The document discusses using play and games to promote learning in higher education. It describes a mixed reality game called "Sell Your Bargains" used with a postgraduate certificate in academic practice (PGCAP) program. Participants worked in pairs to purchase props to explain topics and then created digital stories to share their ideas. Feedback indicated it was an enjoyable way to learn that fostered collaboration and different perspectives. While some improvements could be made, many felt it inspired new ideas for interactive teaching tools.

1. Learning through play in Higher Education
Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Module, Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice
Life must be
lived
You can as play.
discover more
about a person
in an hour of
play than in a
year of
conversation. No one ever
teaches well
who wants to
teach, or
governs well
who wants to
govern.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/almarams/3902611177/

2. • (week 4) Metaliteracy (Tom MacKey and Trudy E. Jacobson) –
(umbrella term for multiple literacies needed to operate
effectively in the digital age) context
• (week 5) Synthesising and Refining Creativity (Alicia Arnold) –
multi- and cross-culturalism influence creativity
• (week 6) Creativity drives innovation (Russell Schoen) Foursight
(TM) Process - Deliberate creative process (Clarify situation ->
Generate ideas -> Develop solutions -> Implement actions)
• (week 7) Creative Problem Solving (Stavros Michailidis) Creativity Chrissi,
as a risky business, risk tolerance a learner
#CMC11 MOOC
• http://www.cdlprojects.com/cmc11blog/

3. Who is who
Frances
Kirsty
Neil Deaglan
• Postgraduate John
Fabrizio
Certificate in
Academic
Practice
• Multi-disciplinary
programme
• Teaching Fiona
qualification and
Fellowship of the
Higher Education
Academy
www.salford.ac.uk

4. Where we are

5. What does
the university
embody for you?

6. Prof. Anne Boddington Dean of the Faculty of Arts,
University of Brighton (UK) defined universities as a
place and a space to
• sustain conversations
• shape the future of human life
• stimulate innovation
• shape new structures of and for learning
• shape new pedagogies

7. Learning through play
at University?

8. mixed reality games in Higher
Education
“The rationale behind the use of alternative reality games is that
the use of problem-based, experiential and collaborative activities
in alternative reality games makes them ideally suited to teaching
in higher education; particularly as they enable players to become
involved in both playing and shaping the narrative as it emerges.”
(Whitton, 2010, 87)
Dr. Nicola Whitton
Research Fellow, Education and Social Research
Institute, Manchester Metropolitan University
Blog: http://playthinklearn.net/
Twitter: @nicwhitton

9. the social meaning of creativity
“human appetite for making things”
(Gauntlett, 2011, p. 61)
David Gauntlett
Professor of Media and Communications at
the Communication and Media Research
Institute (CAMRI)
University of Westminster
http://www.makingisconnecting.org/

10. mixed-reality game ‘sell your bargains’ to spice up teaching and learning in HE
direct link http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrissinerantzi/6315009414/

11. Stage 1: Select…
Identify a topic you feel students struggle
to grasp in your subject area…

12. Stage 2: Invest…
In pairs, what prop could
you purchase to explain
this…
1 hour to pick, purchase
and present…

13. Stage 3: Surprise…
Digital story: Blog, share,
reflect and demonstrate
your ideas and rationale
to your students and
peers…
What were the surprises?

14. “It was so much fun I
think I forgot I was
learning, but then “Ho vinto,
maybe that was the ho vinto! (I
point!” won : )”

15. It was fun. Working with others from other
disciplines but finding a lot of common
ground. It was beneficial to get different
perspectives of a difficult problem.
Then coming together to see what others
had done & their rationale was also really
useful.

16. I found it highly beneficial. I never thought I could exploit our natural
curiosity to explore and play as a medium to learn; through my active
engagement as a player/learner in the game I realised that I could design
this element in my academic modules.
I have also realised that this is a good way to foster deep rather than
superficial learning.
Furthermore the game was pleasurable and enjoyable, and although it
had a title and quite a rigid structure, it didn't have any extrinsic goals, i.e.
there was no prescribed learning that ought to have occurred.
Thanks to this freedom, or “gaps” (as said in yesterday’s session), learning
occurred creatively. Specifically my learning was enhanced by moving
about in a physical space (which could be recreated with a board game in
class through an element of make-believe). I felt that this way of learning
caters for different kinds of learners and is easily adaptable to how you
are feeling at that moment in time when learning occurs.
Finally it really gave me a boost in experimenting with digital interactive
tools for learning and teaching.

17. I really enjoyed the element of having to think 'on
your feet' and develop the ideas as you went along.
It was really interesting working with others from a
different discipline to myself as this helped me to
see the different perspectives that people can have
on the same topic. I enjoyed the element of taking
photos/videos and using these to help to tell our
story at the end.

18. issues
• technologies
• complexity of tasks
• task 3: storytelling not clear enough
• organising
• supporting
• not challenging enough (1 player)

19. ripple effect
“I think I could use it with small groups of students as part of their pbl process to
make it more interesting for them. I think it would encourage them to demonstrate
their learning in a more interesting and challenging way.”
“I don't think I would chose to use this experience with my students. I feel some of
the more traditional techniques would offer a better learning experience such as
Problem Based Learning.”

20. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jan/02/25-predictions-25-years

21. Questions and
reflections

22. BIG thank you to
• Kirsty, Fiona, Frances, Neil, Fabrizio, Deaglan
and John from the University of Salford
• Carol Yeager from the #CMC11 MOOC
• all webinar participants

23. the end of #CMC11 and a new beginning!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikejonesphoto/2932001534/

24. Anything else?

25. References
• Barrows, H. S. and Tamblyn, R. M. 1980. Problem-based Learning. An Approach to Medical
Education. New York: Springer.
• Boud, D, Cohen, R, Sampson, J (2001) Peer Learning in Higher Education: Learning from and with
each other, London: Kogan.
• Burnard, Pamela; Craft, Anna; Cremin, Teresa; Duffy, Bernadette; Hanson, Ruth; Keene, Jean;
Haynes, Lindsay and Burns, Dawn (2006). Documenting ‘possibility thinking’: a journey of
collaborative enquiry. International Journal of Early Years Education, 14(3), pp. 243–262., available
at http://oro.open.ac.uk/6546/1/6546.pdf
• Glynis, C (online) Threshold Concepts: Undergraduate Teaching, Postgraduate Training and
Professional Development, A short introduction and bibliography, available at
http://www.ee.ucl.ac.uk/~mflanaga/thresholds.html
• Meyer, J.H.F. and Land, R. (2003) Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge: linkages to ways
of thinking and practising, In: Rust, C. (ed.), Improving Student Learning - Theory and Practice Ten
Years On. Oxford: Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development (OCSLD), pp 412-424.
• Mezirow, J. Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1991.
• Rogers, C. R. (1983). Freedom to Learn for the 80's. Columbus: Merrill.
• Schön D (1983) The reflective practitioner. Basic Books: New York.
• Whitton, N (2010) Learning with Digital Games. A Practical Guide to Engaging Students in Higher
Education, open and flexible learning series, Oxon: Routledge.

26. Learning in Higher Education through play
Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Module, Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice
PGCAP programme site at
http://www.adu.salford.ac.uk/
html/pgcert/intro.html
Twitter
@pgcap
YouTube
contact Chrissi Nerantzi, pgcapsalford
the game organiser at
c.nerantzi@salford.ac.uk
http://www.flickr.com/photos/almarams/3902611177/