Module manager: Peter Hart
Email: p.j.hart@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable
Year running 2026/27
This module is not approved as a discovery module
This module will explore how social activities and spaces can be (and are) used for educational purposes. It will be relevant to everyone interested in teaching and learning, including teaching, but also sports coaches, public health workers, community and youth workers, people working in NGOs – any position where education may happen in social spaces. It will critically examine the role of play and gaming, including the use of gamification, in learning. It will explore the unique contribution informal and social spaces in providing education.
Drawing of multiple disciplinary approaches to education, include psychology, sociology, design, and anthropology, the module explores the pedagogies of informal education and gamification of learning, analyses the research on play as education, and offers practical workshops on how gaming can be used to educate. Specifically, it aims to:
- Critically evaluate the research into gaming and play as an educational tools to inform the design of learning experiences.
- Explore informal settings for education, and how these can be compared with formal educational settings.
- Demonstrate how and where education can occur in social spaces and activities.
- Explore how gaming and play has been used in education policy and practise within a global context.
- Develop a critical understanding of the role (and limitations) that play, gaming, and informal spaces have in education.
Student will be able to:
1. Design learning experiences that align play and gaming to pedagogical theory.
2. Demonstrate a broad understanding of education in informal settings, and using gaming and play as educational tools, including their historical and global contexts.
3. Critically analyse debates around informal education, play, and gamification.
4. Understand a range of methodological approaches to studying and theorising play, gaming, and informal education.
These are the skills outcomes students need to demonstrate:
- Ability to create new educational experiences through intentional use of gaming or play.
- Ability to develop and promote new curricula or learning experiences that would be of interest to practitioners.
- Ability to produce a strong rationale for the use of games and play in education, and be able to communicate that to a practitioner audience.
- Proficiency in one area of design that is analogous to design work in work-based educational contexts (this could be: digital design, game design, or designing methods of analysis to evidence the effect of play on learning)
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fieldwork | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| Lecture | 11 | 1 | 11 |
| Practical | 4 | 3 | 18 |
| Independent online learning hours | 70 | ||
| Private study hours | 93 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 37 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Individual critical reflection on the group project | 45 |
| Group Project | An artefact that a group creates, the perceived educational benefits of which are then presented to the group. | 45 |
| Reflective log | Am ongoing reflective log of the workshops | 10 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
Check the module area in Minerva for your reading list
Last updated: 14/07/2026
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