The School for Unlearning

by Lisa Forbes | Jan 4, 2024 | Uncategorized

Lisa K. Forbes

One day, I was reading the book The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and The Horse. If you haven’t read it, please do. I found it to be super inspiring and thought-provoking. Anyway, as I was reading, one of the characters said “What if there was a school for unlearning?” That question followed me for the rest of the day. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. That phrase entered my brain and prompted reflections from my educational background that I’d like to unlearn. That night, I wrote and wrote and what came out was the poem presented below. You might read this poem and wonder what the heck this has to do with play so here are my thoughts on that:

Play is not just silly, childish fun. Play is also about rebellion. Daring to step “out of line” and dare to challenge power structures or old ways of being that now exist as truth. Because these norms and “truths” were created by certain people, for certain people. Not for all people. Yet, all people are expected to contort themselves to fall in line with these norms. Play, as a mindset or underlying philosophy, can help us stand up to that narrow set of standards and question if there are other, more inclusive ways to let humans exist.

In that way, play is about bringing out people’s unique humanness. The systems in which we live often have a way of stripping our humanity – taking what makes us unique and valuable. Play is one way that we can resist cultural norms and messages each of us is given about who we are allowed to be so we can recover and rediscover our unique humanity. Because when we lose our humanity, I don’t think we can show up as our full and true selves. At that point, how useful are we able to be to our communities and to the world?

The School of Unlearning

As kids, we go to school because we have to.
There, our greatest strengths whittled away.
Because they just don’t fit in the same way.

Fall in line.
Learn the facts.
Think this.
Believe that.

We learn from what we’re told.
And what we observe.
Which traits and behaviors are valued
and which, absurd.

We’re smarter than we look.
Smarter than we seem.
But smarts aren’t the point to be deemed.

The point, never acknowledged, is alignment.

Conform.
To what is valued.
To what’s measured.

A sheepish confinement.

Most forced to leave identities at the door.
Forget your uniqueness.
Your inner aspirations.
Forget the you that differs
from those whom this education was made for.

Leave that shit at the door.
It’s not welcome here.

A day here, a day there.
Might not be so bad.
But a lifetime is hard to be had.

The lucky ones realize how lost they’ve become,
no longer free.
How they hardly remember who they were
before everyone else told them who to be.

How to think.
What to believe.

The lucky ones might just find their way out.

Back to themselves.
To their humanness and unique potentials.

What’s been taught can be undone:
The school of unlearning, rebellious fun.

Question what is.
Question the facts.
It’s only real because they said it was.
Expose all the cracks.

Unlearn what’s been caked on.
Layer after layer, year after year.
The real lives underneath the conditioned fear.

It’s real because it’s different.
Because it’s unique.
The you that existed before you were told
what to think.

The school of unlearning is a lonely embrace.
It’s easy to lose your way,
slingshotting you back to the well-known place.

It takes rebellion.
Reflection.
Re-learning.
And hope.

But when the layers are shed.
It’s easier to exist and to cope.

You find inner freedom.
The world quiets down.
You can hear the inner you
who’s been waiting to be found.

Soul.
Intuition.
Inner child.
It’s all the same. It’s you: human, unique, and wild.

The school of unlearning seems pretty dope.
We need it now more than ever
to rekindle some hope.

Emotions and Brain States LOVE Play

by Lisa Forbes | May 10, 2021 | Commentary, Inspiration, Resources

Emotions and Brain States LOVE Play

by Lisa Forbes

Before becoming an educator, I was first a mental health counselor. One of my very first counseling jobs was in an inpatient psychiatric hospital. The patients were struggling with severe mental health concerns – typically suicidal ideation, homicidal ideation, or some form of psychosis. It seemed that the longer someone worked there, the more likely they’d be to have negative views of the patients, didn’t believe patients or trust them. As a new counselor, this was disheartening for me – I didn’t want to become that. I wondered what was the breakdown and is there an antidote to professional negativity?

I’ve learned a lot from my work as a counselor and one thing is: I don’t think we can truly help someone until we are able to see the complexity of the human sitting in front of us. As a counselor, my effectiveness depends on my ability to see the humanity in people, their emotions, and attempt to understand their lived experience. And all of this is a choice and takes effort. Although education is different from counseling in many ways, it’s not all that different. Educators are in the business of human development. We are in the business of inspiring students to think critically, to grow and to expand their skill sets and mindsets.

But oftentimes, I’ve witnessed academia being less than humanistic – the common and traditional approach we take to educating students demonstrates that…as well as some of the negative comments about students that I have seen. We need to consider why we teach in the way we teach and maybe see students in a different light. Of course we won’t be able to know our students’ stories on a deep and vulnerable level like a counselor would (and I don’t think we need that type of depth in education) but I do think we can see students more holistically and consider their emotions and brain states to challenge the ways we are static and ineffective in education. As well as considering how the status quo of academia may be limiting our effectiveness yet often goes unexamined.

We need to approach our teaching differently as well as see students differently – beyond bodies in our classrooms. We have to understand our students on a humanistic level and consider how their brains work in the learning process. The traditional lecture-based mode of teaching does not produce the most optimal brain states for learning – the brain is poorly designed for formal instruction (Jansen & McConchie, 2020). I think formal education can actually make students passive, bored, and anxious. But, instead of blaming students, what if we attempted to see students holistically? What if we adjusted our approach to meet students where they’re at and design the learning environment to what they might need emotionally and to what their brains might need to learn best?

If we recall that the brain is the organ that drives all learning through the process called neuroplasticity (i.e., the brain’s ability to change, reorganize, and remap itself). Neuroplasticity is a vital consideration for academics (Jansen & McConchie, 2020) because we can either create an environment that optimizes students’ brain states for learning or we can create an environment that negatively impacts learning and minimizes neuroplasticity. And then depending on our awareness and our ability to take accountability – we can blame students for not being motivated and engaged learners.

To enhance neuroplasticity and the learning process, there are various neurotransmitters that are responsible for strengthening that process. First of all, the stress hormone, cortisol, is actually detrimental to neuroplasticity so students who come to class with an anxious brain or who experience classroom environments that don’t soothe the anxious brain are fighting against the learning process (Jansen & McConchie, 2020; Taylor & Marineau, 2016). Dopamine is driven by joy, pleasure, and the reward response and higher levels of this hormone increase motivation, attention, and memory. Norepinephrine increases students’ mood and enhances their ability to concentrate by generating a sense of urgency and excitement. Acetylcholine is vital for learning as it is involved in memory and is released when we experience surprise and novelty. Oxytocin is released during social interaction and closeness with others. This neurotransmitter is important for learning as it increases students’ sense of safety in the environment and trust in others involved in the learning process. Oxytocin also lowers the threat that the brain perceives in the environment. For more on the citations used for this section: (Jansen & McConchie, 2020; Tang, 2017, Taylor & Marineau, 2016).

So, if we can understand what neurotransmitters are responsible for and strengthen neuroplasticity, and if you know what types of experiences can release more of those neurotransmitters in students’ brains, you can better design your learning space and mode of education to support that process. Below is a compilation of the conditions and emotions conducive to brain-based learning and increasing the presence of those positive neurotransmitters.

