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Hi and welcome to the Playful Learning Day One Program in a Pod, an audio companion to the
Playful Learning Conference 2026 program.

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We'll be speaking with the speakers, parlaying with the presenters, and conferring with
the keynotes to get a vibe for what to expect from this year's conference.

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I'm Mike Collins, Senior Learning Designer at the Open University, Pedagogic Podcaster at
PedagodZilla.com.

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I've been going to the conference for a few years and absolutely love it.

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If you've never been before, you're going to have a great time.

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It's got some of the brightest minds and bounciest educators from across the world coming
together to share ideas, connect, and of course, scoff some of the best conference food

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you'll ever eat.

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This year, Playful Learning is at the University of Sussex in Brighton, looking out to the
sea and nestled in the verdant South Downs National Park.

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Formally recognized by UNESCO as a jolly nice place.

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And so, appropriately, the theme for this year's conference is Into the Woods.

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And so let's go into the woods with the first day of the conference, Wednesday, the 1st of
July.

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Those arriving on Tuesday night can breakfast on campus at Eat Central.

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There'll be the choice of a full English buffet or continental breakfast with pastries,
cereals, fruit and yogurt and the like.

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10 a.m.

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Bramber House, third floor.

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The conference begins with registration and coffee.

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11 a.m.

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The Terrace Room.

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Welcome to Playful Learning 2026.

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1130 a.m.

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Our first keynote, When the Woods Darken, Playful Ways of Working with Long Shadows.

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Presented by Elrika Erasmus.

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I feel deeply honored to be able to do this opening keynote um because I'm not strictly
within education.

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I am a psychologist, primarily, um, but I did a master's degree and my doctorate degree
using playfulness.

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for my master's degree I lived at playfulness and play um with HIV AIDS, children and
families.

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Um and that was twenty five years ago.

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Back in South Africa where I trained.

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And then more recently, um two years ago, I completed my doctorate looking at playfulness
or perceptions of playfulness in coaching psychology supervision.

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So I I'm practiced as a psychologist, but I research playfulness because it's fun.

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So what what what are you gonna go through in your keynote?

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What you gonna what are you gonna share with us?

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What are you gonna ask of us?

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So um

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The keynote is going to be a bit of a journey through revealing some of my history and how
it's woven in with this idea of play is not just about the fun and the light, it's also

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about the shadows.

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And often the brighter the light shines, the more we play or are lighthearted, the darker
the shadows will become.

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And often those shadows contain lots of information and reveals things to us about
ourselves or our community.

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Um, so I think as um part of this upcoming wave of playful people, you know, it's like
we're growing a play forest around the world.

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It's really important that we don't just look at the lightness and brightness, but also
what else are we leaving behind or creating?

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And that's I guess that's very much in line with being a psychologist is I always look for
the shadow.

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That's so wonderful though.

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And it's so fitting with the theme of Into the Woods, that imagery of the light and the
dark.

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The lovely the dark, spooky woods, the lovely light wood with the bunny jumping through
it.

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So what will what kind of energy do you need people to bring?

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Could people just sit down and absorb?

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Will you be asking them to get involved?

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Well, without revealing any secrets, there will be at least two places in the keynote for
them to get involved, more practically.

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and one of them will be a secret.

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That will never be revealed.

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Goodness.

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Throughout the whole conference.

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Throughout the whole Ooh.

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man.

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That's such a that's such a trailer.

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You heard it here first, people.

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Or didn't hear it here first.

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my goodness, where you should say, that's marvelous.

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I can't wait.

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So um this is your second year at Playful Learning, which means so second year and
straight into the the primo opening keynote slot.

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What uh what about coming last year made you uh made you want to do it?

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Made you kind of go, Yeah, I'll do that.

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I guess, well, last year was just it was a fantastic experience.

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I met the nicest people.

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Um, and glad to say most of them are coming back this year.

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and it was it's a conference like no other, right?

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There's I remember sitting in that very first keynote last year thinking, but where is the
bibliography, the science, the I was sort of ready with my pen and pad to do lots of

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notes.

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And then I think this is so much more experiential and I can just let my guard down and
play.

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And when you I mean, maybe that's what people can bring to the opening keynote is a
willingness and an openness.

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and the assurance that I will keep them safe whatever we do in that keynote, they will be
okay.

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Because play creates safety and we can't play without safety.

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Oh, that's such a lovely thought.

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So

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Thank you so much, Rick.

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I've got one more question to ask you though.

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If you were to disappear into the forest, where would we find you and what would you be
doing?

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You would find me next to the campfire, telling stories or listening to stories, or maybe
singing.

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And story.

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Story story night.

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12.15 pm making connections.

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Followed by, at 1 pm, lunch.

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This one is a Spanish lunch.

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Saboras del Mecado.

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It includes red rice, corn tortillas, soft tacos, charred corn lime and chili salad, pico
de gallo salad, tajin watermelon salad, refried beans, mushrooms al pasto, and tempeh

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chili.

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1.45 pm Terrace Room Viv Bell presents Branching Out, thinking inside and outside the box
with everyday objects.

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My session is all around the joys of object-based learning and how we can use everyday
objects in our teaching to provoke interest and creativity as well as using it to achieve

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learning objectives.

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And my passion is using everyday objects because I think they're very accessible.

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You can use any kind of everyday objects.

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It might be things that you have in your house, it might be things that you you find
outside, things like pine cones, conkers, those kinds of things can make really good

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objects to use in the classroom.

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And it's all about trying to bring it to as many people as possible rather than

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the other side of object based learning, which is very much focused on museums and
galleries and the curated artifacts that you would get in those, which is absolutely fine.

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And some subjects lend themselves really well to that.

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But I'm trying to broaden the use of objects to um any subject discipline.

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That's that's a that's a bold, bold and broad, wonderful, wonderful thing to do.

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So what will people be doing in the session?

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So in this session, um the people that attend will get to have a go at a game.

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There's four games in total, and they'll have a chance to play one of them.

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And the nice thing about this is that the games have been created by actual students, and
so the people that attend will be able to see what the brief was for the students, their

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kind of thinking process, and have some fun.

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playing the games as well.

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So that's one element.

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And then the second element is I'm gonna have um an object stall set up in the room where
people can peruse, have a look at the objects, see what kind of speaks to them and kind of

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think about how they could use that object in their own teaching, in their own subject
discipline.

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That's marvelous.

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So obviously cross-disciplinary, really tricky.

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What about for people who do like really hard sums?

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You the type where, you know, your classic number you know, to you know, the the the big
stuff with letters rather than numbers, where, you know, your classic kind of stackable

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number blocks might not uh quite cut it.

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Oh, so I mean, I think objects are kind of um transferable to any subject area because the
way that we interpret the meaning of an object is different and it it ver it may vary from

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discipline to discipline, but also

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Between individuals.

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So even if you're doing something very scientific, very mathematical, you know, you may be
given an object.

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Um, I was gonna say dice then, but that's too obvious for a mass a mass subject.

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If you were given, say, I don't know, a leaf, for example, there may be a way of
connecting that object to a mathematical concept.

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It might be something around the lines where the veins of the leaves are showing.

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Oh, like fractals.

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That's so mathematical, isn't it?

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Exactly.

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It might be something around the shape, symmetry, something about angles.

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It could be to do with the composition of the leaf.

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So there's many, many different ways of interpreting that object.

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Um so from a science or mathematical background, that's one way, but if you were doing
something more

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creative, for example, fine art, you might think about the way natural forms are
represented in different types of um art across the ages, something like that.

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So as you can see, it's kind of helping people to see the potential of using objects in
any subject area.

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And I guess that's why the title of the workshop is branching out and thinking kind of
outside and inside the box.

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And and also branching out being a wonderful pun to do with the I I I definitely didn't
just work that out when we started this call.

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I was like branching out It's to do with branches, of course.

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Viv, I've got just one more question for you, which is if you were to disappear into the
woods, where would we find you and what would you be doing?

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Oh, that is a great question.

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I would probably be hiding

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up a tree I will have climbed the tree because I do enjoy a tree climb.

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I'd climb the tree, find a nice comfy branch and I'd have a book, I'd have an apple, maybe
a flask of tea, I would make myself comfy there and just enjoy a bit of

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one hundred forty five Outdoors or Gallery two if it's raining.

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Helen Stonelake presents a seriously silly session.

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So Helen, tell us about the session.

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My seriously silly session.

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Well, it will be both hopefully serious and silly.

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what can I I want to tell you enough to get people's appetites wetted, but not too much so
that I I give away all the, you know, all the interesting bits.

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Um so my seriously silly session will be it will be very playful.

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Um and it will be kind of an opportunity really for people to I suppose enter a space
where they um

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are sort of given free license to be as silly as they like.

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And we'll we'll explore what silliness is a little bit, um, because it's very different to
different people.

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I imagine you might have a very different well, I don't know, what do you find silly?

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Oh gosh, lots of things.

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I find most things quite silly.

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Yeah.

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Silly in a good way or silly in a bad way?

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Oh, silly in a good way.

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I think most things are silly in a good way when you get down to the fundamentals of it.

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Yeah.

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Well that that's kind of that's kind of at the heart of my research.

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however I think in learning quite often we're sort of told um that silliness is the
opposite of learning.

