21. Playing with the everyday [90 mins]

Chrissi Nerantzi
Baylis-Green, C.; Kelly, R.; Thomas, R.

James (2014) talks about creative reflection consisting of a cocktail of criticality, imagination, playfulness and creativity. Recognising that learning doesn’t exclusively happen in the head through reflection but also through experiencing using our heart and hands (HHH model, Sipos et al., 2008) can be valuable reminders. We will use the Playground framework (Author1, 2015) to put the puzzle pieces together and experience playful learning in action.

This contribution is a playshop for individuals with a wide open mind. You will have the opportunity through a series of playful activities to explore new ways of looking at how you engage students with your discipline and help them grasp challenging concepts to make learning stimulating and memorable.

Consider bringing few usual and unusual objects with you from your office or home. Don’t worry if this is not possible. We will have a box of goodies you can choose from. Also, in preparation for the playshop, reflect on a recent teaching situation where you tried to explain something challenging to your students and it just didn’t work. Create a visual of your failed activity and be prepared to share this with at least one more person during the playshop.

When we meet, we will explore how we can through sharing and engaging in playful collaborative and inquiry-based activities, troubleshoot, generate ideas and learn from practices we would normally brush quickly under the carpet. Together, we will identify playful ways to spice up our teaching in ways that will provide powerful hooks for our students that have the potential to help them connect the known with the unknown, uncover and discover the power of playful learning to make learning stick.

Who says play is a no-no for higher education? Let’s explore, experiment and experience together the power of play in this playshop!

References:
James, A. & Brookfield S. (2014) Engaging Imagination. Helping Students become creative and reflective thinkers, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Nerazzi, C. (2015) The Playground Model for Creative Professional Development, In: Nerazzi, 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/
Sipos, Y., Battisti, B., & Grimm, K. (2008). Achieving transformative sustainability learning: Engaging head, hands and heart. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 9, 68-86.

22. Engagment in Virtual Reality Gameplay [90 mins]

Paul Booth
Meadows, C.; Williams, S.; Javaid, O.

What will we do and why?

We aim to produce a VR scenario based online game using 360 photography and video and learning objects designed in Articulate Storyline 2 and other similar engines. The game uses exploratory narrative and immersive experiences to allow for choice and play within the materials. This will be delivered on players devices or via Google Cardboard.

This workshop explores the uses of VR/360 film and video for educational use. With the help of some 360 footage and Google Cardboard, workshop attendees will have the opportunity to work with the materials and design their own tour, adding links and other learning objects to make an immersive and exploratory narrative based classroom. We discuss the use and production of media content to support this workshop and how best teachers can develop their work.

Session will include:

  • Introduction to game
  • Gameplay – students explore the game and embedded learning objects
  • Feedback phase – Players feed-back in workshop on the game in terms of playability – proof of concept. Particularly around levels of engagement – is progressive mechanics leaderboard enough? What will your students do?

Intro game – The users will experience an immersive environment filmed from 360 degree camera with ability for visitors to tour and navigate space in similar manner to Google Street view. Trigger points can be toggled by explorers to introduce learning objects. These can be rich media, documents, video segments or interactive objects authored in Storyline. The interactive elements then capture progress and will feed into a tracking mechanism.

Making session – The players will then explore the authoring environment using apps to generate a scenario using pre-supplied assets. The players will author a VR 3D environment and author a scenario making use of objects that they can embed into the 3D space. They will explore generating a games-based learning object or a gamification scenario.

Peer-testing session – The produced assets will be deployed and tested by other players and feedback.

Feedback session – The players will feedback on the process of playing in the immersive environment around the narrative, playability, VR concept. They will also feedback on the authoring process highlighting the key elements needed to make a scenario.

Questions we raise
What are the possibilities for using VR in learning? What do we need to produce VR for learning? How can we add VR to play? How can we best develop scenarios using VR and situated learning? How do we develop narrative? What is it we are trying to do? Exploring the utility of 3D video combined with learning objects as an immersive learning environment. Pushing the boundaries of current technologies by combining rich VR/AR media, game based learning and learning objects within an exploratory narrative scenario. Explore the differences and distinctions between gamification and game-based learning within these technologies. Give participants some tools they can use to author rich environments.

What we hope to learn and do next?
Incorporate feedback from the session into a University tour game. Hoping that the feedback and skills will lead to iterative cycle of development and enable further sharing to facilitate more makers. Also inform work flows and challenge our thinking.