The pedagogy.games project investigates the ways in which learning experiences are being had, organically, inside of everyday play. In addition to significant existing research on ‘gamification’ (the making of games for educational purposes, or the converting of existing lessons into ‘play’), we consider the multi-billion-dollar industry of existing video game play, and ask how those leisure hours, spent across all nations and cultures, can complement pedagogy.
The project is informed by large-scale data collection (surveys, interviews) and structured self-reflection, as well as interactive play. The project provides a continually updated set of resources to students, parents, educational professionals, and caregivers, to tease out how video game play is shaping their lives, interactions, and opinions about the world.
This work addresses the UK Government Video Games Research Framework by considering how themes of equality, equity, diversity and inclusion are experienced and assimilated in gaming; thinking about how games interact with and allow players to experience different societies & cultures; and considering what ‘positive […] impacts on players […] organisations and institutions video games have’. With reference specifically to education, the project helps understand how, ‘whether, […] how and to what extent, video games support the development of particular skills’, and how games can be applied to training.
We invite you to use these resources to open dialogues and have conversations with gamers, games, or yourself.