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Learning's very serious and that we're often told to stop being silly and stop having fun
and start learning.

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And my session's really to explore what happens when you let silliness be and and what
happens in your mind and your body, and how actually that might be quite beneficial for

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learning.

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Um

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'cause my sort of observations from from my work, which was sort of in youth work, working
with young young people, but also working in big organisations, um, in the third sector,

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in the private sector, with adults as well, was very much that if you introduce a little
bit of silliness into your management, into your meetings, into what you were doing, it

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was much easier to sort of mess around with the power hierarchies, I suppose.

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and build trust and relationships.

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And when you have trust and relationships, that's when you can that's when you can learn.

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Um, in my experiences.

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So my I so I I sort of looked into this a little bit and found out that there wasn't
really anything around that in academia.

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Um there's little bits, but silliness in learning is is a pretty underexplored topic.

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so I threw together a proposal and decided I was going to do a PhD to explore it a little
bit more.

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So my session's gonna essentially gonna be I'm gonna be mining people for information
about silliness and what they think it is and how they feel when they experience it and

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how they may use it even subconsciously and what they do with their learning sessions.

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This is I I vibe with this in a big way because yeah, I think fundamentally everything
when you get down to is quite absurd and wonderful in its own special way.

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That's so glorious.

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I love it.

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So what will you be ask of without spoiling the the silliness and surprises of course,
what will you be asking of your participants?

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Will you be expecting them to come in, you know, doing cartwheels and juggling?

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Or can they kind of like, you know, slouch and slither in after possibly a bigger lunch?

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Oh, they can do uh no, it's in the afternoon, isn't it?

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So they're they've done that on purpose.

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They've put the silly session after lunch to get everybody you know Yeah re energized,
haven't they?

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Um along with the other sessions.

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well first of all I will be asking people to do whatever the hell they want, because I
don't believe in forced fun.

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I think there's nothing worse than being t it's always says be silly.

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You're gonna do the opera well.

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Maybe you are Mike, but I am because I hate being told what to do.

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As you may have gathered by the fact that I want to do a silliness thing at a very serious
conference.

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But no, I'm uh people can can come and be however they want to be and however they feel.

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but there will be license to be silly and there will be um prompts and avenues which will
facilitate that.

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'Cause it's difficult just to be silly.

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If if I said you right now, be silly, Mike, what would you do?

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Oh gosh.

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I'd have to have a good hard think.

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And to be honest, with more space, I might do a little bit of the Ministry of Silly Walks
because I think that's an all time classic.

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It's an all time classic, yeah.

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I I I I was thinking, maybe I should get everyone to enter to like a wrestling theme tune
and then do, you know, when people come into a wrestling ring.

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Not that I'm, you know, if you haven't seen wrestling, but there's like a lot of Yeah,
yeah, yeah.

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You know, eye the tiger or whatever.

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Um

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I think because it is very different for different people.

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Someone said to me the other day, what are you gonna do for your vibe?

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Fart the orchestra.

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And I was like, that's not a bad idea actually.

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But or fart the alphabet, sorry.

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Farts come up a lot with silliness.

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And violence, weirdly.

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But there'll there'll be there'll be various um sort of explorations of silliness.

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Some of them will be theoretical a little bit, some of them will be physical.

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nobody will be forced to do anything that they don't want to do, um, and there will be

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I hate the term icebreaker because I find them gen can be terrible, terribly executed,
can't they?

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But there will be there will be lots of little things that happen throughout that will
keep people um sort of energized, hopefully.

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But also there'll be space to break out and go away and actually reflect on on what what
you're feeling and thinking in the moment.

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It's one of my things that I think is interesting about silliness.

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Um that differs maybe from playfulness or fun um or comedy and hu or humour.

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is that it it's a real whole body experience.

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I think it's more something that happens I think when you're being silly, when you're
truly being silly, um, quite often it's in connection with some with something, either

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somebody or something.

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And quite often it's also in connection with your physical self, kind of your subconscious
self.

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And also your conscious self to say I f I think you feel it and you you do it on so many
different levels.

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And it's a real way to sort of connect in an embodied way.

219
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Um and which I then think gives you release.

220
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And takes away fear and then means you can learn.

221
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So I've got one more question for you, be very silly question, aptly enough.

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If you were to disappear into the woods, where would we find you and what would you be
doing?

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Oh if I was gonna disappear into the woods, I'd be I'd be up a tree.

224
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I like getting lost in the woods.

225
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This is I should have said about silly sorry, I should have said we're gonna get lost.

226
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We're gonna get lost in some sense.

227
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Either mentally or physically, hopefully both, but there will be some getting lost going
on, which hopefully does.

228
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if I was to disappear into the woods, um I'd be up a tree with a flock of crows,
hopefully.

229
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So do you know about how cro I want to have my own

230
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I should let you know that after that recording, Helen and I had a really good long
conversation about crows.

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If you want to talk about crows, go speak to Helen at the conference.

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Corvids are so cool.

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145 Gallery Room 1

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John Parkin, Andrew Underwood, Emma Motram, and Sarah Sterling present Emplayability,
bringing play into employability.

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Yeah, we're really looking forward to uh running our session and we're going to be sharing
uh some of our work on how we've been using a playful approach to uh employability and

236
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using it to get

237
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students to start thinking about their future careers and what they can do to prepare for
it as well as uh how to prepare for interview questions, which uh Yeah, so I I think some

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of the questions that we had um when talking about this particular session is thinking
about if playful approaches can actually help students engage more deeply with careers and

239
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interview preparation.

240
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And could using play help students talk more openly about their future careers.

241
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So this session is designed really to be more of a hands-on interactive session so that
individuals can experience it themselves, thinking about playful interview preparation,

242
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um, using models to put themselves in particular s scenarios and think about how they
might deal with it, but using the models to approach their thought process.

243
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So on the models, it's

244
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Playmobil Pro, I couldn't help but seeing.

245
00:20:50,899 --> 00:20:53,489
I didn't even know that Playmobil Pro existed.

246
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What what's pro about it?

247
00:20:54,490 --> 00:20:55,780
Have they got ties?

248
00:20:57,040 --> 00:20:58,601
They are very professional looking.

249
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Oh I see.

250
00:21:00,381 --> 00:21:07,338
So yeah, I came to a Playful Learning conference a couple of years ago and saw somebody
using Playmobil Pro.

251
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Thought it was great.

252
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So it's basically Playmobil characters that are unpainted, along with lots of accessories
that you can be using.

253
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And uh what we've done

254
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is we've used it uh at Anglo-Ruscan University to to sort of support students to think
about learning and teaching as well as uh employability.

255
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So that's that's how we're interested in it.

256
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So we've got the Playmobile packed and we're going to be bringing it down uh to Brighton
for people to play with.

257
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Fantastic.

258
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And I couldn't help but notice in the abstract you mentioned the car method.

259
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I'm assuming this isn't a Playmobil car, this is some sort of

260
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Acronym.

261
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It is.

262
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It's a method that we often use with our students and graduates when thinking about
preparing for interviews.

263
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Some people might know it as the star method, but we've we've shortened it to the car
method, which is when you're thinking about the context, the action and the result of a

264
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situation when you're exploring and explaining that in an interview.

265
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Um and within this session we're going to demonstrate how play can support interview
preparation using the car method in a more engaging and a less intimidating way, which is

266
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often one of the barriers we find when working with um students.

267
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so this session is, you know, very much focused on um a confidence boost as well and and
developing confidence in the this um area.

268
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John Sarah.

269
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If you were to disappear into the woods, where would we find you and what would you be
doing?

270
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For me, I think you'd find me in the branches and the trees.

271
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just because I think I like to explore and I think that it's you know, climbing a tree and
having the the sight the bird's eye view of what's going on beneath, yes, is really fun.

272
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Um a fun thing to do and that's where I could

273
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probably see myself, just observing others and see see what others are doing.

274
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And John, how about yourself?

275
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I think building a den.

276
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I used to uh enjoy building dens.

277
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When I used to be a primary school teacher teaching younger children, we'd sort of uh do
something called forest school and we would use a woodland area to build dens and have

278
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tarp and ropes and other such things.

279
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So I've even managed to bring it back to playful

280
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245.

281
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The Terrace Room.

282
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Dan Castro and Catherine Montgomery present the world-famous human play definition
generator.

283
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Dan, tell us about the world famous human play definition generator.

284
00:24:12,665 --> 00:24:17,977
Well, of course, you will have already heard about the world famous uh human play
definition generator.

285
00:24:17,977 --> 00:24:18,808
of course, no, that was right.

286
00:24:18,808 --> 00:24:21,369
It was at the world famous that was those awards, wasn't it?

287
00:24:21,369 --> 00:24:22,790
The definition generator.

288
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There were very many awards.

289
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It was um mainly just this.

290
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Mainly just this.

291
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And but it was really nice of my mum to have made those medals, which was very sweet
though.

292
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Um

293
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Yeah.

294
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So the world famous human play definition generator is a a session that we're doing that
is based around the idea that we talk about play quite a lot at these conferences, but we

295
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don't necessarily talk about what play is.

296
00:24:46,778 --> 00:24:57,145
Uh and I having spent three years digging around in a PhD, looking around at what that
possibly is, I realize that it actually kind of doesn't really matter that much what it

297
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is.

