1. Playing games in Higher Education
Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Module, Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice,
MEL SIG 3 Feb 12 University of Salford
Life must be
You can lived
discover more as play.
about a person
in an hour of
play than in a
year of
conversation.
Chrissi Nerantzi
Kirsty Pope
Neil Currie
http://www.flickr.com/photos/almarams/3902611177/

2. What is this all about?
• What are universities for?
• Playing games in HE?
• A mixed-reality game within the PGCAP
• You and games for learning

3. What does
the university
embody for you?

4. 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

5. Learning through play
at University? Have you
experienced it before?

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

7. Horizon Report 2011
“Proponents of game-based learning in higher education point to its
role in supporting collaboration, problem-solving, and
communication, the 21st century competencies needed by American
students outlined by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in late 2010
in the National Education Technology Plan.
Advocates also underscore the productive role of play, which allows for
experimentation, the exploration of identities, and even failure.
Gaming also contributes to the development of a particular disposition
well-suited to an information-based culture and rapid change.”
Horizon Report 2011, Game-Based Learning (Adoption 2-3 years)

8. Horizon Report 2011
“One area in which there is currently a great deal of
development is social games, especially those that can be
taken along and played anywhere at all using a mobile device.
With social games, players are never far from a game
environment, whether it be a mobile in a pocket, a desktop or
laptop computer, or a networked gaming console. With this
kind of ubiquity, games are becoming a pervasive part of
everyday life, and our notions of what constitutes a game are
changing as fast as the games themselves.”
Horizon Report 2011, Game-Based Learning (Adoption 2-3
years)

9. “Sell your bargains” game
• a mixed reality game to spice up teaching and
learning
• immerse in out-of the box thinking based on
authentic problem scenarios from practice
• engage in multidisciplinary conversations and
collaborative learning
• being resourceful and utilising what we have, can
get and what we can do with it
• using available technologies for teaching and
learning

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. 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

12. 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/

13. 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

14. Where we are

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

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

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

18. “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 : )”

19. data wordle

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. benefits
• fun and enjoyable experience
• learning through play (not experienced before)
• playing with colleagues from other disciplines
• partnering
• using different learning spaces
• freedom despite structure
• thinking outside-the-box
• experimenting with digital tools
• ideas to use with own students

24. challenges possible solutions
• One game organiser • More facilitators (1 per 10 players)
• Technologies • Support (initial staff development,
• Number of players (7 out ongoing)
of 32) • Mainstream offer (game for all) +
• Complexity of Stage 3 students
• Digital stories • Scaffolding Stage 3 (case study
• Challenging all players template)
• Public voting (16) • Further dissemination (institutional
repository, CPD session, publication)
• Build-in extension activities
• More votes (channels to promote,
prize)

25. 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.”

26. How can we convince
more academics that
learning through games
can really work?

27. A BIG thank you
to Kirsty, Fiona, Frances, Neil, Fabrizio, Deaglan
and John from the University of Salford
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikejonesphoto/2932001534/

28. 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
• Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H., Levine, A., and Haywood, K., (2011). The 2011 Horizon Report.
Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium, available at http://wp.nmc.org/horizon2011/
• 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.
• Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H., Levine, A., and Haywood, K., (2011). The 2011 Horizon Report.
Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

29. 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/