Playful Teaching And Training For Adult Learners

Using ideas from play and games in your in person training or teaching in any sector

What you’ll learn
Articulate the benefits of using play in teaching or training adults (in-person)
List some key barriers to enabling play in your learners
Carry out and reflect upon at least 3 playful learning approaches
Plan a playful in-person learning activity of your own

Requirements
Some experience of teaching or training
Desirable, but not essential, to currently be teaching or training adults in any setting

Description
Introducing ideas around play, playfulness, and games in teaching or training adults, together with examples of how they may be put into practice. The focus will be on in-person settings, but much of the material would translate to online settings too. It is a combination of short videos and supporting materials, including examples, together with reflective exercises.Key areas include:Defining playfulness, play, games and gamificationPersonal pedagogies and learner expectationsOvercoming some barriers to play, or giving “permission to play”Creating a playful environmentCreating zines, ad hoc printing and moreSimple card gamesPlayful writingPlanning a playful learning sessionPlus much more besides!By the end of the course you should have a clearer idea of whether playful learning approaches will work for you and your students, how they (and you) might benefit from them, have a set of examples of playful approaches, and reflected upon how you can use them in your own practice.Andrew is a National Teaching Fellow in the UK, gaining this award through his use of game based learning and playful teaching approaches. He speaks and writes widely on the topic and has been running in person and online course in playful and creative learning topics for over a decade.

Overview
Section 1: Introduction

Lecture 1 Introduction to Andy Walsh

Lecture 2 What to expect from the course

Lecture 3 Some benefits of playful learning

Lecture 4 Why people say playful training approaches won’t work for them

Section 2: Playfulness, play, games, gamification

Lecture 5 What is play?

Lecture 6 What is playfulness?

Lecture 7 What are games?

Lecture 8 Games, play, playfulness, a summary

Lecture 9 What is gamification?

Section 3: Alignment with values, beliefs, and learner expectations

Lecture 10 Personal pedagogy, a summary

Lecture 11 Learning theories in brief

Lecture 12 Why we teach

Lecture 13 A few extra notes on learning theories and pedagogies

Lecture 14 Learner expectations and why they are important

Section 4: Enabling play and setting the scene

Lecture 15 Some key barriers to play

Lecture 16 What is playful teaching / training?

Section 5: Making books (or similar)

Lecture 17 Making zines / chapbooks intro

Lecture 18 Folding a zine

Lecture 19 Some zine making materials

Lecture 20 Concertina Books and similar

Lecture 21 Adding to other printed materials

Section 6: Simple card games

Lecture 22 Card games intro

Lecture 23 Some examples

Section 7: Board games and more

Lecture 24 Board games intro

Lecture 25 A board game example

Section 8: Making games

Lecture 26 A process for making games

Section 9: Planning a playful learning session

Lecture 27 Key tips for planning a playful learning session

Section 10: Summary and next steps

Lecture 28 What we’ve covered… and a task

Trainers or teachers of adult learners that wish to use playful approaches to benefit their learners