298
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And when we try and nail things down to um definitions, it kind of

299
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uh doesn't necessarily cover what play actually is because I think what play actually is
is the thing that we f we we feel a little bit more.

300
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Um and so I uh invented a very, very janky web app that allows you to generate your own
definition of play.

301
00:25:18,845 --> 00:25:23,738
Um and I want to experiment with that a little bit, but I also want us to make a thing
together.

302
00:25:23,738 --> 00:25:31,198
I want us to do it together and hopefully um in the session um come up with both our own
personal definitions of what play is.

303
00:25:31,198 --> 00:25:41,118
And a kind of a group definition of what play is, and hopefully kind of do that through
playing with this idea of definitions rather than uh just sitting down and reading a bunch

304
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of books and hoping that they solve our problems.

305
00:25:43,430 --> 00:25:47,173
Somebody said to me years ago, this was about definitions and frameworks.

306
00:25:47,173 --> 00:25:51,016
No framework is true, but some frameworks are useful.

307
00:25:51,217 --> 00:25:56,702
So where do you stand on the usefulness of definitions of play?

308
00:25:56,950 --> 00:25:58,850
I think I think they have their uses.

309
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I think they give us something to uh kind of hang our hat on a little bit when we're when
we're talking about and writing about and thinking about play.

310
00:26:07,635 --> 00:26:13,687
And there are obviously some like commonalities between the the myriad definitions of play
and playfulness.

311
00:26:13,687 --> 00:26:16,288
You I am I'm being a little bit facetious with the whole thing.

312
00:26:16,288 --> 00:26:19,240
I think there are useful bits of information in there.

313
00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:24,790
But I I'm always kind of fascinated by the

314
00:26:25,558 --> 00:26:30,501
way that academics write about it and the way that that it is written about.

315
00:26:30,501 --> 00:26:42,019
And very few, very rarely do I come across a an academic feeling paper that also comes at
it from a perspective where it it is more about what it feels like than trying to find the

316
00:26:42,019 --> 00:26:54,317
words to contain this bonkers personal but social, um r non output oriented, but also
output oriented thing that we know as uh as play.

317
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So I I think

318
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I I kinda come from I'm trying to I'm trying to avoid the specifics of this, but like I
come from like Bernie DeCovin's idea that like being on the spiritual end of understanding

319
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play rather than the scientific end, I'm much more interested in kind of feeling it and
experiencing it and having faith in it, I suppose, than than a pure academic um basis.

320
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And so I think whilst uh taxonomies do have use

321
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I also think that sometimes they get in the way it it's quite easy to start thinking about
taxonomies and assume that that's the only way to know and understand something.

322
00:27:32,966 --> 00:27:35,668
As in a taxonomy of the thing isn't the thing itself.

323
00:27:35,668 --> 00:27:36,899
Yes, exactly.

324
00:27:36,899 --> 00:27:42,054
And I think that I've uh firmly believe that the best way to understand play is through
play.

325
00:27:42,054 --> 00:27:48,109
And it kind of doesn't really matter then whether it is or isn't a particular thing.

326
00:27:48,109 --> 00:27:52,242
If it you felt like if it felt like it to you, then sure, why not?

327
00:27:52,642 --> 00:27:56,806
That sounds marvellous and humanist and just yeah, I can't wait for the session.

328
00:27:56,806 --> 00:28:05,172
Dan, I've got another question for you, which is if you were to disappear into the woods,
where would we find you and what would you be doing?

329
00:28:05,172 --> 00:28:08,475
Um, where would I where would I be in the woods?

330
00:28:08,475 --> 00:28:19,444
I would be I'd be on my mountain bike and I'd be finding some nice loamy, swoopy, carved
out bits of trail.

331
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Not r not rutty and rooty, not technical.

332
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Just stuff that you can really like smooth your way through and flow your way through.

333
00:28:27,334 --> 00:28:29,026
I think that's where I'd be if I was in the woods.

334
00:28:29,026 --> 00:28:30,596
It's one of my favourite places.

335
00:28:30,596 --> 00:28:37,328
In fact I could tell you exactly where I would be, which is a particular place at
Glentress Trail Centre, um not far from Edinburgh.

336
00:28:37,328 --> 00:28:46,961
And there's a place when you get to the top, if you if you bother to cycle all the way up
instead of cheating and driving halfway up, there's there's a there's a moment where just

337
00:28:46,961 --> 00:28:51,598
before you start going down again, there's this beautiful just moment of

338
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trees and I always make a point of stopping and and having a little moment and having a
little snack probably because I'm usually quite like yeah that's where I

339
00:29:05,774 --> 00:29:07,275
245.

340
00:29:07,556 --> 00:29:19,046
Outdoors or gallery two of raining, Philip O'Kelly and Julie McCann present Into the
Woods, Learning Through Relational Embodied Play.

341
00:29:20,878 --> 00:29:24,661
Philippa, Julie, can you tell me about your session?

342
00:29:25,262 --> 00:29:25,932
We can.

343
00:29:25,932 --> 00:29:29,855
This is Julie speaking here, and I'm with my colleague Philippa.

344
00:29:29,855 --> 00:29:38,732
We actually live at different parts, different parts of the country, and we rarely meet in
person, but we're really looking forward to being in Brighton together for the conference.

345
00:29:38,732 --> 00:29:50,882
And our workshop is called Into the Woods, and it's based on uh a therapy format that
therapy um Philippa and I both use called Theraplay.

346
00:29:51,112 --> 00:29:59,945
And theroplay is a way of normally working with a child and an adult together to think
about how we relate through play.

347
00:29:59,945 --> 00:30:10,287
So we thought we would step into the woods with adults and think about how we learn about
ourselves in relationship to other people.

348
00:30:10,287 --> 00:30:20,142
So we're going to s literally step into the woods together and we will have some sort of
theroplay activity within the woods.

349
00:30:20,142 --> 00:30:23,686
To step into the space that we're gonna do the learning in.

350
00:30:23,686 --> 00:30:37,402
And then Philippa, could you take us through what the four therapy dimensions are that
will help us to embody being in relationship with one another?

351
00:30:37,402 --> 00:30:39,520
Um so Philippa.

352
00:30:40,242 --> 00:30:45,166
Yeah, so in Therapy, it's a very structured um

353
00:30:45,272 --> 00:30:45,822
Therapy.

354
00:30:45,822 --> 00:30:48,424
So we have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

355
00:30:48,424 --> 00:30:50,035
We have an entrance and an exit.

356
00:30:50,035 --> 00:30:54,729
So what we want to do is enter into the woods in our entrance.

357
00:30:54,729 --> 00:30:57,831
So really thinking about how do we enter our space.

358
00:30:57,831 --> 00:31:05,636
So there'll be some um movement activity that gets us into the space that we're going to
be in.

359
00:31:05,636 --> 00:31:12,421
And then we've got four dimensions of therapy, which are structure, engagement, nurture,
and challenge.

360
00:31:12,421 --> 00:31:13,654
But we're gonna kind of

361
00:31:13,654 --> 00:31:16,766
look at those in relation to adults.

362
00:31:16,766 --> 00:31:19,458
So thinking about structure.

363
00:31:19,458 --> 00:31:29,645
Often with children, what we're thinking about is how they have felt safety within their
own relationships with with with their big people.

364
00:31:29,645 --> 00:31:34,409
What we are going to really be thinking about is how do we have that within ourselves?

365
00:31:34,409 --> 00:31:36,090
What is that like for us?

366
00:31:36,090 --> 00:31:37,551
How are we going to do that?

367
00:31:37,551 --> 00:31:42,444
And we're going to use the um fair play activities.

368
00:31:42,456 --> 00:31:44,367
to really think about that.

369
00:31:44,367 --> 00:31:54,710
So we're gonna get participants um coming along and really playing a little bit with um
structure within within Therapy.

370
00:31:54,710 --> 00:32:02,742
The next bit um is engagement, which is just thinking about, again, about how a soul.

371
00:32:02,742 --> 00:32:07,960
So Julie with Julie had the good I metaphor of thinking about

372
00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:09,981
kind of the woods within ourselves.

373
00:32:09,981 --> 00:32:13,611
So what's that like within having the shadows, the dark?

374
00:32:13,611 --> 00:32:20,874
So we're thinking about, you know, what about when we are really socially active, really
socially engaged?

375
00:32:20,874 --> 00:32:22,295
What's that like?

376
00:32:22,295 --> 00:32:32,898
And other times, you know, when we maybe don't want to, when we want to step back and and
move away and not be there and what and how do how can we with play?

377
00:32:33,166 --> 00:32:36,357
um work work through through those kind of things.

378
00:32:36,357 --> 00:32:42,130
So again we'll be doing some different activities that that um work through that.

379
00:32:42,130 --> 00:32:43,420
Then there's nurture.

380
00:32:43,420 --> 00:32:49,853
Again we'll be thinking about, you know, how we look after ourselves, those those kind of
things.

381
00:32:49,853 --> 00:32:52,254
And again, nurture activities.

382
00:32:52,254 --> 00:32:59,517
And the last one is challenge, but more in relation to ourselves rather than than kind of
challenging another person.

383
00:32:59,517 --> 00:33:02,058
But again, how do we look at ourselves?

