THE PLAYFUL EDUCATORRikke T. Nørgård (@RikkeToftN)

Assistant professor, PhDCounterPlay’16: Play when it’s

difficult

PLAY HAS NO PLACE

IN EDUCATION!!!

PLAY HAS NO PLACE

IN EDUCATION!!!

…hey wait a minute…?!?…yeah I know …let’s just wait a minute

A short round-tripThe practice of being a playful educator (practice what you in a minute will preach)

– CounterPlay’15– FabLab@School Conference– Internet Week Denmark – Ozobot Thery Jam– Game.Play.Design– CounterPlay’16

Talking about playful education

Taking playfully about playful education

Practicing education as playful futuremaking

Playing at being a cool conference participant

Playful schoolchildren at a conference about future schooling

Fremtidsø Vejle

Presenting & practicing playful education

Becoming your own playmaker at the

Coding Pirates Technology Arcade

Being playful with theory in HE Ozobot theory jam

ozobot theory jam

Having playful university courses Game.Play.Design

Being seriously playful with the Coding Pirates playing the refugee

crisis

…so all this is done on the realisation that

PLAY HAS NO PLACE IN EDUCATION

…to escape

The battle between2 modes of ’play in

education’

Rule-bound play•Gamification•Gameful design•GamesContained in•Structures•System goals•FunctionsThe system is in charge•Monologist•Dictator

??? Free-form play•Playfication•Playul design•PlayExpressed through•Improvisations•Own goals•EmergenceThe player in charge is•Monologist•Anarchist

Beyond play & games in education

WHY?? (towards playfulness)

“Playfulness is a way of engaging with particular contexts and objects that is similar to play but respects the purposes and goals of that object or context” (Miguel Sicart, Play Matters, 2014)

“What we want is the attitude of play without the activity of play. We need to take the same stance towards things, the world, and others that we take during play. But we should not play: rather, we should perform as expected in that (serious) context and with that (serious) object. We want play without play. We want playfulness - the capacity to use play outside the context of play” (Miguel Sicart, Play Matters, 2014)

Could Open-ended education be an answer?

Free play differs from open-ended play, as it stresses the freedom children have to play with whatever whenever they want. Open-ended play somewhat restricts children in their free play as it offers objects with design intentions. The challenge for open-ended play is to develop designs that are specific and easy to understand but also general enough to encourage imagination and creativity in how to use them.

This idea is inspired by theories about situated action and about emergent behavior in decentralized systems. Instead of designing for goal-directed behavior, as is assumed by, for example, Norman’s action cycle, the situated actions model assumes that players do not structure their activity beforehand, but that activity grows as the interaction in the context of use occurs.

(de Valk, L., Bekker, T. and Eggen, B., ‘Leaving room for improvisation’, 2013)

How to create playful education

• Stop calling it play start calling it something like open-ended education or innovation (kill your darlings)

• Explain what you do, why you do and how you do in educational terms so others outside the play community can comprehend the value of what you are doing – speak in the language of those you are speaking to (go to the dark side)

• Create a powerful argument for being playful rather than digging trenches – create a shared foundation for new eduactional futures (be playful on the dark side)

BUT HOW? …hand me some powerful weapons!

The battleground of “21st century learning”Turning open-ended education into a powerful

argument

Some weapons of choice to argue for playful open-endedness•OECD•Digital literacy•Bloom’s taxonomy•21st century learning•Learning goals•Innovation & entrepreneurship•Educational theories & design theories

Taking the values and visions of “21st century learning” seriously

According to the OECD, the world needs

‘versatilists’ – citizens capable of adapting to

challenges in open-ended ways, acting on imagination through

creating and participating in flexible

democratic and collaborating ways

Sleicher, Director for the OECD Directorate

of Education and Skills

Taking the top tier of “21st century learning” seriously

Revised & Inverted Bloom's educational taxonomy, Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001

Taking the qualities and characteristics of “21st century learning” seriously

(Dettmer 2005, p. 73

Taking the qualities and characteristics of “21st century learning” seriously

Taking the core competencies of “21st century learning” seriously

National Education Organisation

Creating a foundation for taking “21st century learning” seriously

Toft, Herdis & Nørgård, Rikke Toft (2016). Pla(y)ceskabelse: når børn og robotteknologi mødes. Læring og Medier, No. 14, pp. 1-31 (Published)

Creating a foundation for taking “21st century learning” seriously

Nørgård, Rikke Toft & Paaskesen, Rikke Berggreen (2016) Open-ended education: How open-endedness might foster and promote playful technological imagination, enterprising and participation in education, Forthcoming issue of Conjunctions

Creating a foundation for taking “21st century learning” seriously

Aaen, Janus & Nørgård, Rikke Toft (2015). Participatory Academic Communities: a transdiciplinary perspective on participation in education beyond the institution. Conjunctions. Transdiciplinary Journal of Cultural Participation, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 67-98 (Published).

Pointing to processes for practicing “21st century learning” seriously

Value-based & Vision-drivenEducational Design ThinkingThrough open-ended processes

http://designthinking.co.nz/design-thinking-for-government/

…but how does it all

fit?

Future Educator

Innovation

Creating

Playful open-ended

education

marts 2016 Rikke Berggreen Paaskesen & Rikke Toft Nørgård

Future Educator

Innovation

Creating

Playful open-ended

education

Remixedby

Playful open-ended

students

Future Educator

Innovation

Creating

Playful open-ended education

Remixedby

Playful openended

students

In a

Playful open-ended

society

PLAY HAS NO PLACE IN EDUCATION!!!

…but perhaps playful open-ended education could find a place?….by being a playful educator, researcher & adult

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Twitter: @RikkeToftNMail: rtoft@tdm.au.dk

• Nørgård, Rikke Toft & Paaskesen, Rikke Berggreen (2016) Open-ended education: How open-endedness might foster and promote playful technological imagination, enterprising and participation in education, Forthcoming issue of Conjunctions

• Toft, Herdis & Nørgård, Rikke Toft (2016). Pla(y)ceskabelse: når børn og robotteknologi mødes. Læring og Medier, No. 14, pp. 1-31 (Published)

• Nørgård, Rikke Toft (2015). Educational Design Thinking: on overcoming present tensions between educators and designers in design processes with new technologies within educational settings. Conference paper for Ethnography and Education Conference, 21., 22. and 23. September 2015, New College, Oxford University.

• Aaen, Janus & Nørgård, Rikke Toft (2015). Participatory Academic Communities: a transdiciplinary perspective on participation in education beyond the institution. Conjunctions. Transdiciplinary Journal of Cultural Participation, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 67-98 (Published).