Novelty
Social connection
Relevance
Fun
Play
Engagement
Humor
Safety
Variety
Enjoyable activities
Surprise
Joy
Alertness
Motivation
Curiosity
Creativity
Relaxation
Excitement
Focus/attention
Effort
Trust

*This list and information on neurotransmitters are a compilation from brain-based and play-based learning literature. See references below.

If you can increase these conditions and emotions in a classroom, you might increase the presence of the joy, learning, and concentration neurotransmitters involved in learning. But if you think about a traditional or typical classroom in higher education, does it support novelty, social connection, fun, engagement, humor, enjoyable activities, surprise, creativity, curiosity, etc.? Maybe somewhat but I’d venture to guess academia needs a learning overhaul. Otherwise, why do students often consider learning to be a chore or burden?

What’s worse, I think as faculty we often blame students for being bored or disengaged and we expect or hope that they will be curious, open, and excited. But, we have more influence over their brain states and learning stance than we think – we just have to take accountability for how we are influencing them. Jansen and McConchie (2020) believe educators often look at teaching as “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.” Essentially, I’m teaching them all of the facts and content they need to know but I can’t make them learn and when they struggle to learn we often blame the student. But what if we changed our perspective from you can’t make a horse drink to how can we inspire the horse to be thirsty (Jansen & McConchie, 2020). How can we inspire students to be more engaged and establish an environment that is more conducive to learning?

I’m pretty sure the answer is play but I might be biased. But, I’m also right.

References

Brown, S. (2009). Play: How it shapes the brain, opens the imagination, and invigorates the soul. New York, NY: The Penguin Group.

Hsu, A., & Malkin, F. (2011). Shifting the focus from teaching to learning: Rethinking the role of the teacher educator. Contemporary Issues in Education Research, 4(12), 43.

Jensen, E., & McConchie, L. (2020). Brain-based learning: Teaching the way students really learn. (Third ed.). SAGE Publications.

Tang, Y. (2017). Brain-based learning and education: Principles and practice. Academic Press, an imprint of Elsevier.

Taylor, K., & Marienau, C. (2016). Facilitating learning with the adult brain in mind: A conceptual and practical guide (First ed.). Jossey-Bass.

Wang, S., & Aamodt, S. (2012). Play, stress, and the learning brain. Cerebrum (New York, NY), 2012, 12-12.

A Playvolution…Are You In?

by Lisa Forbes | May 3, 2021 | Commentary

A Playvolution…Are You In?

by Lisa Forbes

I look at the picture of students listening to a lecture and I think: This is education? Why do we continue to drone on and on at students like this? Where’s the joy? Where’s the fun? Where’s the excitement? I’m sure you could find some other photos with some more engaged students but this picture isn’t all that unrealistic to what a typical classroom in higher education looks like. Even for faculty who are more flexible, creative, and innovative, I’d argue they still get caught up in the status quo sometimes. I know I do. I think that’s the trap of status quos, they are extremely hard to escape. The whole system is built around it, all the players continually feed into it, and it becomes almost unnoticeable and unrecognizable. It just becomes the norm, the standard. Like a fish swimming in water, it becomes hard to know anything but the water.

As much as passive lecture-based approaches are the norm in many classrooms, I’d venture to guess that many students are bored, uninspired, and disengaged. I came across a blog (as far as I can tell, a serious blog) called 45+ Things to Do in a Boring Lecture. As I read through these ideas, I started wondering: So, this is how we have come to know education. That learning is boring. Lectures are boring. It’s just what happens in education so just need to survive it and slug through until you can graduate and never have to learn again. Yuck! So…you need to research things to do in order to survive a boring lecture.

I’m starting to wonder if students and or faculty even believe it can be something entirely different. I am personally trying to escape the all-encompassing ‘water’ of academia and lecture-based learning to explore how else it could be. I realize that there’s more than one way to be an effective and engaging educator but what I believe in is playful pedagogy. Last year I designed a study of my students’ experiences of learning with a playful pedagogy and the data has me even more convinced. Below is a quote from one of my student participants and I think it hits the nail on the head about how students might feel:

“Everything about grad school feels non-fun-oriented: extensive program handbooks, performative quizzes, unnecessarily complex assignments, formidable grading and attendance policies, all of which seem designed to discipline rather than educate; loads and loads of reading which is never discussed or applied in class, and so it feels removed from usefulness. Play provided an uplifting break from the seriousness of all this. My experience has shown that the value of play in learning is not to be underestimated. The incorporation of a little levity and a laugh has been life-affirming in general, but has also felt useful in creating a spaciousness for learning that is palpable, and palpably absent in other classes where the focus is more on performative quizzes and lengthy PowerPoint presentations. I feel better primed to learn when it’s not quite so rigid a class environment. The spaciousness has been invaluable.”

What have we done to education?

I know there are some exceptional faculty doing amazing things in their teaching. But even with some faculty being different, innovative, playful, or flexible, I’d argue that the overall script of academia aligns with this student’s experience. This student’s words pretty well reflect the core of our educational system and I think that’s a problem.

If we take a step back from our everyday lived reality and dare to step out of the water, can we consider education differently? Can it be fun, joyful, energizing, and novel? Can we do things in a way that earns our students attention and motivation instead of expecting it or demanding it simply because they are paying to earn their degrees? Personally, I dream of a playful culture where the process of learning and earning a degree isn’t regarded as a burden and a chore. Let’s call it a playvolution. You in?

A 2020 Reflection

by Lisa Forbes | Dec 28, 2020 | Commentary

Here’s to Hoping 2020 Leaves a Playful Residue

by Lisa Forbes

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us.” Charles Dickens

I am a mental health counselor and I can’t help but apply what I know about counseling and the change process to the problems of faculty life and higher education. (Higher education needs lots of therapy, but that’s a whole other blog post). In terms of change, you cannot avoid problems. You cannot simply continue to do the same things and expect a different outcome. To change, you have to face your fears head on. You have to go straight through the uncertainty and discomfort – you don’t get to go around it. And oftentimes, people don’t realize they need to change until they’re put through a difficult situation.

So, 2020 was a shit show of a difficult situation. It pushed us outside of our comfort zones for sure. It’s made many of us have to completely rethink and redesign how we do our jobs. It’s been downright brutal for many people. So, is there a lesson we can take from 2020? To not take routines for granted? Not to get too comfortable with the way we know things to be? To be ready at any instant to be flexible and reconceptualize…everything? I hope all of these things were lessons learned but I also daydream about the kinds of invigorating change people have found from plowing through the discomfort.

It’s easy to lose perspective on life at times. Admittedly, it easily happens to me, but I try to do an exercise with my kids where when something bad happens (after I let them feel the sadness/frustration/etc, because I’m a counselor after all) I ask them: “What good came from this?” Even in the most difficult times in our lives I think we can always find something good that came from it. As I reflect on the past year, I can honestly say that, for me, the development of the Professors at Play community was a huge piece of good that came from the pandemic. This community has inspired me, given me a sense of camaraderie, and allowed me to deepen my understanding of play and my allegiance to it within the learning process.