384
00:33:02,058 --> 00:33:03,050
And then

385
00:33:03,050 --> 00:33:10,233
We will be leaving the woods and returning back to everyday life.

386
00:33:10,233 --> 00:33:13,434
And again, that'll be through through an activity.

387
00:33:13,434 --> 00:33:19,217
So that's really if we're thinking about working with children, that is a therapy session.

388
00:33:19,217 --> 00:33:22,218
We look at those um structures.

389
00:33:22,218 --> 00:33:28,141
Often with children, we just pick one or two that we're working with.

390
00:33:28,141 --> 00:33:31,842
So again, we might ask participants which were the bits.

391
00:33:31,842 --> 00:33:41,879
You know, of those that they felt most comfortable with, which were the ones that maybe
challenged them a mo the most and asking them to reflect on what was challenging about

392
00:33:41,879 --> 00:33:49,308
that, what what what did make it more difficult to maybe do the nurture part or the the
engagement part.

393
00:33:49,308 --> 00:33:55,222
So helping, you know, participants reflect within themselves about those sorts of things.

394
00:33:55,222 --> 00:33:57,114
And we're going to leave it as a bit of a mystery.

395
00:33:57,114 --> 00:34:02,569
So literally you're going to be stepping into the woods and you won't know what's going to
happen.

396
00:34:02,569 --> 00:34:10,806
And we'll be reflecting on what it's like to enter into a space as any learner does, not
fully knowing what's going to happen.

397
00:34:10,806 --> 00:34:21,334
So we'll be doing a lot of sort of body mapping, thinking about what's happening within my
body, how do I know that, and how can I communicate that safely to other people.

398
00:34:21,334 --> 00:34:26,418
So we really invite you to come along, take a risk, be curious, step into the woods.

399
00:34:26,418 --> 00:34:30,021
If it's pouring with rain, we're going to be in one of the galleries.

400
00:34:30,161 --> 00:34:34,225
And and come and join us and and and see what happens.

401
00:34:34,225 --> 00:34:35,646
It's 45 minutes.

402
00:34:35,646 --> 00:34:40,710
So we really invite you to be curious and take the risk and be playful.

403
00:34:40,710 --> 00:34:42,071
We look forward to seeing you.

404
00:34:42,071 --> 00:34:47,876
One of the things I'd say is that uh therapy is not really a verbal thing.

405
00:34:47,876 --> 00:34:50,680
So most of it will be done.

406
00:34:50,680 --> 00:34:57,024
kind of through play, through embodiment, through the being rather than the knowing.

407
00:34:57,024 --> 00:35:05,800
So we're not gonna be, you know, posing loads of questions for somebody to cognitively
kind of answer.

408
00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:09,482
We might pose questions for people to notice themselves.

409
00:35:09,482 --> 00:35:10,062
Yeah.

410
00:35:10,062 --> 00:35:15,906
It's more, you know, Feraplay is really about being in the being rather than being in the
knowing.

411
00:35:15,906 --> 00:35:17,707
Being in the being rather than being in the knowing.

412
00:35:17,707 --> 00:35:18,427
I love it.

413
00:35:18,427 --> 00:35:24,910
With the mystery, with the mystery and the risk, take it are you going to just for those
of a nervous disposition, can you assure people that you're not going to, for example,

414
00:35:24,910 --> 00:35:26,901
jump out from behind a tree in a bear costume anyway?

415
00:35:26,901 --> 00:35:33,084
No, it's it's not swinging from trees, it's not digging in the dirt, but those things
might happen.

416
00:35:33,084 --> 00:35:41,678
It might involve a bean bag, it might involve a bit of string, it might involve a leaf,
but it's going to be nothing more challenging than that.

417
00:35:42,220 --> 00:35:42,580
Yeah.

418
00:35:42,580 --> 00:35:50,454
So the purpose of Theroplay is to help regulation, really to help our nervous systems feel
safe and connected and engaged.

419
00:35:50,454 --> 00:35:58,617
Um, so there's nothing that will be happening that would heighten our nervous system
outside of our window of tolerance.

420
00:35:58,617 --> 00:36:00,318
I mean, this sounds absolutely marvelous.

421
00:36:00,318 --> 00:36:01,248
Thank you so much both.

422
00:36:01,248 --> 00:36:10,592
But I have one more question, uh, before I let you go, which is if you were to disappear
into the woods, where would we find you and what would you be doing?

423
00:36:11,144 --> 00:36:20,980
I would have found a brook or a stream and I'd be sitting on the edge with my especially
on a day like this, we're recording this quite warm days.

424
00:36:20,980 --> 00:36:28,384
I'd be sitting on the edge, or actually in the stream, you know, where the da where where
the roots of the trees dam up a stream.

425
00:36:28,384 --> 00:36:35,427
I think there's enormously nice and getting in there and trying to help the water find a
way past the dam.

426
00:36:35,508 --> 00:36:36,788
That's where I'd be.

427
00:36:36,788 --> 00:36:38,329
That sounds idyllic.

428
00:36:38,489 --> 00:36:39,650
I think I would

429
00:36:39,650 --> 00:36:53,418
Be walking down a path where the trees have formed a canopy over the top of the path, and
you suddenly come maybe from a very sunny field or a rainy field into a pathway where

430
00:36:53,418 --> 00:36:58,821
there's a canopy of trees that are completely enfolded above you.

431
00:36:58,821 --> 00:37:07,606
That for me is one of my favourite places to feel safe under the trees and see a big
straight pathway in front of you.

432
00:37:07,606 --> 00:37:08,896
So that's where I.

433
00:37:18,210 --> 00:37:20,531
3 30 to 4 o'clock.

434
00:37:20,731 --> 00:37:21,872
A break.

435
00:37:23,053 --> 00:37:30,577
Why not grab a coffee, have a biscuit, and check out one of these spotlight activities
running throughout the day.

436
00:37:33,859 --> 00:37:34,259
Dr.

437
00:37:34,259 --> 00:37:35,530
Emma Derbyshear, Dr.

438
00:37:35,530 --> 00:37:37,811
Abby Jones, Ailsa Dollard and Dr.

439
00:37:37,811 --> 00:37:44,664
Emma Gillespie will be presenting Game On, Boosting Teamworking Skills Through Playful
Learning.

440
00:37:46,446 --> 00:37:47,126
We

441
00:37:47,126 --> 00:37:54,790
originally started with the fact that we're both um the interprofessional education
learning leads uh at the School of Medicine at the University of Lancashire.

442
00:37:54,790 --> 00:38:05,616
And we you we know that teamworking is imperative to ensure that we have collaborative
working, especially within healthcare, so that patient outcomes are improved.

443
00:38:05,616 --> 00:38:13,851
And we constantly say on and I I'm sure plenty of people are are all always saying, you
know, you need to be a better teamworker, we need good teams, but do we actually talk

444
00:38:13,851 --> 00:38:16,342
about how does that happen?

445
00:38:16,498 --> 00:38:25,743
And uh between m myself and Emma, we came together and we had a look at a piece of
research to look about what specifically can you do to improve teamworking.

446
00:38:25,743 --> 00:38:39,084
And we focused on four um competencies that we look at, which is uh based on uh IPEC
competencies, uh communication, um, roles and responsibilities, we look at value and

447
00:38:39,084 --> 00:38:39,501
ethics.

448
00:38:39,501 --> 00:38:40,201
And what's the last one, Emma?

449
00:38:40,201 --> 00:38:41,052
Because I've already forgotten it.

450
00:38:41,052 --> 00:38:42,662
Uh communication.

451
00:38:42,662 --> 00:38:43,623
Communication.

452
00:38:43,623 --> 00:38:45,518
But we split them up and we look at

453
00:38:45,518 --> 00:38:49,331
How do we focus on actually improving those skills?

454
00:38:49,331 --> 00:38:55,865
And so we have four games tied to them, um, which I'm sure Emma can then fill in on what
we do.

455
00:38:56,045 --> 00:39:07,653
So um I'm preaching to the converted audience here, but um as keen gamers, um, I then
looked at at sort of serious games and how they can help us demonstrate um complex,

456
00:39:07,653 --> 00:39:11,316
dynamic concepts in like really short bursts of learning.

457
00:39:11,316 --> 00:39:13,628
And that's what we're gonna bring to the spotlight session.

458
00:39:13,628 --> 00:39:14,458
The

459
00:39:14,464 --> 00:39:27,553
examples of the four games that we created so that um people at the conference can come,
drop in, play one, two, all four of the games if they want, and sh see how we use these

460
00:39:27,553 --> 00:39:38,131
games to demonstrate those teamworking skills, those competencies, and how we we
demonstrated to students how to apply those skills.

461
00:39:38,351 --> 00:39:42,562
So we've got things like a Lego house building challenge.

462
00:39:42,562 --> 00:39:45,322
the links to to teamworking.

463
00:39:45,322 --> 00:39:57,746
Um we without giving the game away, we've got some events that happen because um whilst
you're in your your teams, you're not in a vacuum, you're in a a dynamic environment, so

464
00:39:57,746 --> 00:40:06,809
things are going to change and we use some game mechanics to to mess around with with
those environments and and challenge our players.

465
00:40:07,349 --> 00:40:10,338
We've also got games like Descriptionary

466
00:40:10,338 --> 00:40:14,321
where we introduce some communication limits as a game mechanic.

