. But teaching staff are in a great position to give permission to play. Students are already in an environment at some distance from ‘the real world’. Through setting learning games and encouraging creative activities within this space, we can encourage playful interactions with the subject matter.” Now Andrew is experimenting with a range of gameplay ideas including escape rooms where students are tasked with solving subject specific puzzles in order to win the game.
The next ‘Transform-it’ workshop will be based on beginners referencing and takes place on Saturday 19th November.