I hope that Professors at Play had some small part in the change process for others too. I hope that heaps of other people realized the power and value of play. That’s a huge part of our dreams for Professors at Play – that it will provide the push or the support that inspires people to become more playful. Leading them to increasingly infuse play into their lives and their teaching. It was unintentional that Professors at Play was developed during a global pandemic – it just kind of happened that way. But, looking back over this year, what wonderful timing!

At a time when many people were struggling with the abrupt transition to teaching virtually – play seemed to save the day. (Doesn’t it always though?) At a time when teaching became a foreign and uncertain endeavor for many, play seemed like an antidote. I don’t think everyone joined Professors at Play for the same reasons. Some would have joined pre-pandemic but I think many joined to survive teaching through the pandemic. And for those people, I hope they initially joined Professors at Play for the “tips and tricks” to make their digital teaching more engaging but I hope they exit the pandemic with play as their trusted sidekick to their teaching – digital or otherwise.

That is, I hope that play wasn’t a pit stop for people as they find their way back to “normal.” Instead, I hope they plowed straight through the uncertainty and difficulty and found play. And at the same time, I just bet that play helped people plow through the uncertainty and difficulty of this year. Play is pretty cool like that. But, wouldn’t it be fun if when the COVID dust settles, we emerge from the smoke and find ourselves more playful? And we find that higher education is more tolerant and welcoming of play in tertiary learning. And we don’t take ourselves so seriously.

I hope that the play movement will create a seismic shift in the philosophical underpinning of higher education…I’m getting all sweaty just thinking of such a world. Because play matters and I think it would allow us to break free of some tired traditions that prohibit us from reaching the very things we say we’re all about. And, for higher education, that would certainly be a big ol’ heap of good that came from 2020.

Wholehearted People Play

by Lisa Forbes | Dec 22, 2020 | Commentary

Vulnerability and Play

by Lisa Forbes

What does vulnerability have to do with play? Well, lots. Let me explain. In this post – it’s twofold.

The First Fold

Brene Brown’s work on vulnerability and shame have a loads of value for education. Both teaching and learning. Vulnerability leads to desired student outcomes, valuable connections, and authentic classrooms. It makes what we do more effective and what students learn more meaningful.

In her book, Daring Greatly, Brene says: “Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity.” If we, for a moment, come out from behind our pedagogical theories and tools, we can admit that perhaps one of the most vital aspects of education is about creating meaningful and transformative human experiences. Vulnerability is the core and the heart of meaningful human experiences.

It’s curious, then, why both students and educators often attempt to avoid vulnerability when it holds so much value. It could be that it’s uncomfortable because vulnerability is often equated with weakness, or maybe it’s that we just don’t know how. So, we try to avoid vulnerability because we don’t want to appear weak, we don’t want to “fail,” we don’t want to lose our credibility or power – and probably several other reasons. Yet, when we dismiss vulnerability as weakness it means we have limited our efficacy and authenticity.

Yet, hypocritically, we expect that our students demonstrate vulnerability themselves. I don’t believe we can ask students to be vulnerable (i.e., try something new, be creative, risk making a mistake, be open, etc.) unless we are also modeling those things. Obviously, this is a much larger issue than I intended on writing about here but the connection to play is that play is often vulnerable – especially in a setting where play isn’t normally included or expected (e.g., higher education classrooms). When we open ourselves up to play and we include play into our teaching – that can feel vulnerable.

But if we are following the research and wise words of Brene Brown, being vulnerable in play is exactly what we need to do. Vulnerability through play allows for connection, belonging, innovation, creativity, joy, authenticity, accountability, etc. So, in my mind, we are doing ourselves (and our students) a huge disservice by avoiding or limiting play in the classroom.

Okay, Second Fold

This fold is all about living wholeheartedly – as Brene calls it. In her research, she began seeing people who just seemed to live better, more joyously than others – more wholeheartedly. Brene developed ten guideposts for living wholeheartedly and – you guessed it – cultivating play is one of them.

This seems easy enough. Just play…

It’s never that easy though. In a culture where play is seen as trivial or a waste of precious time, it’s hard to allow yourself time to play. The cultural message is this: in order to be successful and a serious adult, you must be overworked, stressed, and busy. Play is often seen as the opposite of work and productivity. So, we think in order to keep up, to be a successful professional, we must push play aside. But that’s a huge mistake because play is vital to living well. I even think that play actually allows you to be more productive and professional. Play reduces stress and leaves you feeling centered and increases your focus and concentration. I also believe that play can even help you be a better professional and more effective at your job. Play allows you to approach problems from a different lens – a more creative lens – which then allows you to engage with your work in a more meaningful and flexible way.

Despite the evidence and all of the connections between play and everything we desire in our lives, I’m continuously shocked by our rejection of play in adulthood.

You want to live better? Play.

You want to be more creative? Play.

You want to be better connected to people? Play.

You want to be more effective in your job? Play.

You want to reduce your stress and anxiety? Play.

You want to laugh more? Play.

You want to live longer? Play.

I could go on like this all day. But you get the point.

Thinking Your Way to PLAY!

by Lisa Forbes | Nov 24, 2020 | Commentary

By Lisa Forbes

2020 has been quite a year. Many would probably like to pretend that 2020 never happened. It’s been extremely stressful and exhausting for me too for several reasons but one amazing thing that has happened in 2020 was the creation of Professors at Play. It started with 5 people on a listserv which then blew up to 574 people. Then it became a website and blog. Then it became a virtual Playposium with 361 registrants. Then it expanded to have a social media presence and YouTube channel. All within five months. And for me personally, it’s become something I think about and do everyday.

I think about play every. single. day.

Maybe the labor of Professors at Play has added to my stress and overwhelm within 2020 (because it is a lot of work). But maybe, just maybe, it’s helped me emotionally survive 2020. Play has a multitude of benefits including being a buffer against stress.

In counseling, some therapists conceptualize change from a triangle of cognitions, emotions, and behaviors. Some believe, if you change your thoughts, your emotions and behaviors will follow.* So, I wonder if by thinking about play everyday, my emotions become more playful and happy and when I have playful, happy emotions, I do more playful and happy things. In adult life, it’s easy to get sucked into developing tunnel vision where you can only see stress and seriousness. Stress and seriousness are inevitable facets of life but I don’t think that’s all life has to be. So, as I think about play every day, I can feel it grounding me, providing some levity, and keeping my stress in perspective. I have definitely been better about stepping away from the computer to play.

And that rubs off on the people closest to me.

One example is my son. He is one of the most social kids I know – he is an 8-year-old diehard friend. A lover of playdates. The kid goes to school only looking forward to seeing his friends. That and the day he gets to buy pizza. He struggles academically so you can imagine how grateful I am that his school had 12 weeks of in-person learning. So, last week, my son’s school transitioned to fully virtual learning due to rising COVID numbers. The first week was tough. 2nd graders should not be in front of a computer for 5 hours a day, especially my son. No friend time. All academic time through a tiny computer screen. By Thursday, he was very grumpy.

