Playing for Change – the Role of Creative Activities – DES31
Chairpersons

 

Jenny Fisher

Dr Jenny Fisher is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Care and Social Work, Manchester Metropolitan University, with extensive professional experience of working in communites and with regional and natonal government. She teaches on the BA (Hons) Social Care and the MA Health and Social Care programmes. She is an experienced ethnographic researcher who has undertaken research that explores personalization, voluntary organisations and the role of community spaces. Jenny is an innovative academic who brings in creative approaches to her teaching. She has led the introduction of animation as a form of assessment within MMU, and supported colleagues with using animation in research and for learning and teaching. She has had abstracts accepted to discuss the use of animation at two learning and teaching conferences in 2015. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. 

 

Chrissi Nerantzi

Hello/Hallo/Γεια σας, I am Chrissi (Nerantzi) a playful academic developer in the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) at Manchester Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom and a PhD student in open education. I am really looking forward to seeing you in Berlin.  

Jenny Fisher, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK

 

This workshop will be an excellent opportunity to experience first-hand immersive and playful learning and development through the use of creative hands-on activities with the normalised use of digital and non-digital technologies to create a seamless and stimulating experience for all involved. There will be play stations that will involve story (animation), making (LEGO) and creative mixed-reality game design. An up-beat atmosphere will be created to provide food for thought for all delegates, discussion and debate around playful approaches to learning and teaching in higher education that will transform us all into playful makers. Delegates will share related practices from their home countries and gain an insight into global perspectives that will be synthesises visually as the workshop progresses opening eyes and minds to new opportunities and possibilities for creative learning and teaching.

Play has been seen as the poor relative for learning and teaching in higher education. The world is changing rapidly. HE has a lot of catching up to do and inject creativity into its offer not just to survive but also to thrive! Brown (2010) says that play is the fertiliser of the brain. If this is true what stops us from using it in HE? The fear to be called childish, to be ridiculed? It is about time to brush the shadows away and recognise the value of play for learning in HE and explore with students its magical power to transform practices into stimulating and innovative experiences. Gauntlett (2011) reminds us of the revival of the DIY culture in digital and non-digital spaces. How can we bring this alive in HE?

Nerantzi (in print) has developed a playground pedagogy model for HE trialled within a postgraduate module at Manchester Metropolitan University for the professional development of teachers. This model will provide the pedagogical scaffold for the workshop. It will be offered in the format of rotating play stations and include gamification that will foster collaboration and healthy competition to boost motivation, engagement and learning. Key features such as community, openness, storying, making and thinking are explored throughout to connect people, ideas, hearts, hands and minds and create a vibrant learning community.

James and Brookfield (2014) recognise that novel ideas revitalise the classroom while Brown (2010, 71) claims that without play “our behaviour becomes fixed. We are not interested in new and different things”. How can we get interested in novel ideas and play? Join this workshop to rediscover the magic of learning and teaching and start growing exotic ideas that will transform your practices.

References

Brown, S. (2010) Play. How it shapes the brain, opens the imagination, and invigorates the soul, London: Penguin.

Gauntlett, D. (2011) Making is connecting. The social meaning of creativity, from DIY and knitting to YouTube and Web 2.0, Cambridge: polity

James, A. and Brookfield, S. D. (2014) Engaging Imagination. Helping students become creative and reflective thinkers, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass

Nerantzi, C. (in print) The Playground Model for Creative Professional Development, In: Nerantzi, C. & James, A. (eds.) (2015) Exploring the Issue of Play in Higher Education, Creative Academic Magazine, Issue 2, June 2015, available at http://www.creativeacademic.uk/

 

 

Jenny Fisher

Dr Jenny Fisher is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Care and Social Work, Manchester Metropolitan University, with extensive professional experience of working in communites and with regional and natonal government. She teaches on the BA (Hons) Social Care and the MA Health and Social Care programmes. She is an experienced ethnographic researcher who has undertaken research that explores personalization, voluntary organisations and the role of community spaces. Jenny is an innovative academic who brings in creative approaches to her teaching. She has led the introduction of animation as a form of assessment within MMU, and supported colleagues with using animation in research and for learning and teaching. She has had abstracts accepted to discuss the use of animation at two learning and teaching conferences in 2015. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. 

Chrissi Nerantzi & Dr Jenny Fisher (first author), Manchester Metropolitan University, UK

 

Playing for change

Dr Jenny Fisher and Chrissi Nerantzi

This workshop will be an excellent opportunity to experience first-hand immersive and playful learning and development through the use of creative hands-on activities with the normalised use of digital and non-digital technologies to create a seamless and stimulating experience for all involved. There will be play stations that will involve story (animation), making (LEGO) and creative mixed-reality game design. An up-beat atmosphere will be created to provide food for thought for all delegates, discussion and debate around playful approaches to learning and teaching in higher education that will transform us all into playful makers. Delegates will share related practices from their home countries and gain an insight into global perspectives that will be synthesises visually as the workshop progresses opening eyes and minds to new opportunities and possibilities for creative learning and teaching.

Play has been seen as the poor relative for learning and teaching in higher education. The world is changing rapidly. HE has a lot of catching up to do and inject creativity into its offer not just to survive but also to thrive! Brown (2010) says that play is the fertiliser of the brain. If this is true what stops us from using it in HE? The fear to be called childish, to be ridiculed? It is about time to brush the shadows away and recognise the value of play for learning in HE and explore with students its magical power to transform practices into stimulating and innovative experiences. Gauntlett (2011) reminds us of the revival of the DIY culture in digital and non-digital spaces. How can we bring this alive in HE?

Nerantzi (2015) has developed a playground pedagogy model for HE trialled within a postgraduate module at Manchester Metropolitan University for the professional development of teachers. This model will provide the pedagogical scaffold for the workshop. It will be offered in the format of rotating play stations and include gamification that will foster collaboration and healthy competition to boost motivation, engagement and learning. Key features such as community, openness, storying, making and thinking are explored throughout to connect people, ideas, hearts, hands and minds and create a vibrant learning community.

James and Brookfield (2014) recognise that novel ideas revitalise the classroom while Brown (2010, 71) claims that without play “our behaviour becomes fixed. We are not interested in new and different things”. How can we get interested in novel ideas and play? Join this workshop to rediscover the magic of learning and teaching and start growing exotic ideas that will transform your practices.

 

 

References

Brown, S. (2010) Play. How it shapes the brain, opens the imagination, and invigorates the soul, London: Penguin.

Gauntlett, D. (2011) Making is connecting. The social meaning of creativity, from DIY and knitting to YouTube and Web 2.0, Cambridge: polity

James, A. and Brookfield, S. D. (2014) Engaging Imagination. Helping students become creative and reflective thinkers, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass

Nerantzi, C. (2015) The Playground Model for Creative Professional Development, In: Nerantzi, C. & James, A. (eds.) (2015) Exploring Play in Higher Education, Creative Academic Magazine, Issue 2A, June 2015, pp. 40-50, available at http://www.creativeacademic.uk/

 

 

Chrissi Nerantzi

Hello/Hallo/Γεια σας, I am Chrissi (Nerantzi) a playful academic developer in the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) at Manchester Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom and a PhD student in open education. I am really looking forward to seeing you in Berlin.