I wish I’d written this straight after the session on Friday as I had more momentum then, but I’m still keen. I really enjoyed the session on Friday. I found the introductions and the research people chose opened up lots of doors in my mind, and I also enjoyed the delivery of the session, with several different interaction patterns. Also, in the breakout rooms, people were willing to chat, even though it was a bit awkward and first time-ish.

One of the big things that came out of it for me, was the conversation about play in learning. I went into the room both feeling that I had a lot of experience of using play in learning through my ESOL background, and also that I had deliberately chosen a room that was a bit more challenging for me. I’m not sure why I had these conflicting thoughts, but maybe because I’m aware that in an art and design and HE context, play often means something quite different from what I imagine. Anyway, I started the conversation and mentioned that I feel I’ve possibly become a bit stale or a bit cautious in the way I approach teaching since I came into HE. This is because I’m almost entirely staff facing now and I’m afraid of people feeling they’ve wasted time, or even (more recently) in case they don’t talk. I used to very explicitly feel that this was something that you just had to risk, but I realise now I’ve become cautious. I also feel there are things which are just not acceptable in HE, certain apps, fun things, which feel out of place. I don’t know if they actually are or not.

I came out of the session feeling excited about a new idea for my action research project. I thought I could test out play as a means of learning about digital platforms. It seems to fit into my belief in student-centred and active learning, and at the same time push me out of my comfort zone. Kind of the same contradiction I had when I went into the room – both comfortable and uncomfortable.

The other people in the room were interesting in their approach to play; some talked about gaming, others about students bringing games themselves, others talked about things I’m very familiar with e.g. Find someone who…. I wish I had written more notes now but I was enjoying just listening. Some of the things I wrote down about the play format were: legitimises experimentation, fast-paced activities, helps with empathy, helps build trust, fostering a safer learning environment. We also talked about play without specific learning objectives – this is the key thing I think. It’s quite easy to set up a ‘play’ scenario which takes learners through play like activities (quizzes, matching activities, etc) which are designed to teach certain skills. However, keeping that really open, so participants really can play, but also feel purpose, is much more challenging. Generating a sense of purpose, without an underlying learning objective. Or perhaps without an obvious one? I’m not sure I’m immediately reverting to my safe space of having a clear objective, even if it’s not explicit. Hmm..