ELI Web Seminar, May 4, 2009 1:00 p.m. ET (12:00 p.m. CT, 11:00 a.m. MT, 10:00 a.m. PT); runs one hour

The Role of Play in Learning with Technology

Special Guests

Gail Matthews-DeNatale
Associate Director, Academic Technology
Simmons College

Gail Matthews-DeNatale has 20 years of experience developing, implementing, and assessing educational projects, courses, and programs. As associate director of academic technology at Simmons College, she collaborates with faculty and administrators to brainstorm ideas for curricular innovation and envision future directions for academic technology. She also teaches in the Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science. Recent projects include the Simmons Blended Learning Initiative, presentations and workshops on digital storytelling and e-portfolios in higher education, and co-development of the Save Bluth alternate reality game for the 2009 ELI Annual Meeting. She has received national awards for her work as well as funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Science Foundation. From 2005 to 2008 she served as chair of the Teaching, Learning, and Assessment track for the annual NERCOMP conference; she also organized numerous successful daylong SIG events for NERCOMP. She earned a PhD from Indiana University.

Barbara Draude
Assistant Vice President for Academic and Instructional Technologies
Middle Tennessee State University

Barbara J. Draude is the assistant vice president for academic and instructional technologies for Middle Tennessee State University's IT division and co-directs the university's Learning, Teaching, and Innovative Technologies Center. She is responsible for the areas of academic programming, statistical consultation, web applications, and technology integration into teaching and learning. She is also an assistant professor in the MTSU School of Nursing, where she was recognized in 1999 with the MTSU Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement in Instructional Technology. She conducts faculty development seminars and workshops to assist faculty to develop technology-enhanced course materials and web-based courses. She has presented locally and nationally on instructional technology topics.

Summary

Julie Little, director of teaching, learning, and professional development at EDUCAUSE, will moderate this web seminar with Gail Matthews-DeNatale and Barbara Draude as they share their experiences incorporating play into their courses with special consideration for how technology can support playful learning.

From Plato and Piaget to the current day, scholars have noted the critical role of play in learning. Yet the concept of playful learning still encounters significant resistance in higher education. Designing playful learning is a deceptively challenging task, one that requires a sophisticated understanding of play itself. This web seminar will provide participants with:

• Theoretical frameworks and resources to inform your thinking on the role of play in learning
• Examples of faculty-developed play-based learning experiences
• Faculty quotes about the impact of these experiences on student learning
• Recommendations and guiding questions designed to help you develop successful play-based learning experiences on your campus

Additional Resources

• Play Workshop Wiki from the EDUCAUSE 2008 Annual Meeting workshop on The Role of Play in Learning with Technology
• John Seely Brown and Richard Adler, Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0, EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 43, no. 1 (January/February 2008): 16–32
• Diana Oblinger, Games and Learning, EDUCAUSE Quarterly, vol. 23, no. 3, 2006
• The American Journal of Play