Encouraging playful approaches in academic environments
Principal investigator/researcher: Professor Susannah Quinsee / Dr Jane Secker
The significance of play in relation to child development has long been accepted, but there is a growing recognition that play and games can have a key role in working environments for adults too.
Play, or games, can encourage creativity and enable greater problem solving skills as well as prompting team work and engagement. This is potentially significant for the mission of universities to deliver high quality teaching that is research informed. Engaging in playful practices could help engage students more successfully as well as equipping students more effectively for future employment.
However, introducing play into formal working environments and post compulsory education is not without challenge. Playful approaches or games are often seen as frivolous, infantile and a distraction from “real work”. Some people may express a scepticism about the value of engaging in more “creative” pursuits as well as inhibitions or negative past experiences that mean that the value of play is not appreciated.
Part of this could be addressed by considering what the definition of “play” is in the working context. In its broadest sense “play” could be defined as thinking differently and using unconventional or different techniques. This could encompass breaks from the “normal” working or learning environment such as walking, undertaking activities outside or moving to different locations. It encompasses the opportunity to be creative, approach a problem from a different standpoint, take risks and generally encourage a greater and more satisfying engagement with work and learning.
At City, there are a number of staff engaged in playful practices in relation to their learning and teaching activities, however, often these staff are unconnected to each other. One of the challenges of developing and designing playful learning opportunities can be finding and connecting with others to experiment and brainstorm playful learning ideas. Therefore we have created a playful learning special interest group to provide support for staff engaging in play-based learning and teaching activities.
This research will
- Explore what playful learning means at City
- Consider how play has been used in relation to remote learning to engage students
- Consider what support and development is useful for staff engaging in playful learning techniques
- Develop more playful approaches to general university “business” such as committee meetings and other activities
- Explore the notion of “playful leadership” and how this could be developed at City.
View slides from a presentation at the Playful Learning Conference (July 2023) outlining findings from the research: