Can Playful Learning Save Education?

When global community collaborator organisations like TED start to hold discussions and talks on Playful Learning you know you are onto something! Check out this talk by Becky Stirrup, who invites us to consider the philosophy of games and it's application in higher education.



One thing that struck me in this video was this quote by Bernard Suits:



"Playing
a game is the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles" 



Turning this quote on it's head, what if the obstacles to overcome were necessary. In education, we talk about threshold concepts and how to engage students in order to overcome these through teaching methods that instil deeper learning, instead of surface learning. Understanding the threshold concepts within our areas, and applying games-based pedagogy, may just allow for a more voluntary overcoming that puts the enjoyment back in education ...