Unhappy families: using tabletop games as a technology to understand play in education
In this article, we argue that tabletop games provide a helpful means of rethinking the affordances of digital games in pedagogy. We argue that tabletop games offer a distinctive technology from digital games in exploring the idea of play as experience, providing a sociable, accessible and tactile p...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Association for Learning Technology
2018-05-01
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| Series: | Research in Learning Technology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journal.alt.ac.uk/index.php/rlt/article/view/2027/pdf_1 |
| _version_ | 1811257972326662144 |
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| author | John Lean Sam Illingworth Paul Wake |
| author_facet | John Lean Sam Illingworth Paul Wake |
| author_sort | John Lean |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this article, we argue that tabletop games provide a helpful means of rethinking the affordances of digital games in pedagogy. We argue that tabletop games offer a distinctive technology from digital games in exploring the idea of play as experience, providing a sociable, accessible and tactile platform that can easily be adapted by players to suit their needs. At a workshop session at an international conference on play in education, we used tabletop games to enable discussion and observation of play. This workshop suggested that, rather than a singular definition, tabletop play means different things to different people, and what is ‘counted as’ play depends upon both individual and group interactions. Building upon this discussion, in this article, we return to both tabletop and digital games to discuss the idea of play as experience, especially with regard to the use of technology in educational settings, and how games might be seen as less ‘predictable’ than other technologies. We hope that this discussion provides future inspiration to other scholars who are considering the use of tabletop games in both pedagogical and technological research. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T18:06:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-168307e4d0f24446953ab7b28aa5a07e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2156-7077 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T18:06:55Z |
| publishDate | 2018-05-01 |
| publisher | Association for Learning Technology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Research in Learning Technology |
| spelling | doaj.art-168307e4d0f24446953ab7b28aa5a07e2022-12-22T03:21:58ZengAssociation for Learning TechnologyResearch in Learning Technology2156-70772018-05-0126011310.25304/rlt.v26.20272027Unhappy families: using tabletop games as a technology to understand play in educationJohn Lean0Sam Illingworth1Paul Wake2Faculty of Education, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UKFaculty of Science and Engineering, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UKFaculty of Arts and Humanities, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UKIn this article, we argue that tabletop games provide a helpful means of rethinking the affordances of digital games in pedagogy. We argue that tabletop games offer a distinctive technology from digital games in exploring the idea of play as experience, providing a sociable, accessible and tactile platform that can easily be adapted by players to suit their needs. At a workshop session at an international conference on play in education, we used tabletop games to enable discussion and observation of play. This workshop suggested that, rather than a singular definition, tabletop play means different things to different people, and what is ‘counted as’ play depends upon both individual and group interactions. Building upon this discussion, in this article, we return to both tabletop and digital games to discuss the idea of play as experience, especially with regard to the use of technology in educational settings, and how games might be seen as less ‘predictable’ than other technologies. We hope that this discussion provides future inspiration to other scholars who are considering the use of tabletop games in both pedagogical and technological research.https://journal.alt.ac.uk/index.php/rlt/article/view/2027/pdf_1tabletop gamesdigital technologyplay |
| spellingShingle | John Lean Sam Illingworth Paul Wake Unhappy families: using tabletop games as a technology to understand play in education Research in Learning Technology tabletop games digital technology play |
| title | Unhappy families: using tabletop games as a technology to understand play in education |
| title_full | Unhappy families: using tabletop games as a technology to understand play in education |
| title_fullStr | Unhappy families: using tabletop games as a technology to understand play in education |
| title_full_unstemmed | Unhappy families: using tabletop games as a technology to understand play in education |
| title_short | Unhappy families: using tabletop games as a technology to understand play in education |
| title_sort | unhappy families using tabletop games as a technology to understand play in education |
| topic | tabletop games digital technology play |
| url | https://journal.alt.ac.uk/index.php/rlt/article/view/2027/pdf_1 |
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