Are you ready to change the world? Or at least higher education? Then welcome to the revolution. Or the Playvolution as we call it.
What is the Playvolution? Like any good revolution it’s an rallying cry to hoist out the old and establish something new. So, what are we trying to toss? How about hegemonic, classist, hierarchical, didactic, sexist, racist and wildly inefficient practices that have, through managed flows of endowment cash, historical inertia and traditions of power, become adopted as very nature of higher ed.
That is to say: Is there anyone who thinks higher education couldn’t do better?
As a professor, I read the trade magazines and watch what the pundits say. I engage in the scholarly debate around the purpose of higher education and the social contract between education and society at large. I see policy solutions at the federal and state level. I see campus initiatives around student success and innovation in teaching and learning. The higher education solution industry is hard at work developing the next big thing and our various faculties and staffs work tirelessly to make things better.
As a professor at play, I think we are trying to fix massive environmental issues with incremental solutions. We are, collectively, building the sea wall higher and higher a brick at a time against rising oceans instead of looking at the systematic effects of global warming. So to speak.
When I’m honest, I am part of the problem because I love higher ed too much to tear it down and sometimes I think I love it too much to be willing to do the hard things it’s gonna take to fix it. Then I remember play.
Play is transformational. That’s in the literature. That’s in our gut. We know it’s true. Play builds resilience, community, compassion, empathy and curiosity. It ignites our minds and our hearts. It leaves satisfied and alive. And when I look at what play can do, I think this is a solution. We can play ourselves out of this mess.
To get there, it starts with personal play. To be a professor at play is to learn to play in your own life. Then with students. Then with assignments. Then with whole classes. Eventually, with everything. It might be a long way between a fun little ice breaker in a freshman class to assigning committee work and teaching slots by rolling dice and betting on winners. But it can be done. We can take what is serious, seriously and have fun with the rest.
I know. A lot of words from a would-be Playvolutionary. But all the best revolutions start with a battle cry, a manifesto, an idea that leads to action. So that’s where we have decided to start: Telling everyone about play in higher ed.
When you see the Professors at Play Playpsoium 2021: Welcome to the Playvolution, know it’s in earnest and it’s a part of an effort to turn all these words and ideas into action. The next easy step is to join us at the event. If not, just join us in solidarity in play.