467
00:40:15,062 --> 00:40:25,810
and uh yeah, we've got other things like a a role matching game that we use um to to match
with that competency of sort of understanding roles and responsibility.

468
00:40:25,810 --> 00:40:35,822
Um so yeah, we've got some really fun things that people can join us and and play and and
learn from and maybe even be inspired to design their own games.

469
00:40:35,822 --> 00:40:36,682
That sounds super cool.

470
00:40:36,682 --> 00:40:41,004
So this is one of the spotlight sessions running throughout the day on the Wednesday.

471
00:40:41,004 --> 00:40:43,235
What's it actually gonna look like for attendees?

472
00:40:43,235 --> 00:40:45,757
Are they gonna be sort of dropping in and out of this through throughout the day?

473
00:40:45,757 --> 00:40:48,328
What's the yeah, what how's it gonna work?

474
00:40:48,328 --> 00:40:49,318
Yeah, I mean that's our hope.

475
00:40:49,318 --> 00:40:57,312
So that in between sessions you can pop in and come and see us and uh as in have a go at
maybe one or even all the games depending on what ha time you have.

476
00:40:57,312 --> 00:41:02,006
Um so we we'll be either playing that with you or having groups that play together.

477
00:41:02,006 --> 00:41:10,230
And then I mean just by playing them you can see the benefits of learning on things like
communication or on roles.

478
00:41:10,230 --> 00:41:18,405
Uh and then uh you know, we've we've we've done a piece of research as well and we're
starting to analyse that and hopefully we can share with you some of the insights that

479
00:41:18,405 --> 00:41:22,557
we're seeing of the benefits to students, especially within healthcare.

480
00:41:22,838 --> 00:41:30,202
And then if people want to create their own game, we've got some some worksheets and can
sort of use the team.

481
00:41:30,408 --> 00:41:37,413
as a bit of a a sounding board if they want to fire some ideas um across to us and and we
can have a chat and things like that.

482
00:41:37,413 --> 00:41:44,718
So perhaps someone might want to drop in in the morning in a break, play a couple of the
games and then come back to us later on.

483
00:41:44,718 --> 00:41:56,176
Um having looked at the worksheet, having sort of percolated some ideas, um it's it's
entirely up to to sort of the individual how they want to come and drop in and and use the

484
00:41:56,176 --> 00:41:59,680
session, but we've got all of this available um for

485
00:41:59,680 --> 00:42:01,070
for you if you're interested.

486
00:42:01,070 --> 00:42:02,593
I mean that sounds fabulous.

487
00:42:02,593 --> 00:42:12,140
I've just one more question which is Abby, Emma, if you were to disappear into the woods,
where would we find you and what would you be doing?

488
00:42:14,322 --> 00:42:23,089
I'd be hopefully found a nice stream too that's hopefully dappled with some sunlight so I
can sunbathe um but also get a nice drink.

489
00:42:24,831 --> 00:42:26,011
Maybe a swim.

490
00:42:27,373 --> 00:42:28,738
I'd probably

491
00:42:28,738 --> 00:42:35,128
be resting on a lovely picnic blanket, eating a fabulous, sumptuous feast.

492
00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:36,702
can I come and join you instead Emma?

493
00:42:36,702 --> 00:42:37,373
That's much better.

494
00:42:37,373 --> 00:42:37,674
Yeah.

495
00:42:37,674 --> 00:42:38,415
Okay cool.

496
00:42:38,415 --> 00:42:40,518
We we are recording this quite near lunch.

497
00:42:44,074 --> 00:42:55,810
On Wednesday, the other spotlight session, running throughout the day, is the Brave Things
Lab, a drop-in space for playful courage, presented by Jules Gilliland.

498
00:42:58,954 --> 00:43:01,305
I was at Playful Learning last year.

499
00:43:02,156 --> 00:43:07,449
and I found it very, very um inspiring how playful it was.

500
00:43:07,449 --> 00:43:18,045
Um typically when I go to a conference or something, I'm the most playful person and I w
definitely wasn't last year, so I had to step my game up a bit.

501
00:43:18,445 --> 00:43:21,647
And I love this little side room.

502
00:43:21,647 --> 00:43:27,180
So I I kind of put in a proposal to design something for

503
00:43:27,372 --> 00:43:30,464
That side room pop-up session idea.

504
00:43:30,765 --> 00:43:36,870
So tell us about what people will be doing or will be able to do in your your side room
pop-up area.

505
00:43:36,870 --> 00:43:41,565
So I'm working on a little project at the moment.

506
00:43:41,565 --> 00:43:45,237
I have a lot of games that I um am putting together.

507
00:43:45,278 --> 00:43:52,744
And one of the ideas I had in September was this um came to me was Brave Things.

508
00:43:52,744 --> 00:43:55,006
So these games that help

509
00:43:55,588 --> 00:44:10,224
adults mainly, but it can be children as well, tackle these kind of ideas of bravery,
resilience, trust, failure, all these kind of words that are around that.

510
00:44:10,224 --> 00:44:12,525
So I started to develop some games.

511
00:44:12,585 --> 00:44:24,550
The idea is it's going to be I'm bringing all my things, and going to create sort of a
pop-up session around bravery and courage and the courage for

512
00:44:24,566 --> 00:44:29,786
that adults need to join play, I guess I would say.

513
00:44:29,786 --> 00:44:31,762
Um that's what I want to create.

514
00:44:31,762 --> 00:44:43,402
And the lovely thing about the Into the Woods theme is that I could just take that, you
know, to a crazy level of thinking about this clearing in the woods and how how does that

515
00:44:43,402 --> 00:44:48,416
make you feel and what kind of things will people encounter there.

516
00:44:48,416 --> 00:44:53,370
Um in in between the wonderful sessions, they could just pop in

517
00:44:53,434 --> 00:44:55,095
And um yeah.

518
00:44:55,095 --> 00:44:55,774
And play.

519
00:44:55,774 --> 00:44:57,325
Absolutely that sounds absolutely marvelous.

520
00:44:57,325 --> 00:44:58,007
I can't wait for it.

521
00:44:58,007 --> 00:45:00,718
So why why bravery and courage?

522
00:45:00,718 --> 00:45:03,359
I mean, it seems like such a great fit for the conference.

523
00:45:03,900 --> 00:45:09,453
Well, I actually so I'm I spent before I moved to England, in October only, actually.

524
00:45:09,453 --> 00:45:10,704
Congratulations.

525
00:45:10,704 --> 00:45:12,154
I was in Brussels.

526
00:45:12,154 --> 00:45:12,785
Yeah.

527
00:45:12,785 --> 00:45:16,787
I was in Brussels and I worked for seven years with the European Commission.

528
00:45:17,227 --> 00:45:21,469
Before COVID, it was sort of all around this sort of work life balance.

529
00:45:21,469 --> 00:45:22,610
Um

530
00:45:22,766 --> 00:45:25,357
kind of idea, but after COVID.

531
00:45:25,357 --> 00:45:30,209
So I didn't work during COVID because I can't really take my little objects anywhere.

532
00:45:30,249 --> 00:45:46,536
And and so after COVID it really there was so much around resilience and stress and hybrid
working and still keeping connected to people.

533
00:45:46,797 --> 00:45:50,014
And so I found every time I

534
00:45:50,014 --> 00:45:53,637
met with a team and asked about what c what they wanted their data look like.

535
00:45:53,637 --> 00:45:55,638
It always came around this.

536
00:45:56,219 --> 00:46:02,925
it wasn't it was no longer around sort of systems and work and um ideation.

537
00:46:02,925 --> 00:46:08,870
It was all around communication and and courage and resilience and wellness.

538
00:46:08,870 --> 00:46:13,873
Um so I think it sort of came came out of that.

539
00:46:13,894 --> 00:46:15,075
It feels really timely.

540
00:46:15,075 --> 00:46:19,188
Um not just for obviously the conference, but also the world.

541
00:46:19,214 --> 00:46:20,074
That's absolutely fabulous.

542
00:46:20,074 --> 00:46:21,275
Thank you so much, Jules.

543
00:46:21,275 --> 00:46:27,556
So can you just tell us again your name and the title of the session and where it will be
running?

544
00:46:27,856 --> 00:46:35,078
So the um my name is Jules Skillant and uh the name keeps changing actually in my head.

545
00:46:35,078 --> 00:46:39,059
But at the moment, what I've given to conference is the Brave Things Lab.

546
00:46:39,059 --> 00:46:44,141
Um and it's sort of a drop-in space for playful courage.

547
00:46:44,631 --> 00:46:48,462
but definitely design-wise, because I love to design spaces.

548
00:46:48,610 --> 00:46:54,115
Um, it will definitely be themed that's you know, you have to come to the conference now
to see.

549
00:46:54,115 --> 00:46:58,197
It'll definitely be themed around this idea of a clearing in the wood.

550
00:46:58,258 --> 00:47:04,543
And there's going to be lots of different things to to do in there and uh yeah, that's it.

551
00:47:04,743 --> 00:47:05,554
That's marvelous.

552
00:47:05,554 --> 00:47:07,005
Thank you so much.

553
00:47:07,045 --> 00:47:11,428
Jules, if you disappeared into the woods, where would we find you?