I had found this fun drawing game and instead of engaging in my son’s grumpy-ness, (because I already tried validating him and it only seemed to make it worse) I invited him to play the game. He was initially annoyed and didn’t want to play but as he sat on my lap and played the game, his mood instantly shifted. After he finished the first round he said: “I want to play again!” Then he and I took turns playing the game. We sat there playing, laughing, and talking for 20 minutes. You can imagine with such a robust social life that he has, it’s rare for me to get such precious snuggle time with my little man anymore.

That’s the power of play. Play instantly improved his mood. Play united us and provided us a moment of connection and bonding. I even felt lighter after that.

So, here’s one thing 2020 has taught me: if you give in to the stress and seriousness, it will swallow you whole. But, if you allow a little play into your day – even a 20-minute silly game – you can approach the seriousness and stress from a more centered and lighter place.

Go on, give it a try: https://quickdraw.withgoogle.com/

*Disclaimer: As a counselor, I don’t usually suggest this model of change until we have deconstructed the role that larger systems have had in mandating the client’s thinking. It’s important for clients to understand how external oppressive and restricting messages can become internalized. Without this discussion, suggestions to simply “change your thinking” can be dismissive and pathologizing. But in this case, bringing more play into your thoughts and life – it’s safe :).

To the Playposium and Beyond!

by Lisa Forbes | Nov 13, 2020 | Announcements

by Lisa Forbes

In June of 2020, David and I started a Google listserv called Professors at Play. We had 5 members. Five months later, we have 554 members. This summer, there was so much excitement about Professors at Play, we knew we had to do more – create a bigger platform. So we had a crazy idea to host a Professors at Play Virtual Playposium.

It was a labor of playful passion and we were able to throw it together in a couple of months. We sent out a call for proposals, secured keynotes and a featured speaker, opened registration, ordered stickers for sticker packs, mailed sticker packs, created the playposium schedule, communicated with presenters and registrants, and tightened up some logistical details.

In the end, 361 people registered for the Playposium. Like, whoa. We had 2 keynote speakers, 1 featured speaker, 9 main session presenters, and 11 Fun Club breakout sessions. It was jam-packed with fun and play! Actually, it was a bit like trying to drink from a play firehose that was shooting out fireworks! Don’t worry, if you missed the day or just didn’t soak it in because it moved so fast, we recorded all of the sessions which we will post soon.

We knew it would be a fun chance to gather and talk about play but we had no idea exactly how great it would be. The passion and playful perspectives of the presenters/speakers in addition to the energy and interest from the participants was breathtaking. David and I worked hard to organize this event but it would have been nothing without you. Our community. Our presenters. And Play!

We received some really great constructive feedback about the Playposium and interest in future Professors at Play engagements and gatherings. Most people seemed pleased:

Looking forward, people want more events. Shorter events. In-depth demos. Monthly workshops or discussions. A collaborative resource list. Casual meet ups. Partnerships for research and publications. Blogs or articles on tips and tricks. If you would like to help with any of these ideas, feel free to shoot us an email! We love to collaborate and highlight our members’ expertise and ideas. Perhaps the thing I am personally most excited about is the idea to have an actual in-person “play retreat” in some great beach city. (The beach is my happy place.) I’d love to meet up and have some workshop sessions but also just have some idle time (away from regular life, kids, family, friends, work duties) to be able to think, play, and implement the play ideas into our teaching practices. Who is with me?! Stupid COVID.

Embodying Playfulness

by Lisa Forbes | Oct 25, 2020 | Commentary

by Lisa Forbes

Embodying Playfulness

Oh boy, this is a big topic here. Embodying playfulness. In my recent study, the student participants described an important aspect of their experience of play in learning – the faculty embodying playfulness. Some student participants seemed to think the playfulness within the individual faculty member was an important part of making play in learning so effective. Some students said they have had other faculty in the past attempt to use play in learning but that it didn’t feel genuine and congruent to the faculty’s way of being so it didn’t land as well.

I don’t fully know what the student participants meant by “embodying playfulness” but I have a hunch that it’s having an unwavering belief in the power of play. I believe we have to fully commit to the power of play to really receive all the benefits it has to offer. I also wonder if embodying playfulness is about congruence, genuineness, and simply not taking yourself so seriously. A big part of being playful is being human and authentic. From my data, I began seeing that one of the most powerful aspects of the process of play in learning is that it develops relational safety which ignites this amazing learning process.

Within the counseling field, it is commonly understood that the therapeutic relationship is the most important and powerful factor to effective therapy. That is, the strength of the therapeutic alliance largely determines the quality of the counseling experience for the client. It is through the relationship that the therapeutic theories and interventions become effective. So, I think the power of play in learning is, in large part, created from establishing safe and trusting relationships within the classroom. From the safety of those relationships, students are freer and more confident to speak up, take risks, make mistakes, and engage in their learning. The stronger the relationships, the higher the buy-in and investment in the learning process which makes students more intrinsically motivated to learn.

But here’s the rub…this culture and academia tend to communicate a narrative that says:

In order to be a serious academic, you must be serious.
Play is childish, trivial, and a waste of time.
Being playful is at odd with being professional

…and other outrageously untruthful statements. I think the first step to anyone embodying playfulness is to deconstruct the societal narratives so you can re-story “professionalism” and open up to play. If you believe any of the above statements, embodying playfulness will not happen and or it will be incongruent because it is at odds (or partly at odds) with the narrative you currently live by. So, I invite you to consider the dominant narratives that currently guide your professional practice. Might they be hindering your playfulness or your ability to cultivate relational safety in the classroom?\

Play = Fun = Love

by Lisa Forbes | Oct 6, 2020 | Commentary, Inspiration

by Lisa Forbes

Here’s the thing…I believe that play equals love. I know this might seem a little too hippie-ish for some people, but stay with me here. I’m not talking about the mushy gushy romantic love, that’s love in some settings but in terms of higher education the kind of love I’m referring to is more about the positive energy that exists between people when there’s a connection or positive interaction. If you haven’t read the book Love 2.0 yet, do yourself a favor and get a copy – you will never look at love in the same way again. You’re welcome in advance.

I wonder if “love” can give us educators some guidance in being more effective in the classroom. In Love 2.0 Barbara Fredrickson talks about “love” being broader and more inclusive than we usually think of it (i.e., usually as only existing within romantic or familial relationships). She says love is the energy between any two people within a positive interaction – she calls it “positive resonance.” The interaction can be with a lover but it can also be with a friend, a colleague, a random stranger at the grocery store. The entire time I was reading Love 2.0 and whenever she talked about love, I was totally taken back by the descriptions of love being a mirror for the descriptions of fun and play. In that book, you could substitute the word “fun” in place of “love” and it would all still be true.

So, I’ve decided that fun equals love and play is fun so: play = fun = love.

I swear I have a point that’s relevant to teaching. Here it is…I think the best way to get students inspired to learn and in turn induce longer lasting learning is for the learning to be more engaging. There are many ways to do this but I think harnessing the power of play in learning is the key.

