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Play as Pedagogy in Online Classes—Please Respond!
In the online classes I’ve taught so far—Composition II, Shakespeare, The Short Story and Novel—the instructors who designed the class have included games to facilitate learning. There are click-and-drag activities to order the plots of Shakespeare’s plays, for example, and matching games in Comp II to better understand logical fallacies. The question on my mind is what I can do, as the teacher of my specific sections, to further encourage play with the material.
One way I play with what I teach is to post links to humorous videos in my announcements. If there’s one thing that the Internet (and YouTube in particular) does extremely well, it is to provide brief diversions. I tell my class they are “vaguely educational,” and I openly admit that sometimes they tip conspicuously toward “vaguely.”
If you’re looking for a little distraction now, check out Monty Python’s take on improving
one’s argumentative skills (à la Comp II). The first four minutes or so are definitely
(if vaguely) educational. The rest is just vaguely zany.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y&w=420&h=315]
For my Shakespeare class, here’s a quick and clever cartoon from The Open University on
the astonishing number of words and phrases his plays introduced to the English language.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMkuUADWW2A&w=560&h=315]
When we read Hamlet, I want to show them what Schwarzenegger would do in Hamlet’s
position (a clip from the film Last Action Hero), and how an imagined editor of Shakespeare,
played here by Rowan Atkinson (a.k.a. Mr. Bean), might have helped craft the “To be
or not to be” soliloquy.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCVc5TaPpe8&w=420&h=315]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvaUwagX_uU&w=420&h=315]
These “vaguely educational” videos are a way for me to play with the material I teach, and the click-and-drag games are a way for students to play with what they’re learning. What I haven’t yet done is devise ways for students to play with each other, or for them to play with me.
I’m still working on this challenge, so I thought I’d post about it. Please leave a comment if you have any suggestions.
Brian Goedde
English and Writing Department
Washtenaw Community College