CTL5046 – Games and Learning

The PlayLab team seeks to understand how learning occurs through games and “what makes a good game”. In 2020, the Games and Learning course was launched at OISE/UT. This course focused on questions about what makes a good educational game and why this should matter to us as educators. It is deliberately designed for educators to bring together theory and practice, to create a space for collaborative game making and beta testing, and to reflect on how designed play can enhance traditional classroom practices. Topics in the course included: motivation, emotions, the power of role play, design thinking, learning through making, learning by doing, and the role of play at all levels of instruction. We explored ideas forwarded by McGonigal, Upton, Gee, Squire, Zimmerman, Salen, and other prominent games and design scholars. We learned from our guests workshop leaders: Dungeons and Dragons master Dr. Ian Slater taught us about all the learning that takes place in a good tabletop roleplaying game. Chris “Wombat” Crowell led us through game design for beginners, and Dr. Paul Darvasi shared his research on gender and race in Grand Theft Auto V. Students worked in special interest groups to design games with specific instructional targets. Their outstanding games covered topics such as ocean life and sustainability, probability, geometry and land distribution, language arts, second language learning, media literacy and music.

This course was designed and facilitated by modelling elements of a game design studio: It was of the collaborative efforts of Melanie Cohen, Paul Darvasi, and Leslie Stewart Rose, all members of the OISE PlayLab. We sought to discover how games played in and outside of the classroom could be regarded as objects of study that bring theory and practice together. We also emphasized the importance of student contribution and participation in the process, with frequent collection of their ideas and their feedback while the course was in progress. The structure of evaluation foregrounded student choice – grading was based on the collection of points through the accomplishment of self-selected missions. We paid attention to the elements of an inclusive classroom, encouraging students to bring their own interests and motivations to their work.