554
00:47:12,250 --> 00:47:13,070
Well

555
00:47:13,070 --> 00:47:18,334
Um probably under a tree, um looking for objects I guess.

556
00:47:18,334 --> 00:47:20,916
Um, natural things.

557
00:47:20,957 --> 00:47:21,947
Natural what natural things.

558
00:47:21,947 --> 00:47:23,414
What kind of natural things would you be offering?

559
00:47:23,414 --> 00:47:35,188
Well, uh so my project is Think With Things and um so a lot of times we have whole natural
baskets of nuts and pine cones, small sticks, rocks.

560
00:47:35,188 --> 00:47:36,739
Anything you can hold in your hand really.

561
00:47:36,739 --> 00:47:39,982
Um and I love multiples of the same things.

562
00:47:39,982 --> 00:47:42,488
So I think uh

563
00:47:42,488 --> 00:47:47,526
Definitely that's what you would find me looking for or sitting by a tree reading a book.

564
00:47:52,886 --> 00:47:54,356
Sorry, it's good.

565
00:47:59,406 --> 00:48:00,627
4 p.m.

566
00:48:00,888 --> 00:48:02,490
The Terrace Room.

567
00:48:03,252 --> 00:48:12,344
Marguerite van der Meer and Fatima Kasim present Seeing the Wood for the Trees, a card
deck to support emerging researchers.

568
00:48:16,980 --> 00:48:30,499
So our session is really about um research methodology, but more specifically how the game
reframes research methodology as a navigable journey through a forest where we invite

569
00:48:30,499 --> 00:48:40,366
learners to see the wood for the trees by attending to relationships between
methodological components rather than isolated research decisions.

570
00:48:40,567 --> 00:48:45,870
So we've developed a Tatar card game which creates an embodied experience.

571
00:48:45,906 --> 00:48:52,909
Um, which will in turn facilitate a safe risk-taking space for methodological exploration.

572
00:48:53,209 --> 00:49:04,954
Yes, so in this game, which is going to be a very hands-on embodied experience,
participants will construct a research pathway using cards that represent four key

573
00:49:04,954 --> 00:49:15,798
elements of research: a research question type, a methodological design path, a data
gathering approach, and a plausible research insight or contribution.

574
00:49:15,852 --> 00:49:28,389
So the challenge then is to um align these different aspects of the game um and they the
participants are guided by African woodland character guides that represent each stage of

575
00:49:28,389 --> 00:49:30,230
the research process.

576
00:49:30,230 --> 00:49:42,947
And this um serves as a metaphorical scaffold to support reasoning in participants about
alignment, feasibility, methodological limits, while making research jargon much more fun

577
00:49:42,947 --> 00:49:44,288
and accessible.

578
00:49:44,352 --> 00:49:56,215
And the metaphorical character driven approach of the game um intentionally intentionally
disrupts traditional text heavy methods of research methodology um and thinking about

579
00:49:56,215 --> 00:50:05,678
research methodology, aiming to make learning more accessible and deepen engagement and
also hopefully to lead to a lot of debate and fun.

580
00:50:05,678 --> 00:50:06,868
That sounds so good.

581
00:50:06,868 --> 00:50:11,630
So i there's a very I mean, the woodland theme is so spot on for the conference.

582
00:50:11,630 --> 00:50:12,920
Was that already there?

583
00:50:12,920 --> 00:50:13,900
Did you have the woodland theme?

584
00:50:13,900 --> 00:50:15,502
Then you then they announced it for playful learning.

585
00:50:15,502 --> 00:50:18,955
You were like, my word, what a marvelous coincidence.

586
00:50:18,955 --> 00:50:22,490
Or have you kind of skillfully, skillfully merged the two?

587
00:50:22,490 --> 00:50:33,689
I think we've we've skillfully merged with the aid of our resident wordsmith, Fatima,
we've w we've we've merged the the theme to to fit.

588
00:50:33,689 --> 00:50:40,352
But what did fit very well is this idea of seeing the wood for the trees, because research
can be quite

589
00:50:40,352 --> 00:50:51,171
a tricky thing to navigate, especially for the game was pitched initially for honors and
masters level um students that are not so familiar with this idea of constructive

590
00:50:51,171 --> 00:50:52,912
alignment in research.

591
00:50:52,912 --> 00:51:04,582
And so the game had already existed, but this is just a way to make it much more
accessible for students to kind of get this entry point into research.

592
00:51:04,962 --> 00:51:09,786
And if I may add, we've been doing a lot of play-based um

593
00:51:10,196 --> 00:51:11,786
work together.

594
00:51:11,786 --> 00:51:20,669
So yeah, we've we've moved from involving play in a design, a practical subject, a studio
subject.

595
00:51:20,669 --> 00:51:28,191
And um where the idea stemmed from was to try and apply it to to research classes because
students really struggle.

596
00:51:28,191 --> 00:51:32,052
Um especially as first time researchers.

597
00:51:32,052 --> 00:51:39,034
So by introducing play we found that they are so much more receptive and their
understanding becomes more concrete.

598
00:51:39,034 --> 00:51:40,088
Um

599
00:51:40,088 --> 00:51:46,624
through an embodied process rather than just um a process of reading or listening to
lectures.

600
00:51:46,624 --> 00:51:48,095
That's so marvelous.

601
00:51:48,095 --> 00:51:57,384
And again, such a beautiful use of the kind of the narrative framing of um the the journey
through the woods, something that I think we can all all imagine.

602
00:51:57,384 --> 00:52:03,419
The um so what will you be asking of attendees when an attendee, attendee, participant,
what do we call these people?

603
00:52:03,419 --> 00:52:04,160
Guests?

604
00:52:04,160 --> 00:52:07,118
When people come to the conference and come to your session,

605
00:52:07,118 --> 00:52:08,658
You said it was gonna be very tactile and hands-on.

606
00:52:08,658 --> 00:52:09,859
What are you gonna be asking people to do?

607
00:52:09,859 --> 00:52:11,799
How's the session gonna feel for them?

608
00:52:11,799 --> 00:52:15,640
Well, the idea is that it's not a lecture-based session at all.

609
00:52:15,640 --> 00:52:18,501
So participants are going to be playing the game.

610
00:52:18,501 --> 00:52:27,083
So we've got a 45 minute slot, and during this session, participants will be divided into
small groups.

611
00:52:27,083 --> 00:52:33,265
And in their group, they're going to get a basically a broken research pathway.

612
00:52:33,265 --> 00:52:35,236
So one that doesn't make sense.

613
00:52:35,236 --> 00:52:37,304
And they are going to throughout the

614
00:52:37,304 --> 00:52:48,062
process of playing the game, they're going to negotiate within their groups how they can
fix this broken research pathway to navigate their way through the woods.

615
00:52:48,343 --> 00:52:53,427
And there are certain gamified elements that make it a little bit more tricky or
frustrating.

616
00:52:53,427 --> 00:52:56,469
There are some limitations and time constraints.

617
00:52:56,469 --> 00:53:03,264
And so within the timeframe that they have in their group, they have to negotiate to fix
their their pathway.

618
00:53:05,174 --> 00:53:09,756
Yeah, and then at the end they can also reflect about the alignment of the research.

619
00:53:10,796 --> 00:53:17,079
Yeah, and also the character guides are built in to make a lot of the research jargon
accessible.

620
00:53:17,079 --> 00:53:28,414
So we're using, like Marguerite said earlier, metaphors, um or like the wise owl, um, to
connote a research question or to really make it accessible to to people.

621
00:53:28,414 --> 00:53:33,716
And it has a wonderful South African slant to it, given the animals that we've chosen.

622
00:53:34,302 --> 00:53:36,263
Can you give me some?

623
00:53:36,263 --> 00:53:37,544
Can you give me some?

624
00:53:37,584 --> 00:53:38,475
Just give us a sec.

625
00:53:38,475 --> 00:53:41,506
Let's just uh let's just double tap quickly.

626
00:53:42,247 --> 00:53:44,362
We don't want to give you the wrong information.

627
00:53:44,362 --> 00:53:49,611
I'm I'm sitting here hoping for like, you know, Simon the ontological spring book or
something, you know.

628
00:53:50,052 --> 00:53:51,652
That sounds great.

629
00:53:52,213 --> 00:53:58,667
So um the leopard, which is in the evidence cards, and the leopard is the watchful
tracker.

630
00:53:58,667 --> 00:54:00,972
He moves stealthily through the woodland.

631
00:54:00,972 --> 00:54:04,485
He notices tracks, traces, and sounds and signs.

632
00:54:04,485 --> 00:54:06,787
His strength lies in precision.

633
00:54:06,787 --> 00:54:11,231
He knows what to look for and how to follow it without wasting energy.

634
00:54:11,231 --> 00:54:18,797
In research, Leopard represents methods, which are the practical tools and procedures used
to gather, generate, or analyze evidence.

635
00:54:18,797 --> 00:54:24,652
Methods must be chosen carefully so that the evidence can respond meaningfully to the
research question.

636
00:54:25,986 --> 00:54:32,290
Basically what we've done is we've created personas for each of the animals as guides.

637
00:54:32,290 --> 00:54:38,634
So they have a very specific personality that aligns also with the element of research.

638
00:54:38,634 --> 00:54:40,696
I mean, this sounds absolutely marvelous.

