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 | |
Students will be required to provide a reflective journal that charts their journey through the module, reflecting on the different methods of learning through gaming and play with regard to inclusivity, learning outcomes, and appropriate contexts. Then, in groups they will create an artefact (which could be a new game, resources to use an existing game for educational purposes, or an analytical framework to measure the effectiveness of gaming/play as an educational tool). After completing this in groups, they will ‘pitch’ the artefact to the rest of the class in a short presentation, before individually writing their own pedagogical reflection on their artefact. The ’analytical framework’ is a method of assessing the effectiveness or impacts of a particular form of gaming or play that already exists. For example, a group could develop an observation sheet that seeks to measure the impact of using Lego as a tool for developing creativity, or the use of a co-operative board game to develop communication skills and collective problem solving. Students will be required to provide a reflective journal that charts their journey through the module, reflecting on the different methods of learning through gaming and play with regard to inclusivity, learning outcomes, and appropriate contexts. Then, in groups they will create an artefact (which could be a new game, resources to use an existing game for educational purposes, or an analytical framework to measure the effectiveness of gaming/play as an educational tool). After completing this in groups, they will ‘pitch’ the artefact to the rest of the class in a short presentation, before individually writing their own pedagogical reflection on their artefact. The ’analytical framework’ is a method of assessing the effectiveness or impacts of a particular form of gaming or play that already exists. For example, a group could develop an observation sheet that seeks to measure the impact of using Lego as a tool for developing creativity, or the use of a co-operative board game to develop communication skills and collective problem solving. Specifically, this maps onto the learning objectives: 1. Design learning experiences that align play and gaming to pedagogical theory. Students will be required to engage in some creative design work to produce an artefact that has pedagogical potential. 2. Demonstrate a broad understanding of education in informal settings, and using gaming and play as educational tools, including their historical and global contexts. Students will be required to situate their artefact within the wider context of informal education or education through gaming and play. 3. Critically analyse debates around informal education, play, and gamification. Through their written reflection, students will show they can apply critical debates around gaming, play, inclusion and education on their artefact. 4. Understand a range of methodological approaches to studying and theorising play, gaming, and informal education. As part of their reflective log, students will examine how the effectiveness of a particular approach to education could be discerned. They will also identify how their artefact could be tested for its educational efficacy.
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Last updated: 30/04/2026
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