I see “play” as an umbrella construct and within play there is playfulness, there’s games, and there’s fun. I think when people are having fun, they are laughing and enjoying themselves, when they enjoy themselves, they begin to build a sense of community, when there is a better sense of community, people feel more at ease and are more willing to be vulnerable. If people are more willing to be vulnerable, they are more likely to open themselves up to learning and making mistakes. When people are open to learning and making mistakes, they are learning more. And, that sense of community and belonging also increases positive resonance, thus, there’s love involved. Play = fun. Fun = love. Love = enhanced learning.

Try viewing your attempts in the classroom through the lens of love (positive resonance). I wonder how it might shift things for you and your students. It did mine.

Play Languages

by Lisa Forbes | Sep 8, 2020 | Commentary

How come you don’t like to play?

By Lisa Forbes

Last night I was tucking my 5-year-old into her bed and out of the blue she said: “mommy, how come you don’t like to play?”

You know in the movies when the music stops and the record screeches? That’s what it felt like happened. Play is everything to me. I value it. I infuse it into my classes so how come this child perceives me as not liking play? With my kids, I’m goofy and have dance parties and play practical jokes, so what gives, tiny human?

So, I said: “I love to play but maybe the way I play is different than the way you play.” That was the nice way of saying: “I don’t find playing make-believe unicorns all that fun.”

This got me thinking about how the type of play that adults enjoy also varies and that got me wondering how that impacts how we implement play in our classes. I then thought about the book The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman.

Basically, there are five different love languages (words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, acts of service, and physical touch). We all have varying love languages and when it’s “spoken,” it makes us feel loved and appreciated. Sometimes within couple relationships, the love languages match and sometimes they don’t.

For example, my top love language is quality time so if my partner cleans the house, fills my gas tank, picks up the dry cleaning – all that is nice, I’m grateful he did it but it doesn’t make me feel extremely loved. To me, it feels more like logistical things that needed to happen. But if he wanted to spend time with just me, without the kids, that would feel loving and as though he appreciates me.

Long story to say, maybe we all have play languages too. My play co-conspirator, David, thinks playing dungeons and dragons is a grand ol’ play time but for me that sounds pretty miserable. So considering this idea of play languages, how does this help us or hinder us in designing play into our classrooms? What even are the play languages?

“But, I Don’t Have Time To Play…”

by Lisa Forbes | Sep 3, 2020 | Commentary

By Lisa Forbes

You know what really grinds my gears? When people devalue and dismiss play in adulthood and in higher education. This quote by Stuart Brown from his book Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul should be a lesson to us:

“In addition to being pulled away from play, we are pushed from play, shamed into rejecting it by a culture that doesn’t understand the human need for it and doesn’t respect it. Play is seen as something children do, so playing is seen as a childish activity not done in the adult world. The message is that if you are a serious person doing serious work, you should be serious.” ~ Stuart Brown

The core of my being is playful. I don’t like formal things. I don’t like serious things – solely serious things anyway. I teach mental health counseling and I am a Licensed Professional Counselor so I know seriousness. It’s not that I’m a clown that goofs around all of the time but it’s my belief that somehow, as adults, we think that if we play, it’s a waste of time, that it isn’t serious enough, or it’s counter to productivity or “success.” [I say “success” with air quotes because I also have a problem with the standards of success being defined by a culture that values overcommitting, overworking, stress, and “busy-ness” — but that’s for another blog]. When I talk about play in higher education a common reaction I get is: “My discipline is too serious for play” Or, “There’s too much to cover in my course so there’s no time for play.”

I’d like to argue that by allowing play into our lives and into our classrooms in higher education, it allows students to approach the seriousness from a more centered and prepared place. It allows us to engage with the seriousness for longer durations of time and with more focus and compassion then if we disallowed play. Based on the data from my research study on play in higher education, I found that when we spend a little time on play in teaching, it cultivates trust, community, vulnerability, risk taking, passion, intrinsic motivation, and more. And all of those things make learning easier. So, I’ve found that if I am brave enough to “waste some time” on allowing play in my classrooms, it actually generates more learning.

Play is like ‘learning lube,’ if you will. 🙂

Play makes the students more invested and ultimately willing to work harder which actually makes teaching them easier. Instead of me being solely responsible for teaching all of the things to empty and passive vessels, with play, a lot of the learning ends up being generated by the students’ own effort and motivation – in addition to mine.

I think of it as instead of working against students’ resistance or barriers to learning, through play we can work with the barriers they have coming into learning to work with them. My step-uncle died of cancer a few years ago and he was an avid white water rafter. His nephew wrote this beautiful story about how my uncle taught him how to navigate the waters by working with the power of the currents instead of fighting them. I remembered this story as I was trying to find a metaphor for play in teaching and working with students’ barriers to learning. I think it fits pretty perfectly…

“The water is always stronger than you are, organize your tools and effort, and work with the current. Your goal isn’t to steer the boat so much as putting it in a beneficial position for the currents of the river to steer it.”

In this metaphor, the water is the student’s stress, trauma, barriers to learning, lack of motivation – in my opinion, traditional education (strict, hierarchical lecture-based teaching) is like fighting those currents to try to “steer” student’s learning. But, the way I see it is, the use of play is organizing your tools and effort to work with the current. Play reduces stress and anxiety, makes students feel safe, and allows them to concentrate in order to access the content in a way that is like “putting the boat in a beneficial position for the currents of the river” to steer it toward success. Instead of expecting students to come into the classroom motivated and free of challenging currents that you must fight against and expecting them to readily be intrinsically motivated, play allows you to work with them and provide a more integrated and humanistic form of education that opens students up to learning.

To close, I will provide some of my students quotes from my research study. Here they talk about how play helps them approach the seriousness of the class more effectively.

“We [students] bring the seriousness, we bring the stress – in mountains – to class so the play and fun lightened us up, but it never detracted from the class or the seriousness.”

“Play and games makes the seriousness more approachable.”

“Play allowed me to take my education seriously without having to take the stress of it seriously.”

So, go ahead, “waste some time” and play a little. 🙂

Unboxing

by Lisa Forbes | Sep 1, 2020 | Commentary, Resources

Unboxing for Building Connections and Community in Online Learning

By Lisa Forbs

You all might have seen our call for participants in the Professors at Play Fun Fall Pal Package (FFPP). It was an opportunity to send and receive a physical fun package with fellow P@Ps. Something playful and tangible to represent our virtual community. Something fun to start of the new semester.

This idea was inspired by some colleagues of ours (and also Professors at Play!) Andrea Laser and Dennis DeBay at the University of Colorado Denver. This past Spring, they hosted a workshop series to unveil their “Unboxing Pedagogy” that suggests sending physical boxes to online students.

They believe there is something about sending and receiving tangible items that builds connection and promotes interaction in interesting ways. Their hope is to make the online learning experience come to life and be more connected and meaningful– in a time when distance learning can feel isolating. They believe that mail and boxes might do the trick.

Check out this video: https://sehd.wistia.com/medias/h8xfyna6av

We love this idea because it breaks the barriers of online learning. Maybe you might adopt a similar approach to your online or virtual classes. . .

