Experimental session

Dan Laurence
La Trobe University
@D4n_

Catch this session

Monday 4 December, 3.30pm – 4.30pm
Stream 6
Room T120

Abstract

Through discovering your ‘gamer type’ as part of this experimental session participants will actively explore, compete, socialise and disrupt their way into the enquiry: what aspects of the education system are ‘gameful’, and how do different students play?

There is contention around the usefulness of the idea that learners fall into different types. Some research shows that curating teaching based on ‘learning styles’ (sensory processing) is of questionable value. However, evidence from learning analytics shows that there are radically differently behaviours exhibited by students and there are impassioned calls for increased personalisation in education.

After a very brief introduction to some leading theories on student engagement we quickly segue into a ‘Gamer Type’ quiz that will determine participants teams. The teams will then compete live using a series of leading game/learning apps as we delve deeper into the enquiry of what aspects of education are gameful, are there different ways students play and if so, does it matter?

BYO device or phone.

About the authors

Dan Laurence

Dan Laurence is a senior educational designer and has taught Graduate Certificate students on the subject of games in education. In 2015 Dan won the Vice Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence award for his work designing and employing game principles at Swinburne University (and accounting for their impact). The following journal article [ http://rdcu.be/uOJG ] has been published detailing the implementation. Dan has a long prior history working in interactive media and has produced games that are used in in around 40 universities across the world.