Aalborg workshop

I had a lovely (though brief) visit to Aalborg to deliver a workshop for FLIP'D today (not in the lovely looking building in the image, but in the very impressive NordKraft). I'm glad I managed a couple of hours wandering around too - I love an "explore" of somewhere new to me :)

I talked a little about play, games, library teaching, permission to play, and we carried out a few activities too - thank you to everyone for taking part! I used more slides, with more text, than normal mainly so I could upload them somewhere for reference - they are now on Slideshare (plus the organisers will share them with attendees directly).

I mentioned the Journal of Play in Adulthood at the start, as someone asked me about it, I'll share a link to that! It's an Open Access peer-reviewed journal (no charges to read or publish in), I'd love anyone using play with adults to consider publishing their work in it :) https://www.journalofplayinadulthood.org.uk/  My article on "Permission to Play" in this journal goes into much more detail around the issues we used the "chatterbox" (flip / flop?) to discuss. 

I also mentioned the fantasic Counterplay Conference / Festival organised by Mathias Poulsen - hopefully he's now organising these every 2 years at Dokk1 in Aarhus. I tend to feel that the short video I tried to share at the end sums it up nicely - the giant cardboard rabbit that hops up to the clown (watch the vid!) is responsible for the most surreal experience I've ever had at a conference. A room full of people sat watching a cardboard rabbit hop to the front to deliver a plenary session and everyone accepted it as a perfectly normal thing to happen :)

Apparantly some of the links in my book for librarians using play are broken, I'll try and check through it over the next few days and add links below if I can find and fix any. The one that was specifically mentioned to me was SEEK! (A simple card game for search skills) - that should be on my institutional repository to download / adapt / print for free.


(Note - I might edit this later to add a few more links.)

The following are the responses to "How might you use play in your work in future?" that I asked using Polleverywhere:

• Elements but always with a clear purpose. I think the frame (balloon, snapper) could take away to much attention and be considered not relevant.
• Sing and dance
• Incorporate challenges and explorative activities that  breaks up the static teaching location :)
• I would do a competition. Make 6-7 groups within a class, compete against each other .. questions on "what defines a book" vs "what defines a journal" .. that kind of thing :) and definitely give a price to the group that wins !
• Using music and pictures to illustrate questions/problems
• As a energy boost, take some  of the formality out of the situation.
• Use embodied cognition to explain AND OR NOT
• To make the students believe that librarians are actually more interesting than posting on facebook during class
• Should like the ballons, a dancin g/singing sessions - several more ideas at our .....
• creating a safe and engaging environment for new students
• Use embodied cognition to explain And, OR NOT
• I will definitely try to think about alternatives approaches to my teaching
• by embedding  smalle PLAY activities in my normal  teaching activities
• Exploring things
• Using music and pictures to illustrate questions/problems
• Dont Know yet, some kind of problem solving game
• Throw a big dize with questions a la: where would you find this title?
• Building Lego houses to illustrate which elements are necessary to write a good academic text.
• hand dolls of a dinosaur to teach about the thesaurus
• Experiments
• I'd love to use balloons for my upcoming thesis class!
• Find 5 errors
• To encourage the students to contribute with questions and responses
• ICEbreaker
• Make people feel safe
• Sing a library song they have made themselves.
• I would like to get people out of the classroom and out of the classroom settings by flint exploratory games in virtual environments OR doing games anywhere Else.
• Play in introductions
• Group competition (quizzes)
• Try the flip flops
• I would Like to make explorative exercies
• The ballon thing maybe in a different way.
• To replace traditional question/answer type activities
• Different colured papir to write down keywords and organize them in themes (systematic search)
• Singing about reference standards as warming up before working with APA
• Have the students fold something -like chatterboxes
• I Will sneak it in My lectures bit by bit, so I Can practice and see how and where it works
• To support the understanding of the information found rather on how to find it.
• Try more simple activation in class
• as a icebreaker
• Use more props to make the students engaged in the course. Balloons are fun!
• Quizzes
• Treasure hunt
• For academic integrity discussions
• The feedback methods. Polls and the paper fly.
• The baloons-i Will see if i Can use it.
• Never, you'll never make me! ;)
• I Think a quiz could be good.