If you have more questions about Unboxing Pedagogy feel free to contact Andrea or Dennis!

Dennis.debay@ucdenver.edu

Andrea.laser@ucdenver.edu

I Heart Stickers

by Lisa Forbes | Aug 18, 2020 | Commentary

I ♥ Stickers

by Lisa Forbes

Sometimes simply playing games in a higher education class is all it takes to increase engagement. But sometimes you might need to provide a little incentive to get students actually invested in games and play. If you can spark engagement (from either games/play itself or incentives to increase appeal of the games) then you increase the chance students will be more engaged and interested in the overall content.

Therefore, a part of my approach to playing games in the classroom is having prizes for competitions. I went on Amazon and found packs of 50 or 100 stickers for under 10 dollars so they’re not all that expensive but they’re really cool stickers that students are actually excited to win. The pictures of this blog are an example of some of the stickers I have.

After a winner or winning group of a game has been determined, I spread out all of the stickers on a table to let them choose. The amount of excitement my adult students have for these stickers is so awesome to me. Sometimes they have a hard time choosing just one. Anyway, when we were forced to transition to virtual learning due to COVID-19, I decided that I would keep playing games and keep giving sticker prizes but I gave the students an option if they won a sticker: I could mail their sticker to them or they could wait until we are back in-person and on campus to pick it up. My students have said they really love the fact that they can still win these stickers and get them via snail mail even during a virtual class.

I am aware that incentives are an external reward which aligns more with extrinsic motivation but I think if the reward is small enough and it’s not the only way you try to fiddle with students’ engagement and motivation, in my opinion, it can be an awesome tool to increase the excitement and fun in your classroom.

Small stickers are just one idea of incentives, the types of incentives could be endless! What are some you have used or might consider using?

The Power of Play

by Lisa Forbes | Aug 10, 2020 | Resources

The Power of Play in Higher Education: Creativity in Tertiary Learning

Edited by Alison James and Chrissi Nerantzi

by Lisa Forbes

If you value play in higher education, you need to read this book. If you don’t value play in higher education, you need to read this book. There. Blog complete.

Just kidding, you knew I had more to say. This book The Power of Play in Higher Education is a must read. One of my most favorite parts of this book is that it squashes all those play haters out there! Remember, people throw rocks at things that shine. Anyway, I love this quote:

“There is this belief of those working in universities that higher levels of study should be a deadpan business with little time for fun.” (p. vii).

Dr. James and Dr. Nerantzi challenge the idea that fun and play doesn’t belong in higher education and that somewhere along the way there has been a cultural evolution towards a more serious version of learning. They argue the importance of not losing play in tertiary learning and adopting an increasingly expansive view of education.

“Play has been separated out from education – there’s been a gradual cultural evolution towards a more serious version of learning. In early years, education play is virtually synonymous with learning but as students get older, play is increasingly removed from the experience of school. Once at university, play can be all too often seen as unserious suggesting a lack of quality.”

This book is essentially 41 chapters of examples of play in higher education from over 60 different people. I read this book and not only had a better idea of what play in higher education could look like but it also allowed my creativity to ignite. Although all of these chapters might not have directly related to my discipline, some of the ideas could easily translate but even if they didn’t, I still found joy in reading about play in learning as it fueled my inspiration and creativity to do better in making my teaching more playful.

Check out the book and check out the editor’s websites for more about them and the amazing work they are doing:

Alison James

Chrissi Nerantzi

Still Searching for the Meaning of Life?

by Lisa Forbes | Aug 6, 2020 | Inspiration, Resources

by Lisa Forbes

I’m sitting here trying to think about how to write this blog without coming off too dramatic. However, I can’t figure out how to do that when talking about the book Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown because it’s that good. If you are a playful person or think you might be a playful person or just lost it somewhere along the way, read this book and it will all come rushing back.

This book isn’t geared directly toward play in education, although he touches on it. This book describes play and the vitality of it within every facet of our lives. If you read this book and aren’t inspired when you put it down, there’s seriously something dead inside of you. (There’s the drama). It will make you approach your job, your parenting, your relationships, everything, from a new perspective.

You just have to read this book to see for yourself but here are just a few benefits of play that Dr. Brown lays out (these aren’t infinite!):

It enlivens us and erases our burdens
Opens us up to new possibilities
Generates creativity and innovation
Makes us a fulfilled human
Vital to sustaining relationships
Lifts us out of the mundane
Make us more productive and happier
Experience diminished consciousness of self
Allows us to be fully in the moment
Gives us a different perspective
Acquisition of new skills and knowledge
Make new cognitive connections
Learning is enhanced by play
Memory lasts longer when learned in play
Allows for multiple centers of perception
Gives us emotional distance to tackle hard things
Increase efficacy and productivity

See the quotes below from Stuart Brown and also check out his website The National Institute for Play.

“If we stop playing, our behavior becomes fixed. We are not interested in new and different things.”

“When we stop playing, we start dying.”

“Play isn’t the enemy of learning, it’s learning’s partner. Play is like fertilizer for brain growth. It’s crazy not to use it. As we grow older we are taught that learning should be serious, that subjects are complicated. Serious subjects require serious study, we are told, play only trivializes them. Sometimes the best way to get the feel of a complicated subject is to play with it.”

Play Matters: Book Mini-review

by Lisa Forbes | Aug 4, 2020 | Resources

Play Matters

A book I found meaningful in my study of play and fun in teaching is Play Matters by Miguel Sicart. I began this teaching adventure by trying to make classes more “fun.” After I read Sicart’s book, my understanding of “fun” in teaching expanded. I realized that fun is only a piece of the puzzle. Sicart helped me understand that play is the umbrella under which games and fun exist. Play can be fun, but also play can not be much fun at all. When my students do a role-play to assess a client for suicidality, that is not much fun but it is, in fact, play. Sicart said “Play is not necessarily fun. It is pleasurable, but the pleasures it creates are not always submissive to enjoyment, happiness, or positive traits.”

Sicart also thoughtfully describes the difference between play, playfulness, games, and fun. He describes the overlapping qualities but the nuances that make them different things. He argues that play brings us together, is resistant to formalized understanding, is a way of engaging with the world, and is an activity of production. He highlights the value and importance of play and also acknowledges that this culture resists play. “Of course, the world might resist. In fact, many situations, context, and objects are specifically designed to resist playfulness. Regardless of the positive values we give as a society to creativity and play, there is still a tension between labor and expression, between functionality and emotions. The functional design focused on efficiency and productivity.”

Go ahead and check it out!

https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/play-matters

Dynamic and Unpredictable Online Learning

by Lisa Forbes | Jul 20, 2020 | Commentary

by Lisa Forbes

Maybe it’s just me but if I do the same thing for too long, I get extremely bored. Maybe I’m projecting this issue onto my students but I assume they feel the same so I try to design classes so students never know what is going to happen next. I believe that the ever-changing nature keeps them more engaged because they don’t want to miss what is going to happen. They never know when there’s going to be a shift in visual scenery or when they might be asked to do something entirely different than what they were asked to do in the last 15 minutes.

