Want to play around while you’re waiting for the webinar
to start? Use the whiteboard’s drawing tools to adapt the
circles into different objects (see example).
Source: Experiences in Visual Thinking by Robert McKim
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The Role of Play in Learning with
Technology
ELI Webinar
5/4/09
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Gail MatthewsDeNatale
Barbara Draude
Associate Director,
Academic Technology,
Simmons College
Assistant Vice President
for Academic and
Instructional Technologies
Middle Tennessee State
University
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Objectives
• Discuss theories of “playful learning”
• Share examples of faculty-developed,
play-based learning experiences
• Provide advice and guiding questions
for the development of play-based learning
experiences on your campus
• Link to additional resources on playbased learning
• Together, use technology to experience
play
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Let’s Play!
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What do the “Experts” Say?
Koster – Fun = Challenge at Edge of Ability
Osterweil – Four Freedoms of Play
Sutton-Smith – The Ambiguity of Play
Nat’l Institute of Play – Seven Patterns
Strong Museum – Six Elements of Play
Read more at http://playfullearning.pbworks.com/
Theoretical-Models-for-Play
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What’s Going on While at Play?
Open-ended
Emergent collaboration
and group process
“Convergent” process
for multimedia composition
Youth directed, Youth generated
Deep engagement and personal investment
Bricolage (Tinkering)
Improvisation
Risk-taking
Imitation
Experimentation
Fantasy
Multiple drafts/iterations
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Question Break
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MTSU Faculty Examples
Dr. Carolyn Hopper, English (Study Skills)
“Play builds on a student’s intent to learn,
strengthens synaptic connections and allows
students to learn from their mistakes without the
stakes being too high”
PRACTICE AND LOW STAKES ASSESSMENT –
activities to review content and knowledge-based
information, as with computer games, students can
“level up” when ready
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MTSU Faculty Examples
Dr. Don Roy, Marketing
Play “blends content learning with process
learning,” playing this simulation gives the students
the “chance to apply principles to give them a feel
for marketing.”
DATA MANIPULATION – activities to provide
opportunities to apply content to situations
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MTSU Faculty Examples
Dr. Scott Seipel, Computer Information Systems
(Authored a multiplayer online decision making
game called The OPEC Game) When playing the
game “the students are engaged, involved and
really feel it;” “by the end of the semester, the
students will beg to play the game.”
ROLE PLAY, SIMULATIONS, IMMERSIVE
ENVIRONMENTS – activities to provide
opportunities to apply content to “real-life” situations
and allow for higher order problem-solving and
analysis applications
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Designing for play-based learning
Dr. Mary Jane Tracy
Honors Program
Simmons College
Author of the educational game
entitled "Greenwich Village,
1913, Suffrage, Labor, and the
New Woman"
NOTE: This clip is an excerpt from a longer interview.
Hear it all at http://playfullearning.pbworks.com/
Designing+for+Play-Based+Learning
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What About You?
Use the chat to share examples of
playful learning at your own
institutions
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Guiding Questions for successful
play-based learning experiences
• What learning objectives are you trying to
accomplish?
• What timing and resources constraints do you
face?
• What resources do you have available to
“play the game”?
• What support do you have available to help
you in the design and implementation?
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Resources
• http://playfullearning.pbworks.com/TheoreticalModels-for-Play
• http://playfullearning.pbworks.com/BibWebliography
• http://playfullearning.pbworks.com/Play-Quotes
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Final Comments and Questions
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Thanks
• Gail Matthews-DeNatale
– [email protected]
• Barbara Draude
– [email protected]
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