Editorial: The playful academic
Imagine a place of learning where progressive failing, building resilience, and developing individual and collective skills, values and creativity are not only thought about as a theoretical...
Blog Special Issues
The playful academic
This special BERA Blog series, edited by Maarten Koeners, explores how play and playfulness can facilitate learning in higher education – from the points of view of educator, researcher, academic advisor, programme director, student and professor – and aims to stimulate fresh discussion of the place of play in adult learning.
The contributors explain:
- how our thinking, ‘soft skills’ and even research methods can benefit from playful activity
- how these benefits can be measured
- how playing can benefit mental health and wellbeing
- how we can create a culture in which academics feel secure, trusted and comfortable enough to be playful in their own ways.
Playful creativity
‘Intelligence is what you use when you don’t know what to do.’ (Attributed to Jean Piaget) Learning is often compromised by competitiveness (Brown & Vaughan, 2009). Bred from the...
Positioning ‘play’ purposefully in the adult language learning classroom
Times are tough for university students and teachers alike in this pandemic world. ‘Play’ could offer an easy antidote to the soulnessness of digital overload. Incorporating ‘fun’ and...
Playful interventions: Measuring impact on learning
Figure 1: PMM tracking individuals’ understanding of ‘playfulness and me’ over the course of several workshops and a field trip. Red text was added before any workshops were...
Does playfulness have a place in higher education? A reflection on using playfulness when teaching research methods to postgraduate students
Playfulness has been defined as a disposition (Barnett, 1991) a mindset (Skilbeck, 2017) and fundamental for creativity (Cheng-Ping Chang, 2013). I have spent many years working in play and...
Becoming a playful academic: A personal story
Throughout my life I have been exposed to an increasingly stressful and demanding expectation to perform, dictated not only by society (cultural pressures) but also through beliefs deeply...
Playful praxis: A student’s perspective
Now in my fifth year of higher education (HE), I am in the unfortunate position to have more years as an undergraduate to reflect on than most, yet still have more to look forward to. Yes, I am a...
Connection and creativity despite Covid-19: Playful learning at university during the pandemic
Over the past decade, interest in play and playful learning in higher education (HE) has grown significantly (James & Brookfield, 2014; James & Nerantzi, 2019). Publications, conferences and...
Editor
Maarten Koeners, Dr
Senior Lecturer at University of Exeter Medical School
Maarten Koeners studies and teaches integrative physiology at the University of Exeter. He integrates insights in the physiology of play and playful learning with his academic practice. Recently he established The Playful University Club, an...
Content in this series
Becoming a playful academic: A personal story
Throughout my life I have been exposed to an increasingly stressful and demanding expectation to perform, dictated not only by society (cultural pressures) but also through beliefs deeply...
Continue reading blog postPlayful praxis: A student’s perspective
Now in my fifth year of higher education (HE), I am in the unfortunate position to have more years as an undergraduate to reflect on than most, yet still have more to look forward to. Yes, I am a...
Continue reading blog post
Does playfulness have a place in higher education? A reflection on using playfulness when teaching research methods to postgraduate students
Playfulness has been defined as a disposition (Barnett, 1991) a mindset (Skilbeck, 2017) and fundamental for creativity (Cheng-Ping Chang, 2013). I have spent many years working in play and...
Continue reading blog post
Positioning ‘play’ purposefully in the adult language learning classroom
Times are tough for university students and teachers alike in this pandemic world. ‘Play’ could offer an easy antidote to the soulnessness of digital overload. Incorporating ‘fun’ and...
Continue reading blog post
Connection and creativity despite Covid-19: Playful learning at university during the pandemic
Over the past decade, interest in play and playful learning in higher education (HE) has grown significantly (James & Brookfield, 2014; James & Nerantzi, 2019). Publications, conferences and...
Continue reading blog post
Playful interventions: Measuring impact on learning
Figure 1: PMM tracking individuals’ understanding of ‘playfulness and me’ over the course of several workshops and a field trip. Red text was added before any workshops were...
Continue reading blog postPlayful creativity
‘Intelligence is what you use when you don’t know what to do.’ (Attributed to Jean Piaget) Learning is often compromised by competitiveness (Brown & Vaughan, 2009). Bred from the...
Continue reading blog post
Editorial: The playful academic
Imagine a place of learning where progressive failing, building resilience, and developing individual and collective skills, values and creativity are not only thought about as a theoretical...
Continue reading blog post