I recently studied my own teaching and the students involved in my study said that due to the highly interactive nature of my classes, if they weren’t paying attention they feared they would let down their peers if we suddenly began a group competition or activity. I’ve never required my students to be “on-camera” in Zoom but all of them always are. Maybe that’s normal for other faculty too but if not, I wonder if it has to do with the fact that my students feel that it is important to be engaged due to the unpredictability of class time or that I expect them to be co-constructors of knowledge instead of passive learners.

Back to ever-changing environments – It might not seem as though you’re able to “move around” a lot while sitting in front of separate computer screens, but think about it as moving visually rather than physically. Think of the main Zoom room as one setting, breakout rooms as another setting, then different components of digital technology as other settings (i.e., videos, games, websites, etc.). From small group discussions, you can instruct students to go back to the main Zoom room to consolidate smaller group discussions then you can take a break, maybe play an optional 2-minute video of a guided deep breathing exercise (because virtual learning is stressful!) and then assign them to breakout rooms again but this time with a different set of peers. See, ever-changing. I try to never stay in one virtual environment for too long so they do not disengage.

I like to think of my lesson plans as a big sandbox of endless opportunities. As I am designing a class, I sit down in the sand and start scooping, shaping, molding, using different toys to try and create a new and exciting piece. I think this is part of the fun in teaching – coming up with new and fresh ways to teach content and facilitate discussions. I have found that the more creative I can make my classes, the more excited I am to teach them. The more excited I am to teach, the more energy, enthusiasm, and passion I bring with me. I think students can see that. I’m not sure how that impacts their learning but I know it can’t hurt. So, jump in the sand and start building. 🙂

Death to the Synchronous Lecture

by Lisa Forbes | Jul 14, 2020 | Resources

by Lisa Forbes

I don’t think that a lot of lecturing is a good idea for any class but even more so for a virtual course. I bet you’ve been on some Zoom meetings where someone was just talking AT you and I bet you found it difficult to stay present and engaged. With my virtual classes, I’ve found that if I talk for more than 10 minutes straight without engaging them in some way, I’ve lost them. Therefore, I believe that synchronous class time should be reserved for discussions, role-plays, and interactive games. Here’s some ideas I have tried in place of synchronous lectures:

Role-Plays

I teach mental health counseling courses so my classes naturally lend themselves to role-plays because students have to practice the counseling skills. But, no matter what the discipline, consider how you can incorporate role-plays. Role-plays enhance student engagement and drastically reduce the theory-to-practice gap in order to increase skill acquisition. Even within the role-plays in my classes, I try to get creative or switch them up so they aren’t the same old thing every single time. One time I had all the students engage in a suicide assessment role-play with the students as a collective-mind counselor and me as the client and I played Demi Levato but I didn’t tell them who I was ahead of time. It was a game in my head to see who would figure out what person I was playing. They did. I also created what I now call the “very complicated role-play” where I sent the students to smaller breakout rooms and provided them detailed instructions. Essentially, there were five mini role-plays within the larger role-play where students assumed a role and each role-play built on the previous one. The students said they liked struggling through it and just figuring it out together. It probably activated their brain way more than if I spewed information at them that they’d likely end up forgetting soon anyway.

Self-Initiated Research

I believe it’s important to make students responsible for their learning so instead of a boring lecture, I instruct students to research a topic on their own time to come back to the next synchronous class prepared for a group discussion or activity. Students then engage in a discussion and I have them share something that they found from their research – an interesting and related blog, video, resource, etc. Student-lead research forces them to go down a lot of “rabbit holes” as they search for answers which makes them learn the material on a deeper level and in turn, makes them more invested in their learning. I’ve even received a few enthusiastic side-bar emails from students as they researched telling me something they found or sending me something they thought I might like. But, one of the biggest benefits from student-initiated research is that students usually speak about the concept with much more passion than they would have if I simply spewed the information at them. One big wake up call I had as a mom was when my oldest went to Kindergarten – the kinds of things they expected them to do independently made me realize I wasn’t putting enough trust in my child and that I could put more responsibility on him and in turn, he will achieve more. The same goes for our adult students – we need to put more trust in them and put more of the responsibility of learning on their shoulders. I’ve found they enthusiastically rise to the challenge.

Small-Group Competitions During Discussions

I randomly assign students to Zoom breakout rooms for small group discussions. I have the groups discuss the topic for a certain amount of time, just as any typical discussion would go, but to enhance their investment and engagement in the discussion, I have the groups create some type of “product” from the discussion to share when they return to the large group. Sometimes I have them come up with a three-sentence theory to explain an issue that has no one right answer, or develop an acrostic based on a list they constructed from their conversations, or a metaphor for the concept being discussed, or develop “best practice” indicators based on the topic, or suggestions for a person or population we are discussing, etc. The “products” can be anything because the type of product isn’t important, the actual discussion around the content is the important part but when the students know they have to produce a product that they will soon show their peers to possibly win a prize, it makes the discussions much more lively and focused. Hint: be sure to continuously pop in and out of the small group discussions, provide them very clear instructions so they don’t get disengaged or frustrated, and use the “broadcasting” feature in the breakout rooms to provide time warnings.

Video Critiques

I believe the best way to learn something is by actually doing it (e.g., role-plays) but the next best, in my mind, is critiquing someone else engaging in the skill. I’ve found that video critiques can work really well in a synchronous session because students can discuss their ideas and critiques within real-time and get immediate feedback on their thought processes and have an opportunity for co-construction of knowledge. This is much more meaningful in real-time discussion than stale and impersonal asynchronous discussion boards. In the large Zoom room, I describe the activity, provide them the link to the video that will be viewed and critiqued, then I send them to smaller breakout rooms where one person in each group shares their screen and they watch the video as a group. I give them a specific prompt to serve as a lens to view the video from and to guide their discussions. I think these types of discussions work best when there’s no one “right” answer, that way students engage in dialogue from multiple perspectives and viewpoints. This activity makes the learning more hands-on with a real-life example and requires higher level thinking.

As I design fun and play into my classes, sometimes I’m actually designing play but sometimes I am simply taking “dry” or “boring” aspects of traditional education and figuring out ways to do it differently to make it more lively and more engaging. Maybe there’s an idea from above that you could try too. Or, maybe you have other ideas that effectively replace synchronous lecture, I’d love to hear about it!

Academia Killed My Creativity

by Lisa Forbes | Jul 14, 2020 | Commentary

by Lisa Forbes

I’ve always been more of a creative type than a logical and linear thinker. I’m not intelligent in the traditional sense – I’m intelligent emotionally, kinesthetically, and interpersonally. I like to make things. I like to create. I like to think outside of the box, partly because I find it fulfilling but partly because I’ve never liked doing things a certain way just because everyone else does it that way. I dislike traditions and being told a new idea doesn’t hold value because “we’ve always done it this way.” I feel the most in tune with myself when I am walking through the world uniquely and in a way that fits my true nature.

