Playful Pedagogy in Higher Education: Research and Cases from Across the Disciplines

This collection provides a wide array of concrete and inspiring ＂playful＂ approaches to teaching in a range of higher education contexts and discipline areas, grounded in the learning sciences and within a future-oriented revisioning of the university learning environment. Within the broad area of active learning strategies, this text offers a curated collection of creative innovations such as game-based learning, gamification of courses, escape rooms, semester-long quests, dramatic role-plays, artistic endeavors and more. Containing descriptive and impact research that evidences the power of playful pedagogy, this text will offer a range of novel, transferable and usable materials for readers to apply in their lecture halls and classrooms tomorrow.

Laura Baecher, EdD, Associate Provost for Faculty Development at Kean University in Union, New Jersey. Prior to her current role, she was a Professor at the Hunter College School of Education, City University of New York (CUNY) where she also serves as Senior Faculty Fellow in the Academic Center for Excellence in Research and Teaching and leads a variety of faculty development programs across CUNY. Her interests relate to faculty learning, observation and coaching, and English language teacher education. She is the creator and leader of the Playful Pedagogy in Higher Education webinar series, drawing more than 1,000 faculty to monthly virtual sessions.

Lindsay Portnoy, PhD, is a cognitive scientist and Associate Teaching Professor at Northeastern University, New York. Portnoy’s research centers on the use of immersive technologies and systems thinking to enhance cognition and create a more just system of education. Portnoy is a former public-school teacher, co-founder of the NSF and IES funded ed tech Killer Snails, and author of the award-winning books Designed to Learn and Game On? Brain On! Portnoy has been published in academic journals and popular media outlets including The Washington Post, USA Today, and World Economic Forum, among others. Dr. Portnoy is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network, former ASCD Emerging Leader, and Assessment Fellow at Hunter College, CUNY. Portnoy’s company received the 2018 Small Business Innovation Research /Small Business Technology Transfer of the Year Award in her home state of New York.