639
00:54:40,696 --> 00:54:51,082
So I have just one more question for you, which is Marguerite Fatima, if you were to both
disappear into the woods, where would we find you and what would you be doing?

640
00:54:51,822 --> 00:55:02,245
I love forest bathing, so you probably wouldn't find me because I w I would hide so far
into the woods that you would have to underse party.

641
00:55:02,306 --> 00:55:06,487
Then I would hide from from my work for about a week.

642
00:55:07,488 --> 00:55:11,989
You'd probably find me under a tree sitting and reading somewhere.

643
00:55:12,989 --> 00:55:15,036
Not on the tree, under the tree.

644
00:55:18,904 --> 00:55:20,135
4 o'clock.

645
00:55:20,276 --> 00:55:23,059
Out of doors or gallery 2 if raining.

646
00:55:23,641 --> 00:55:27,006
Giskin Day presents Deadline Dash.

647
00:55:27,006 --> 00:55:30,190
Navigating assessment deadlines a playful way.

648
00:55:33,750 --> 00:55:46,358
Actually this was inspired by Playful Learning last year and and possibly subsequent uh or
previous years as well, uh in that I see quite a lot of games being made to help prepare

649
00:55:46,358 --> 00:55:59,796
students uh for the the necessity of university life and that things have to happen by
deadlines, uh notably assignments and exam prep.

650
00:56:00,138 --> 00:56:11,641
So I've been thinking about a card game for some time uh to really prepare students for
all of those things that can and often do go wrong.

651
00:56:11,781 --> 00:56:19,673
So based on 20 years of experience, I've had all sorts of excuses for why students don't
hand in assignments on time.

652
00:56:19,673 --> 00:56:29,186
Uh but also there's a chance really to give some advice on how to get on top of things and
not face the deadline dash.

653
00:56:29,920 --> 00:56:41,248
So what I have done is uh developed uh this card game and actually this has been in
response to a program called Thrive that we have at Imperial College London where we

654
00:56:41,248 --> 00:56:48,222
welcome widening participation students uh to the university for a week before everybody
else starts.

655
00:56:48,523 --> 00:56:52,005
And um it can often be very daunting.

656
00:56:52,005 --> 00:56:59,990
So I was hoping really to help a with a fun game that gives some tips about study skills.

657
00:57:00,218 --> 00:57:04,080
and also calibrates expectations around marks.

658
00:57:04,320 --> 00:57:15,335
So uh for many of us that work in higher education, we know that students uh come to us
used to getting very high marks at school often, and then it's a bit of a shock when they

659
00:57:15,335 --> 00:57:22,988
get a mark in the sixties and then um they don't consider that to be very good, but at two
one is of course very good.

660
00:57:23,449 --> 00:57:24,938
So that's what I've done.

661
00:57:24,938 --> 00:57:26,975
Um and the the

662
00:57:26,975 --> 00:57:33,649
It works l a bit like a board game, although I have a a spectrum rather than a board that
you move around.

663
00:57:33,649 --> 00:57:36,050
Uh and there's uh a token.

664
00:57:36,050 --> 00:57:44,335
So I've got some fun animal resin tokens given that uh the theme this year is into the
woods.

665
00:57:44,335 --> 00:57:51,479
So uh you can choose from a koala or uh various other little animals that I've got.

666
00:57:51,870 --> 00:57:55,622
and you turn over cards and that advances you.

667
00:57:55,906 --> 00:58:05,381
um away from deadline, so having more time to to work on your assignment, or it it takes
you uh rapidly towards the deadline.

668
00:58:06,532 --> 00:58:10,174
and if you miss it, then you need to take a consequence card.

669
00:58:10,174 --> 00:58:16,367
Um so the the cards are basically uh things that might get in the way.

670
00:58:16,367 --> 00:58:24,610
So an example is your friend breaks up with their partner and needs to vent, minus two,
uh, or you

671
00:58:24,610 --> 00:58:26,161
That's fair to say that is such a good one.

672
00:58:26,161 --> 00:58:33,734
I have almost missed um an assignment deadline as a student because of that, because of
that friend calling you to a bridge at five in the morning.

673
00:58:33,734 --> 00:58:34,755
Yes, I love it.

674
00:58:34,755 --> 00:58:42,478
Well so just while while we while you're on that, what is the like the f the funniest or
oddest real card that you've got in there?

675
00:58:43,339 --> 00:58:49,922
Well, the one that comes to mind, and this happens actually surprisingly often, is that
students go abroad

676
00:58:50,164 --> 00:59:00,268
before in the run up to deadlines, they go take, you know, they go and work on their
dissertation in their home country or go on holiday, god forbid, and then forget that the

677
00:59:00,268 --> 00:59:02,229
submission date is in a different time zone.

678
00:59:02,229 --> 00:59:06,421
Oh, that's awful, but also very funny.

679
00:59:06,421 --> 00:59:08,001
So that happens a lot.

680
00:59:08,001 --> 00:59:12,423
one that I I haven't actually put on a card because it's it's too niche.

681
00:59:12,423 --> 00:59:19,846
But somebody's flatmate had a inflatable um fan type

682
00:59:19,846 --> 00:59:33,679
uh thing that that apparently motivated them but was incredibly noisy and there was some
blow-up flamingo that kept flapping its head against the the floor which uh caused them a

683
00:59:33,679 --> 00:59:37,914
great deal of distress and couldn't get that assignment done.

684
00:59:37,932 --> 00:59:46,454
So there are all sorts of things that that might get in the way that you don't anticipate
and until you've heard of somebody doing it and then you hopefully make sure you n you

685
00:59:46,454 --> 00:59:47,715
never do that.

686
00:59:47,715 --> 00:59:48,705
That's so marvelous.

687
00:59:48,705 --> 00:59:54,086
Can I can I can I beg you to please put the the inflatable motorised flamingo somewhere
into your deck?

688
00:59:54,086 --> 00:59:57,247
Oh I I I will do that just for you.

689
00:59:57,788 --> 00:59:59,248
So the session's outside.

690
00:59:59,248 --> 01:00:01,989
You've got an outdoor session and you've got an outdoor session with cards.

691
01:00:01,989 --> 01:00:02,999
What if there's a breeze?

692
01:00:02,999 --> 01:00:05,330
Uh well, yes.

693
01:00:05,330 --> 01:00:07,040
Um that i is a

694
01:00:07,040 --> 01:00:08,600
A a consideration.

695
01:00:08,600 --> 01:00:14,705
I I didn't ask for an outdoor session and I just feel privileged to be on the program, so
I'm not going to argue.

696
01:00:14,705 --> 01:00:22,809
Um, but I think that uh, you know, Sussex beautiful campus and uh there are those tables
that are kind of in a marquee type thing.

697
01:00:22,809 --> 01:00:23,660
Oh yeah.

698
01:00:23,660 --> 01:00:26,822
So I I'm hoping that's going to work.

699
01:00:27,052 --> 01:00:29,694
also I've printed the cards on quite thick cardboard.

700
01:00:29,694 --> 01:00:33,305
Um, so I'm hoping they won't fly away.

701
01:00:33,910 --> 01:00:34,440
Sounds marvelous.

702
01:00:34,440 --> 01:00:46,129
What I'm actually doing at the moment is I'm leveling up my game because I had uh the
advice from a uh bona fide games designer called Joe Adams, who's doing a PhD at uh at

703
01:00:46,129 --> 01:00:49,402
Imperial div designing game.

704
01:00:49,402 --> 01:01:00,050
And um he has advised me how to level it up by giving uh players characters uh so that
they can also get points.

705
01:01:00,242 --> 01:01:09,346
uh that it's not just about not handing in your assignment, but if you've done something
that has enhanced your university experience, then you can get points another way.

706
01:01:09,346 --> 01:01:15,419
So you can get like uh sociable points if you have I love yeah, I love that mechanic in
games.

707
01:01:15,419 --> 01:01:20,000
Yeah, where you've got kind of like a hidden objective that allows you to kind of come in
from behind.

708
01:01:20,000 --> 01:01:21,161
yeah, I l I absolutely love that.

709
01:01:21,161 --> 01:01:21,871
That's marvelous.

710
01:01:21,871 --> 01:01:28,514
If you're a sports person and you've been football training, then you know, it's not as
bad a reason for

711
01:01:29,350 --> 01:01:37,798
delaying working on your assignment than if you've done something stupid like eaten a
dodgy kebab and you've spent the night vomiting.

712
01:01:37,798 --> 01:01:39,729
As the which which sounds like another one of your cards.

713
01:01:39,729 --> 01:01:43,692
And also just what a marvellous way of interpreting the kind of the holistic university
experience.

714
01:01:43,692 --> 01:01:49,527
Because I I I regard the academic side of mine as maybe thirty percent of what I actually
took away from it.

715
01:01:49,607 --> 01:01:51,249
that's just such a that's such a lovely thing.

716
01:01:51,249 --> 01:01:52,019
I love it so much.

717
01:01:52,019 --> 01:01:53,540
Well I I hope I can pull it off.

718
01:01:53,540 --> 01:01:58,230
I mean it's quite it's it's it's difficult to work out how many cards you need and

719
01:01:58,230 --> 01:02:01,531
And how the whole uh game mechanic can be made to work.

