PLAYI is an extension of my study The Value of Play in HE, published in September 2022, supported by the Imagination Lab Foundation. It combines the perceptions of 120 survey and interview respondents on 70 programmes in 20 countries with review of extensive secondary material. It offers c300 examples of play-based and playful learning in HE, contextualised by theory and supporting literature. Among numerous other aspects of its findings, it examines why educators believe playful pedagogy has value, and discusses the obstacles to its benefits. There is just one thing it does not have…
Filling a gap
As you will have worked out, The Value of Play in HE came out two months before the launch of ChatGPT and the consequent explosion of interest in generative AI tools. As a result, there are no references to play-based or playful learning in universities/the tertiary sector which use generative AI. PLAYI seeks to remedy that.
Debate about generative AI use in HE is energetic. Just like play, it has its champions and its resisters. Arguments against it include concerns about ethics, fairness, & bias, fears of an increase in cheating, the risk of stifling learning and creativity, and the sheer unreliability and inaccuracy of some genAI outputs. Those in favour of it include harnessing its potency inventively to academic engagement, forcing institutions to adapt assessment practices for the better, and freeing up time-poor academics on certain tasks so they can focus on enabling students to develop knowledge, skills and competences. Whatever our position,
the territory is uncharted and rapidly evolving.
What is PLAYI for?
PLAYI adds a postscript to The Value of Play in HE, by inviting educators, and supporters of learning in HE more widely, to talk about their use of genAI tools for play-based and playful learning in HE. While it is impossible to what know the implications of these rapidly evolving tools are right now, insights from these experiences and views may help fashion a futurescript for pedagogic and academic practices.
At the moment, there is little visible work gathering information on this triangle of components – play, HE and generative AI use. If you are active and interested in this area, I would like to hear from you. To find out more about the structure and aims of PLAYI and how you can contribute, please click on the links below.
PLAYI – outline of aims, objectives and context
PLAYI – options and guidance for contributors
engagingimagination.com 
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