But then, I entered academia as a graduate student in my masters and doctoral programs and eventually as a faculty member and there was a subtle and slow decline in my creativity and free-thinking. It was so subtle that I didn’t even notice that I was being recruited into a linear, in-box, and like-minded way of being. It was kind of like this – do you know that if you put a frog in a pot of boiling water, it will immediately jump out to safety but if you put that frog in a cool pot of water and gradually heat the water to a boil, the frog won’t notice the subtle yet dangerous increase in heat and it will die. Graphic, I know, but that’s what was happening to me – but instead of a frog dying, it was my creativity. I have many theories about what it is within academia that kills creativity but that’s too much for this post.

Over years of being in academia, I began noticing that I wasn’t thinking outside of the box much anymore. I noticed that I had stopped creating – both personally and professionally. The day I realized this was a sad day for me. A little later I came across the idea of fun in teaching and I felt like I had gone back to my creative roots except as I tried to think up fun and playful pedagogical ideas, I was having a hard time thinking beyond what had been taught and modeled to me. It was as if my creative neural pathways had shriveled from under-usage. But then, I found the book The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.

This book was critical in re-strengthening my brain to think outside of the box and to become more creative and wacky. I highly suggest it to anyone who lost their creativity or believes they just “aren’t a creative person.” This book argues that all of us are creative, it’s just that somewhere along the way, we have been shamed for creativity and thus we shut it down and we learn to block it out. Either through being shamed for creative work you produced (e.g., “horses aren’t blue” or “that looks nothing like a spider, it’s a good thing you’re doing well in math,” etc.). Or somehow you were implicitly or explicitly sent a message that creativity isn’t valuable (e.g., “you can’t make any money being an artist so get a degree in something that matters and will pay the bills”). These moments of shame construct creative blocks that then prohibit us from “being creative.” Then we get into habits of not creating and we limit our mind and our creative potential. The Artist’s Way is a 12-week workbook that serves as a path to creative recovery. It asks you to do various steps and activities that are supposed to 1) unblock your creativity and 2) bring a flood of creative thoughts to you.

I don’t want to sound dramatic but this book changed my life, not just as a creative being but also as a person. It encourages you to get back in touch with your “inner artist” which is essentially the child version of yourself that in many ways you have rejected. Ouufff, I know, it’s deep and scary stuff but if you are interested in cultivating your creativity and approaching your work (and life) from a new and expansive lens, give it a read! Even better, find a small group of people that will go through the 12 weeks with you as accountability partners and creative inspirations. The world doesn’t need more of the same. It needs people to challenge the status quo, to think outside of the box, and use creativity to solve and expand our ways of being.

Play to Build Community & Prepare for Learning

by Lisa Forbes | Jul 5, 2020 | Resources

I think icebreakers are underutilized in higher education. You don’t start playing a sport without stretching so why do we expect students to jump straight into learning and without a warm-up? Maybe it’s because the term “icebreaker” has become cliche from all of the obligatory professional development retreats where unenthusiastic professionals are forced to engage with their colleagues. Maybe the activities are forced or maybe they’re just not done right but I think we should reclaim icebreakers or maybe rename them to “connection-formers.” Whatever you call them, they’re important.

I recently conducted a research study of my own teaching and the inclusion of fun and play in learning and one approach I used was connection-forming activities. Students who participated in my research study reported that fun and play at the start of each class helped build a sense of community and it allowed them to decompress from their stressful days which opened them up for learning. Once students were able to relax and ease into class and feel a sense of comradery, they were more engaged and active during class. These activities don’t have to take up substantial class time, but I find they have a huge impact on the learning community and the level of active engagement of students. Here are a few ideas for virtual learning that I have tried:

Polleverywhere Check-ins – Polleverywhere sets up surveys where students text in their answers and the group can instantly see a visual of everyone’s responses in real-time. You can make your prompt anything but I usually ask a single prompt where students text in their current mood with only using an emoji. Students said it felt normalizing to see that they weren’t the only ones overwhelmed or stressed from the day. An added bonus is that some of the emojis students submit are silly and also provide some laughter at the start of class.
Virtual Handshakes or “Selfies” – I split the class into separate Zoom breakout rooms and instruct each group to design their own secret virtual group handshake or instead you could have them take a virtual group “selfie” screenshot. After they create their handshake or screenshot selfies, I have them return to the main Zoom room where each group performs their handshake or shows their selfie. The group with the best example wins a prize. I also have been doing end-of-class virtual group selfies. For my last class, on the last synchronous session, we took a group selfie where everyone wore a hat (the students decided this theme) but the term “hat” was a loose one because some students wore cups, books, and other random objects on their heads. Then after the class I emailed the screen shot selfie to everyone. It’s a fun way to wrap up a course!
Flappy Bird Competitions – Flappy Bird is a free computer-based video game that’s completely absurd – you have to get this little bird to fly through openings in pipes to see who can get to the highest level. I hold these competitions with all students in the main Zoom room, I give them two minutes to play individually and at the end of the two minutes, the student who achieved the highest level wins a prize. Hint: be sure to unmute everyone because hearing their laughter and competitive nature will just make your day. Or with the same idea and set up you can try Can You Draw a Perfect Circle which is also a free computer-based game where you have to try and draw a perfect circle with your mouse and with each try the game gives you a “perfect” percentage – as far as I know, no one’s ever gotten 100%.
Scrolly Questions – For this game, I divide students in groups in breakout rooms and provide them this webpage that contains like, a bagillion random questions. In their groups, one person shares their screen showing the scrolly question website and they start scrolling down the page of random questions. Students take turns and randomly tell the scroller to “STOP!” and whatever question the mouse arrow is pointing to must be answered by the “stopper.” It’s fun and it produces a rich and in-depth discussion that cuts through superficial ways of knowing each other – it creates an instant human connection. The questions on this webpage are just random but you could create your own document with tons of questions that are related to your discipline to make it have more educational value.
Virtual Escape Room – At the start of one of my classes, I randomly assigned the students to different breakout rooms and provided them a link to a virtual escape room I had designed. In their groups they have to use clues to unlock and escape the breakout room which is their ticket back to the main Zoom room to start class. The way I know they actually escaped each lock instead of just leaving the breakout room is once they finally escape, I set a message containing a false promise of virtual cake and a secret password (“bananas”) to get back into the main room. Keep popping in and out of students’ escape rooms in case they need an extra hint and also because it’s so fun to see students struggle through the clues and work as a team to break free!
Cell Phone Photo Fun! – This game can really go in many different directions based on the prompt. I teach mental health counseling so I might give the students a “feeling” as a prompt and they have to scroll through their phone photos and find the first picture that reminds them of that feeling or is the facial expression of that feeling. If they don’t have a phone, you can provide an alternative option of finding anything in their house. Then they share the photo with their small group. You could even connect it to the reading for that class where you have them search for a photo that represents a metaphor for the main concept of the reading for that class period. For example, if my students read about the power of the therapeutic relationship and empathy, they might find a photo in their phone that represents something foundational to a process. Really though, the prompt could be anything…

These are just a few ideas for virtual classes. As I’m exploring the world of fun and play in higher education, I’m discovering that it’s really a lot about creativity, so just think outside of the box and I’m sure you can come up with a lot of other connection-formers! I’d love to hear what you have tried or come up with!

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