720
01:02:01,531 --> 01:02:11,175
But I'm hoping that, you know, I'm gonna play test it at Playful Learning and uh all those
marvelous uh fellow participants will be able to give me some tips.

721
01:02:11,555 --> 01:02:14,776
I mean, I I look forward to playing it myself.

722
01:02:15,657 --> 01:02:25,761
Kissing, before I let you go, I have just one more question for you, which is if you were
to disappear into the woods, where would we find you and what would you be doing?

723
01:02:25,761 --> 01:02:28,122
Oh

724
01:02:28,210 --> 01:02:30,841
Oh, I've got a punch hole for disappearing into the woods.

725
01:02:30,841 --> 01:02:33,031
I really do like that.

726
01:02:33,071 --> 01:02:37,432
I would definitely be gathering wildflowers, I think.

727
01:02:37,713 --> 01:02:44,855
And in anticipation of making some artwork, perhaps using my gel plate when I brought them
home.

728
01:02:44,855 --> 01:02:46,415
Should I find my way out of the woods?

729
01:02:46,415 --> 01:02:47,325
What's a gel plate?

730
01:02:47,325 --> 01:02:57,868
Uh it's a uh it's exactly what it sounds it's a gelatin plate and you layer um acrylic
paint on a thin layer of acrylic paint and then you arrange your

731
01:02:58,220 --> 01:03:11,060
botanics on the plate and you can make some rather wonderful yeah, they sort of uh one off
mono print type botanical art which I really love doing.

732
01:03:11,080 --> 01:03:13,452
So that is what I would do.

733
01:03:20,140 --> 01:03:31,352
And let's of course not forget that throughout the conference, starting on a Wednesday,
Emma Gillaspie, David Collette and Rachel Rawlinson will be presenting Encounters with the

734
01:03:31,352 --> 01:03:37,018
Creatures of the Subtle Labyrinth for your collecting and gaming enjoyment throughout.

735
01:03:38,946 --> 01:03:53,776
So myself, Dave Collett and Michelle Rawlinson um have um hatched up an idea to try and
help people navigate um scholarship of teaching and learning or SOTL for short.

736
01:03:53,776 --> 01:03:56,738
Hence SOTL in the SOTL labyrinth.

737
01:03:56,738 --> 01:04:08,766
Um and all of the things that we come across around people um writing about their teaching
and learning practice, sharing that, understanding it, researching it.

738
01:04:09,634 --> 01:04:11,775
are that it's a very hidden process.

739
01:04:11,775 --> 01:04:18,368
There's lots of um encounters with helpful or unhelpful um areas.

740
01:04:18,368 --> 01:04:23,510
So what we decided to do was turn this into a playable game.

741
01:04:24,501 --> 01:04:37,154
and they uh everybody in the conference will be able to play this game because it runs
across the whole conference and everybody will find um creature cards.

742
01:04:37,154 --> 01:04:39,355
dotted around the conference venue.

743
01:04:39,355 --> 01:04:51,042
And each creature will em have different abilities within either helping or hindering you
in doing your scholarship of teaching and learning.

744
01:04:51,142 --> 01:04:56,985
So we want you to build a hand for you to be able to navigate that labyrinth.

745
01:04:56,985 --> 01:05:05,650
em And the idea is that it'll help people em have conversations with each other.

746
01:05:05,664 --> 01:05:17,464
about scholarship of teaching and learning, what helps, what gets in the way, and help
them kind of reflect on what they need as an individual, um, because we'll all need

747
01:05:17,464 --> 01:05:20,876
slightly different things to help us move forward in this.

748
01:05:20,876 --> 01:05:33,597
Um, and then we want to kind of gather your gather people's feedback on what are the kind
of barriers enabling us to scholarship and how can we help that through playful learning.

749
01:05:33,597 --> 01:05:34,697
That sounds fantastic.

750
01:05:34,697 --> 01:05:35,640
So um

751
01:05:35,640 --> 01:05:36,901
Got questions about the the game.

752
01:05:36,901 --> 01:05:43,303
So obviously people go around and collect the cards, already loving collect them like a
collecting card game dotted around the conference.

753
01:05:43,303 --> 01:05:45,094
Cannot wait to see the cards themselves.

754
01:05:45,094 --> 01:05:50,817
So are people gonna be able to sort of come and play against each other or against you
with a g or against the labyrinth with these cards?

755
01:05:50,817 --> 01:05:52,297
How's that gonna work?

756
01:05:52,718 --> 01:06:02,934
So they're going to be able to play against each other or with each other collaboratively,
depending on how they choose to use their cards.

757
01:06:02,934 --> 01:06:04,835
And the abilities within those cards.

758
01:06:04,835 --> 01:06:09,318
I don't want to give too much away in terms of the the mechanics of that.

759
01:06:09,318 --> 01:06:12,679
Um and also we're still working out the final details.

760
01:06:12,679 --> 01:06:18,083
Um but there will be a physical labyrinth installation.

761
01:06:18,083 --> 01:06:19,673
Whoa, why didn't you open with that?

762
01:06:19,673 --> 01:06:20,714
That's so cool.

763
01:06:22,085 --> 01:06:26,387
which uh Dave is building, he's brilliant at that kind of stuff.

764
01:06:26,387 --> 01:06:31,904
And so it's almost gonna be kind of a trading post, so where people want to

765
01:06:31,904 --> 01:06:38,620
In any game that y you have like a a tavern or or an area where people go and tra trade
resources.

766
01:06:38,620 --> 01:06:56,185
Um so that's gonna act as a trading post, but also a place for people to interact with
with the creatures um themselves and how you um how you can give us feedback about the

767
01:06:56,185 --> 01:06:59,017
activity and and how it works for you.

768
01:06:59,318 --> 01:07:00,222
That sounds

769
01:07:00,222 --> 01:07:01,392
Absolutely fantastic.

770
01:07:01,392 --> 01:07:02,463
I can't wait to see this.

771
01:07:02,463 --> 01:07:03,253
I can't wait to play the game.

772
01:07:03,253 --> 01:07:07,065
I really hope that there's like foil cards and different rarities and things.

773
01:07:07,065 --> 01:07:11,637
The the the nerd in me is really hoping to find a booster pack or something, dotted around
the conference.

774
01:07:11,637 --> 01:07:13,447
I'm just I'm very, very excited for this.

775
01:07:13,447 --> 01:07:15,688
Um Emma, thank you so much for that.

776
01:07:15,688 --> 01:07:23,551
I've got one more question for you, which is if you were to disappear into the woods,
where would we find you and what would you be doing?

777
01:07:24,192 --> 01:07:27,173
I would be somewhere warm and dry.

778
01:07:27,173 --> 01:07:29,580
So I'd be thinking like a nook.

779
01:07:29,580 --> 01:07:35,035
within a tree, um 'cause I don't do very well outdoors.

780
01:07:35,236 --> 01:07:37,688
Quite an indoor indoors in person.

781
01:07:37,688 --> 01:07:41,462
Um so I'll be somewhere, yeah, sheltered.

782
01:07:41,483 --> 01:07:48,630
And I would likely be um listening to the sounds of the forest.

783
01:07:56,046 --> 01:08:04,869
And so we emerge blinking from the woods of the sessions into the different woods of the
evening and the evening's activities.

784
01:08:06,050 --> 01:08:16,313
From 4.45 until 6.30, there'll be but a free time to decompress, followed by the
Conference Barbecue, the Northfield Bar at 6:30.

785
01:08:17,634 --> 01:08:19,234
Barbecue will consist of

786
01:08:19,288 --> 01:08:30,703
Franconian Company hot dogs in brioche buns with crispy onions and sauces, or halloumi,
red pepper, and red onion jam burgers in brioche buns with relish, pickles, and baby gem.

787
01:08:30,863 --> 01:08:38,706
There'll also be a selection of salads, including charred corn, house slaw, potatoes,
chives, and island white tomatoes.

788
01:08:40,227 --> 01:08:45,009
Also starting that evening will be the conference's optional evening activities.

789
01:08:45,549 --> 01:08:47,870
The first presented by Malcolm Murray.

790
01:08:48,020 --> 01:08:56,113
is all play and no work, rescuing an away day from blindness using Taskmaster and a lot of
ducks.

791
01:08:57,354 --> 01:08:59,895
And from there the evening is your own.

792
01:09:00,075 --> 01:09:11,821
You may wish to have a little trot around campus, perhaps sample a couple of the bars, or
pop down into Brighton Town, where there are even more bars, and a great big wet thing

793
01:09:11,821 --> 01:09:14,802
called the sea, which you can look out over.

794
01:09:14,936 --> 01:09:28,515
Reflecting on a day of potently playful pedagogies before scampering away to your den or
nest, tucked down for a jolly good night's sleep in preparation for day two of the

795
01:09:28,515 --> 01:09:33,378
conference and another journey into the woods.

796
01:09:39,394 --> 01:09:44,760
This special episode of Pedagodzilla on tour was read and produced by me, Michael Collins.

797
01:09:45,242 --> 01:09:56,127
For more playful exploration of pedagogy, check out pedagodzilla.com, where you can
subscribe to the podcast and check out our book, Pedagodzilla Exploring the Realms of

798
01:09:56,127 --> 01:09:57,217
Pedagogy.